Will Apple Ever Make AR Smart Glasses?

[Loismustdie1]

I've got mixed feelings about the Vision Pro. My situation is unique—I have severe ADHD (among other learning differences), and Vision Pro offered me hope with its immersive worlds and connectivity to both Mac and PC. While I didn't expect it to perform miracles, I hoped to accomplish more with it. It's a phenomenal multimedia device, but the productivity aspect of AR still needs refinements. Despite these gripes, I'm not buying into the doom and gloom narrative as the little Vision Pro does, it does spectacularly well.

Microsoft’s early support for Office 365 with Copilot on Vision Pro was a pleasant surprise. One of the standout features for me is the immersive environment, which significantly enhances my productivity. Because I tend to pace to maintain mental equilibrium, using Vision Pro while walking around and thinking things through has been incredibly helpful. While the weight bothers some, I take 10-minute breaks every hour and have adapted (the next gen needs to lose a few lbs though).

I'm constantly sending crash logs and suggestions to Apple. Like the current iPad Pro, the hardware is far ahead of the OS. The hand and eye tracking is better in visionOS 2.1 Beta, but still not perfect. I want to see more first-party apps. The full iWork suite should be Vision Pro native, not just Keynote. My biggest issue is the lack of Apple Intelligence integration. This device is crying out for it, and its absence is concerning.

Overall, despite its shortcomings, I like Vision Pro. I've shifted about 40% of my workload to visionOS, making work more focused and interesting, albeit expensive. Here’s hoping for a substantial update with visionOS 3 and a refresh in late 2025 or early 2026.

 

[macfacts]

Apple AR glasses are coming. Count on it. Image processing will be handled in one's iPhone.

But with a glasses from factor, you can't have the front eye sight display, and Tim wants that cause it will reduce isolation.

 

[blocsapp]

• I use my phone for directions perhaps once per week. No need to wear it on my face.
• I live in a foreign country, where I speak a 2nd language. My translation app is one of the most used on my phone. But even so, I don't need full sentences translated frequently, just the occasional word now and then. Most people would only use this when traveling. So not a daily need.
• Finding info about objects/places. Again, in my day-to-day life, I would only need this if I were traveling. Not day to day.
• "listening" to music? I have Airpods. And if I'm walking around, I won't want album art blocking view.
• I watch video on my AVP all the time; having a light seal makes all the difference. Glasses won't give that.
• Games aren't that important to me

Right. Exactly. I don't want to have to look at my watch every time something happens. But if I'm wearing glasses, can't be avoided.



Let's revisit that prediction in 10 years.

My point about music wasn’t a visual feature. I’m talking about listening to music without headphones. As you know, the speakers on Vision Pro are great.

My point about wearing a watch was, these are just sunglasses until you need more.

But I’m obviously not trying to convince you that you’ll need one. You’re happy with your phone, that’s cool.

Phone tech is already starting to stagnate, AR is just getting started.

I think it’ll be maybe 20ish years and these devices will be mainstream.

 

[citysnaps]

But with a glasses from factor, you can't have the front eye sight display, and Tim wants that cause it will reduce isolation.

You've spoken to Tim Cook on this matter, right?

Apple will do whatever is necessary to produce an outstanding set of AR glasses. Full stop.

 

[dwaite]

My concern is that Apple relegates this to hobby status and doesn’t push the technology forward. They are ruthless about not updating underperforming products (AirPods Max, displays, etc). This could be one of those products.

Apple tends to only update things when they have a meaningful update. Remember the years of sporadic Mac updates because Intel kept missing their promised specs/thermal profiles?

When they provide a less meaningful update the complaints are deafening (see: AirPods Max).

 

[dwaite]

But with a glasses from factor, you can't have the front eye sight display, and Tim wants that cause it will reduce isolation.

EyeSight exists entirely because you have a thick opaque headset blocking the view of someone's eyes. If it were a pair of glasses, you'd just see eyes.

 

[robotfist]

I think the Vision Pro is what the Apple Newton was to the iPhone. It was a glimpse into the future, 10-15 years early. As it stands, Apple has 2 choices ahead of it. It will need to either invest in the Vision Pro platform at a loss for multiple years until the tech catches up to a point that the Vision Pro can be reduced to a pair of glasses, OR Apple can abandon the platform early (as it did the Newton) and jump back in when the time is right. I don't envy Tim Cook's decision moving forward. In fact, this decision might even fall onto the shoulders of a new CEO altogether.

 

[macfacts]

You've spoken to Tim Cook on this matter, right?

Apple will do whatever is necessary to produce an outstanding set of AR glasses. Full stop.

When I say Tim, I mean apple. From Apple's own website (https://support.apple.com/en-us/120481) "EyeSight keeps you connected with those around you by letting you make eye contact". The curved front glass display isn't cheap to manufacture, yet to apple it was important to have, else why have it?

"According to the report, one of the biggest obstacles in the production process is the EyeSight feature, which uses internal cameras to replicate the wearer’s eyes on the front of the headset. However, variances in the curved cover glass requires specific calibration from those cameras, which is, seemingly, creating a production bottleneck."

Apple Vision Pro production reportedly cut by more than 50% — what we know

Apple has reportedly cut shipment targets for the Vision Pro headset after production bottlenecks at its Chinese manufacturer.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Night Spring]

When I say Tim, I mean apple. From Apple's own website (https://support.apple.com/en-us/120481) "EyeSight keeps you connected with those around you by letting you make eye contact". The curved front glass display isn't cheap to manufacture, yet to apple it was important to have, else why have it?

"According to the report, one of the biggest obstacles in the production process is the EyeSight feature, which uses internal cameras to replicate the wearer’s eyes on the front of the headset. However, variances in the curved cover glass requires specific calibration from those cameras, which is, seemingly, creating a production bottleneck."

