Kuo: Apple's AR Glasses to Launch in 2020 as iPhone Accessory

[danieleilertsen]

What is the purpose, other than "wow, that's ***** cool!"

Just sounds like more demoware, like, well, AR Kit. Looks fantastic on stage during keynotes, but then when users get ahold of it, we get.....AR calculators and an AR mode in Carrot Weather.

So true!

I really have thought this tech was 3 - 5 years off.
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I agree it seems too soon. The product that really sells it cannot be a big chunky expensive block. It needs to be light and affordable. That tech could be many years off.

i agree. more lik 2025. How can this be in the price range, and tech requirements needed by apple
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“Can’t believe apple is seriously expecting people to wear watches again when people can use their phone to tell time. Just what in the hell are they thinking??” - people from 2015

Calling it now. Because nobody has any vision, everyone under the sun is going to already call it a stupid product before it’s even announced. Then it’ll debut and people will love it, while it’ll have its haters as well saying it’s stupid and pointless. “Who is seriously gonna wear glasses all the time?”

Then it’ll get popular and really refined and everybody else’s will copy them and we will get to a point a few years from now where we can’t believe we never had ar.

Sci fi movies imagine this for years. Holographic displays and graphics and being able to manipulate objects. And we all think it’s the coolest thing ever. Think minority report. Think iron man. Think tron. Think about not even needing a tv in your house because you can put a giant display and pin it to your wall in your glasses. Think about how interactive the environment can be. Meeting people and seeing information floating over their heads about who they are and how you know them. Or shared experiences with multiple glasses.

This could be a game changer the world over if it’s played right. But all anyone can say is “who’s gonna wear glasses all the time?”

I agree with you. it will be a hit, when the time is right.

But right now, how can this be even near ready for prime time?

Apple needs to be best, not first.

 

[Piggie]

The image is just a mockup but IMO anything similar to that "3rd eye" design is unacceptable.

You'd effectively be walking around pointing a camera in everyone's face.

I agree,

Whilst having a camera is great for the user, I struggle to believe that society in general would be happy to see millions of people with camera's on them at all times.
At least if you hold your phone up, or a camera up you know someone is taking an image.

What are you doing pointing your camera at those young children in the pool or on the beach?

 

[RickInHouston]

It's going to be a huge ask to get the general public to wear anything even vaguely resembling the mock up. Cameras on glasses like this is just going to make people behave really weirdly (understandably) around people wearing them. That's assuming they are something that even looks good in the first place.

It will be interesting to see what Apple does with this really really hard design challenge.

I find it sad Apple offers one watch option. You see it so often, it's like some forced tech in a sci fi movie the people must wear.

 

[DempaX]

I could be interested if you can order it with custom corrective glasses, with UV filter etc to use instead of your "regular" (sun) glasses

 

[fokmik]

This AR glass idea its a great one...those who has cars with projected heads-up display, knows how useful they will be/can be in the future...to have your most importand info right before your eyes

 

[chfilm]

My uncle is working in car engineering here in Germany and he has a colleague who was invited to Cupertino to have a meeting with Apple. He was given an adress and went there, but there was absolutely nothing there, just an empty lot behind a what seemed empty building. He was calling them because he was mad that they sent him the wrong adress. Then somebody opened a door and they let him into their secret lab that was hidden in that building.
This guy reportedly told my uncle that the stuff he saw in that lab was beyond anything he had ever seen before and really impressive crazy next gen sh*t. That wasn't AR related, but obviously something that had to do with their car projects. He didn't go into any further details, but my uncle told this story on a Christmas dinner conversation and he was without a doubt telling the truth. He doesnt own a single Apple device or so, I think no one in his family does.

So I believe him when he says that there are some visionary things ahead of us from Apple, it's definitely gonna be interesting.
About the glasses, I also have trouble believing they will have something ready in 1,5 years.. then again - AR Kit is already pretty impressive. The biggest thing that is missing is the ability to let objects disappear behind things (Time of flight tech could enable that, and is obviously in the works), and some sort of AR cloud, that enables for objects to be consistently placed in the real world and remember that place for different people.

