There will never be AR glasses that more than a few million people purchase. It will be far more niche than anything released thus far. It is a non-starter in tech. People will NOT wear glasses when they don't absolutely HAVE to for vision correction and even when people need glasses for vision correction, a lot still don't put them on.
There will definitely never be AR contact lenses. That's even more unlikely and that's saying something. Let me give you a few reasons you didn't bother to think about: contact lenses of any sort require going to an optometrist and getting a physical measurement of your eyes for the lens to physically fit the shape of the lens. They also require going for yearly checkup/new prescriptions. Moreover, contact lenses are vast in different forms where they require good oxygen permutation so that the eyes do not get deprived of oxygen for long periods of time. Putting technologies in them will hurt this.
I can also guarantee you that the iPhone will not ship with any headmounting hardware. That's one of the most obviously non-Apple things one could imagine them doing. Moreover, no one who likes not being laughed at would put a head mounted iPhone on.
AR is only coming to devices as they are held up using the camera, as I have known for a long time, because it's what makes logical sense and it's what is acceptable socially.
There is nothing that is replacing a Smartphone in the next 100 years or more. The thing that will replace a smartphone is when we can physically manipulate neurons in the brain, which could be hundreds of years from now. Enjoy
First, saying that nothing is going to replace smartphones in the next 100 years is the most preposterous absurd afirmation I have ever read on this Forum.
I won’t even try to contra-argument that since It will be a pain in the ass to convince you otherwise but If you look at technological progress in the last century and compare It to what happened in the last 27 years, since the birth of the internet and continue to think that...what can I say.
This being said, smartphones in general and specifically the Iphone which only has 10 years, they just don’t have wow factor anymore...they are boring, there really are no more directions to evolve, they can’t technologically expand more than they have.
Today, the only thing a smartphone manufacture can sell to you, a better screen, a slicker design and a better camera...today, If you have a Iphone 6s in perfect condition, I would say that unless the IPhones 8 is AR first, smartphone second, It will be redundant to buy It.
Imagine this situation in 5 years, everything will be redundant.
Technologically smartphones are dead since they can only take us so far as now.
For tomorrow other technology will replace It, and every major tech company on the world is betting that Augmented reality is that technology and I assure you, you will use glasses, meanwhile enjoy.
Also, It is called diffusion not permutation, things that we can actually say for sure, that and this facts, Augmented reality is here to stay, It is the future and Apple is a major player in this technology and that AR is not supposed to be experienced on a smartphone screen. Everything else, ideas.