I believe if anyone could pull this off, it would be apple. Exciting))

 

[Winni]

Sceptical. How can the tech be there?

Look what MS released? hololense 2. not very impressive, and the price tag. jesus

And also Magic Leap, not very impressive at all.

How can Apple possible create something that is ready for mainstream 2020? Also, carmack said AR is 3 - 5 years behind VR in regard of pure tech. VR is not ready for mainstream yet, and the displey tech etc etc with screen door is not very impressive. Not sure how apple can pull this off?

Also, what happend to: Its not about being first, its about being best?

Let's just say that Microsoft did not design the HoloLense to "impress" you, a consumer. It was made for industrial/professional use cases and was not meant to be gadget to display animated poop emojis in a Starbucks Café, which is most likely what Apple will show off.

 

[iapplelove]

Stagnant technology at its best.....
[doublepost=1552051033][/doublepost]

“Can’t believe apple is seriously expecting people to wear watches again when people can use their phone to tell time. Just what in the hell are they thinking??” - people from 2015

Calling it now. Because nobody has any vision, everyone under the sun is going to already call it a stupid product before it’s even announced. Then it’ll debut and people will love it, while it’ll have its haters as well saying it’s stupid and pointless. “Who is seriously gonna wear glasses all the time?”

Then it’ll get popular and really refined and everybody else’s will copy them and we will get to a point a few years from now where we can’t believe we never had ar.

Sci fi movies imagine this for years. Holographic displays and graphics and being able to manipulate objects. And we all think it’s the coolest thing ever. Think minority report. Think iron man. Think tron. Think about not even needing a tv in your house because you can put a giant display and pin it to your wall in your glasses. Think about how interactive the environment can be. Meeting people and seeing information floating over their heads about who they are and how you know them. Or shared experiences with multiple glasses.

This could be a game changer the world over if it’s played right. But all anyone can say is “who’s gonna wear glasses all the time?”

It’s a stupid product/

EDIT: people make it sound like this has never been done before. It’s old, not practical, and just cause Apple now wants to implement the tech doesn’t mean it’s glibg to change the basis of what this tech does.

Apple just wants to expand iPhone residual sales which I get, they are a business after all.

 

[danieleilertsen]

Let's just say that Microsoft did not design the HoloLense to "impress" you, a consumer. It was made for industrial/professional use cases and was not meant to be gadget to display animated poop emojis in a Starbucks Café, which is most likely what Apple will show off.

I agree.

But price, how can apple make a product with better image clearity, fov etc, and have it cheaper then ms? its not possible? Open on being wrong, just, dont understand it.

 

[StellarVixen]

Let's just say that Microsoft did not design the HoloLense to "impress" you, a consumer. It was made for industrial/professional use cases and was not meant to be gadget to display animated poop emojis in a Starbucks Café, which is most likely what Apple will show off.

Starbucks, emoji...wow you sure do check quite a few of boxes on the list what typical Apple hater has to say.

 

[MoreRumors?]

Okay, I'll bite. I have to see what this will offer and how it would would apply to my daily life. In addition, I would have to see how I can adjust to seeing something so close to my eyes as opposed to a goggle that is a little further away like those who use it with their drones.

Kuo believes Apple is aiming to begin mass-producing the glasses as early as the fourth quarter of this year, although he admits the timeframe could be pushed back to the second quarter of 2020.
Article Link: Kuo: Apple's AR Glasses to Launch in 2020 as iPhone Accessory

I like how Kuo gives himself 2 quarters of cushion if it doesn't come out in the 4th quarter this year .

 

[frifra]

What will be first: AirPower or this ?


By the way which research unit at Apple is not secret?

 

[Quu]

(2015)

I wonder who's gonna wear that thing on their wrists, it looks ugly...

Come on, people been wearing watches for over a hundred years by now. With due respect to you, your argument is completely flawed.

The Google Glass failed because it did not look like a pair of glasses. People felt stupid wearing it and self conscience. The Hololens has not caught on, VR headsets have not caught on. Even wearing 3D Glasses to watch movies have not caught on. People don't want to wear things on their face unless they look normal.

If Apple can make theirs look normal then like I said, it might very well work. But if it looks like some weird thing it's not going to work.

 

[Rogifan]

Who are these for? Are they going to look like prescription glasses or stupid googles that only gamer geeks would wear?

 

[StellarVixen]

Come on, people been wearing watches for over a hundred years by now. With due respect to you, your argument is completely flawed.

The Google Glass failed because it did not look like a pair of glasses. People felt stupid wearing it and self conscience. The Hololens has not caught on, VR headsets have not caught on. Even wearing 3D Glasses to watch movies have not caught on. People don't want to wear things on their face unless they look normal.

If Apple can make theirs look normal then like I said, it might very well work. But if it looks like some weird thing it's not going to work.

So? People have been wearing glasses for over hundred years, also.


That's what people said about Apple Watch...it doesn't even look like a normal watch, why doesn't it have round display...it looks ugly, etc.


I am sure Apple is not gonna release anything ugly like Google Glass, unless something horribly wrong happens to their sense of aesthetics.

 

[Classie]

I am soo thrilled that this is happening; this is within my work field.
The most difficult part isn’t the design; even though Tim’s and Ive’s glasses aren’t what you would call fashionable.
Instead I will be intrigued to see how they handle the combination of: supplier of glas, optician and frame designer.
It is a somewhat old fashion industry that could need some reinvention!
That being said; Apple should be very careful when reinventing the appearance - this is not a phone or a watch...

It will also be interesting to see if they will offer some sort of version that clips onto existing frames?

 

[GreenPixel]

I don't know if it's something I would wear all the time like a watch (even if it looked like "normal" glasses), but I can think of some very good use cases. It could essentially provide a HUD when I am out on bicycle rides showing me speed, and providing visual cues for directions with an image overlaid on top of the road. It could provide Strava segment information. And I suppose the same could be said for driving. That's still only if they are normal-looking glasses with little bulk and no wires. Which I cannot help but be skeptical about.

 

[Yvan256]

I'm pretty sure that the day Apple unveils their AR glasses, Tim Cook will have been wearing them since the beginning of the Keynote. Sort of like how Steve Jobs ran the Keynote on an intel Mac while introducing the intel Mac.

 

[Classie]

What is the purpose, other than "wow, that's ***** cool!"

Just sounds like more demoware, like, well, AR Kit. Looks fantastic on stage during keynotes, but then when users get ahold of it, we get.....AR calculators and an AR mode in Carrot Weather.

Isn’t this what is missing from the AR-experience; making it a truly revolutionary product.
Without holding anything up in front of you, you could see notifications, directions, even additional information like stats during a sports game; live on the field! Apple would bring new life into the app-store

 

[PowerMacBook]

The first version will not be able to copy-paste, and the camera will be crappy.
That will be fixed with the next versions, and after a while we all have no clue how we were living without it.

Just like the iPod (there were "great" MP3-players out there, what the heck was so revolutionary about that???), the iPhone (hahaha, Apple is going to make a phone? Well good luck against Nokia and Motorola etc!!!!).

We have been there, we have seen it, we had our reservations.
Now we all have (had) iPods and iPhones.
Who hasn't gone back home after leaving and forgetting the phone at home?

 

[YaBe]

At 3000$ requiring the new 1500$ iPhone....

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

One day, actual reality will be cool again.

Reality is far more fantastic than technology. Just look at the natural world. Get out there.

 

[MrGimper]

Or it may release at a different time, or never.

(c) Kuo "hedge-your-bets-omatic" v2.0

 

[DNichter]

I wear glasses so I am interested to see how this could potentially work. I see AR and wearables as a big part of tech future so I look forward to what they come out with. It feels kinda soon to me though, so I hope that the hardware and software are right.

 

[deconstruct60]

Sceptical. How can the tech be there?

Look what MS released? hololense 2. not very impressive, and the price tag. jesus

From the description Apple is not doing what MS is doing. One they don't have to put the whole computational workload inside the headset. Conceptually all the headset needs is WiFi 6 ( or some kind of WiFi 6+ augment). All the 'horsepower" is in the heavier phone that is in the pocket or somewhere else on the person.

[ Maybe a cord from Lighting jack to headset... like earphones they still do sell. . ]

The main focus is probalby on Augmented Reality. Not some high percentage Virtual Reality or an Artificial Reality.

How can Apple possible create something that is ready for mainstream 2020?

Google glass deployed several years ago. So did Hololens version 1. By 2020, there will be iOS AR games, demo, etc that deployed years ago on iPhones/iPads. ARKit has been deployed for a while. The point is that folks are doing this now by haveing to grab their phone , point , and then look at a iPhone/iPad screen that they have to hold up in front of their face.

What these glasses would do is make that handsfree. Just likely earphones/airpods making making a phone call or listening to audio from your iPhone handsfree. This will do the same thing along the dimension of freeing up the users hands.

Could probably walk and get text messages at the same time without pragmatically blindly walking into people (or danger). AR Pokemon ... could work just "better" now that hands are free. Head Up Display (HUD) map guidance. Mobile context sensitive technical guide ( "what am I looking at" , "which value is exhibiting abnormal readings" , etc. ) . All of those aren't really new with the Phone. It would be new with the Phone with no hands occupied.

Also, carmack said AR is 3 - 5 years behind VR in regard of pure tech.

AR there is EXTREMELY likely there refering the artificial reality ( rendered to the level approximately close to reality when viewed). Actual reality is on the order of Billions of years in front of VR. Billions. Augmented reality is extremely extremely easier

VR ( and hyper VR of Artificial Reality) is gets in to a computation black hole pit because spends tremendous gobs of time rendering stuff that nobody can actually see ( if slap reality blocking googles over someone's eyes). The eyes only get very high detail in the narrow direction the lens of the eye is pointed at. The retina at the back of the eye is not uniformity density in sensor and the opitic nerve from eye to brain has limited bandwidth. Brute force Artificial reality has recreate a bunch of stuff that is just going to down the toilet (never make to the brain). Artificial Reality with some kind of fovea centric rendering ( spend more time on what eye is pointed at and subsantially less time on what it is not. ) is years behind current "mostly brute force" VR. But that isn't what Apple's is talking about. And primarily why Apple isn't prioritizing it first.

Augmented reality lets the world render itself. So nothing about that part of the display has to be rendered to be thrown out. That is vastly easier to do because it happens everyday to everybody anyway.

VR is not ready for mainstream yet, and the displey tech etc etc with screen door is not very impressive. Not sure how apple can pull this off?

Apple isn't doing VR. The "glasses" mock up at the top of this article are probably substantially off because the objective of the Apple augmented reality glasses is not to block out the world with completely opaque .

One of the problems is that some folks have turned VR ( and ariticial reality) into something almost equated with gaming development evolution. Games creates a different worlds and the players are immersed into the new world that was created by the developers. That is exactly the opposite of what good augmented reality should be trying to do. Augment means to "add to" ; not replace. It shouldn't be to take you to someplace, but to enhance what you are already seeing. Not to some fantasy land but grounded deeper in reality.

[quote[
Also, what happend to: Its not about being first, its about being best?[/QUOTE]

Augmented reality implementations haven't really peaked at best yet. Helpfulness should be at least as important a metric/dimension in that space os "super duper" rendering of non-reality objects.