Apple Vision Pro production reportedly cut by more than 50% — what we know

Apple has reportedly cut shipment targets for the Vision Pro headset after production bottlenecks at its Chinese manufacturer.

www.yahoo.com

But when people say AR glasses, they are thinking of something that looks more like sunglasses, with other people being able to directly look at your eyes, so no Eyesight feature is needed.

see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/will-apple-ever-make-ar-smart-glasses.2439857/post-33484220

 

[groove-agent]

I think to reduce the cost of Vision Pro devices, the iPhone needs to do the heavy lifting. It has or eventually will have the muscle to output to the glasses. Most of us already have a powerful iPhone so why duplicate, other to jack up the price. Given the price is affecting Vision Pro, they need to reduce the price.

I bought Valve Index and while I enjoy it, the thing that makes me seldomly use it is it's encumbrance. It's so heavy, and a pain to pull out being tethered with heavy cables it a deterrent. If they made it wireless (or wired to a belt pack ... or iPhone) and relatively lightweight, I'd use it more.

Also there's the motion sickness aspect, but that's another issue.

 

[Night Spring]

I think to reduce the cost of Vision Pro devices, the iPhone needs to do the heavy lifting. It has or eventually will have the muscle to output to the glasses. Most of us already have a powerful iPhone so why duplicate, other to jack up the price. Given the price is affecting Vision Pro, they need to reduce the price.
>snip<
Also there's the motion sickness aspect, but that's another issue.

As I understand it, motion sickness is the reason why VP processing can't be offloaded to the iPhone. The VP pass-through works by capturing images of your environment with its cameras, and displaying them in real time in the tiny screens in front of your eyes. Any lag between the image being captured and displayed contributes to motion sickness, and sending image data to iPhone and waiting for it to come back causes enough of a delay for this to become a problem.

Obviously, not an issue if you are just doing total VR and shutting out the real world completely, but if you want to be able to see and interact with your real life environment while wearing VP, then processing needs to take place on-device.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

The Vision Pro is not what you'd get with glasses. Ever. The idea that the VP will just evolve into a pair of sunglasses misses the point of what the VP is and does. AR & VR are different things.

Vision OS can evolve in such a way that a Vision OS lite could eventually run on a smaller glasses-like device, but that device will never be a VR device, and AR is a much more limited in use cases than is a full AR/VR headset.

 

[partirish]

Remember the Glassholes from 2013/14? They then went to an Enterprise edition for doctors and whatnots. Well, Apple thinks it's a good idea to reinvent that wheel. Maybe someday. Today is not that day.

 

[Kottu]

I think MacRumors is being sponsored by the Sith of Androids. I own a AVP and my family and friends says that I look better with it. Planning to purchase 3-4 more to put under the tree. Will definitely buy a AVP mini for future grandchild as well. I use my AVP everyday, even when I sleep!
God bless Apple and AVP.

 

[citysnaps]

Remember the Glassholes from 2013/14? They then went to an Enterprise edition for doctors and whatnots. Well, Apple thinks it's a good idea to reinvent that wheel. Maybe someday. Today is not that day.

Google Glass was good for snapping photos surreptitiously and for browsing the web. And that was about it. That's not a wheel that needs reinventing.

You may not know AR and its many applications for both personal and commercial/business uses, going back years, is far more than that.

Apple with its upcoming AR glasses will do it right.

 

[macfacts]

You may not know AR and its many applications for both personal and commercial/business uses, going back years, is far more than that.

All these app ideas people are dreaming up don't exist, even apple hasn't shown any "tech demos" coming close to the ideas people have. Apple has only shown high quality (imursive) videos, nothing that uses the cpu.

 

[thebart]

I'll leave this here

From the SipsTea community on Reddit: Deaf girl tries caption glasses

Explore this post and more from the SipsTea community

www.reddit.com

 

[echeck]

I bought my Vision Pro in the first week. I was skeptical, went to a demo at the Store, was absolutely BLOWN away. I even got emotional thinking about spatial photos and videos of my kids. Went back three days later and bought one.

On average I use mine probably six days per week. And that’s not just a half hour here and there. I’m using it for hours. My primary use is work, so I have it on for easily 5-6 hours per day.

This article kept saying how uncomfortable it is. Comfort is subjective, but I really hope all these macrumors employees took off the ridiculous solo knit strap and used the dual loop strap. Makes a WORLD of difference, and it’s in the box. Takes the weight right off the nose so you can use it for hours and hours. My record is just shy of nine hours. No issues.

I also primarily use mine as AR. I VERY rarely immerse myself in an environment. I’ve done the dishes, made lunch, folded laundry, all while wearing it and watching something. The immersive environments are great for watching tv shows or movies, but I honestly don’t do that much because it is isolating from my family. I do totally agree with those sentiments. My girlfriend does say it helps to be able to “see” my eyes, but it’s still isolating.

I absolutely LOVE my Vision Pro, and I don’t regret the purchase one bit. Turning old photos spatial with visionOS 2 is nothing short of incredible. My mom passed away 23 years ago when I was 20. I don’t have many photos of her, so the few I do have I treasure. I turned one of her photos spatial and I lost it. I saw the curves of her face for the first time in 23 years. That was an emotional evening to say the least. My dad passed away six years ago, so I have a lot more photos of him. Same emotional response. Being able to see him. See his smile, and his eyes sparkle with a face that has depth.

Worth every last penny.

Content will continue to get better, and I do wish it was smaller, but I still love it more than any product Apple has ever released.

 

[citysnaps]

All these app ideas people are dreaming up don't exist, even apple hasn't shown any "tech demos" coming close to the ideas people have. Apple has only shown high quality (imursive) videos, nothing that uses the cpu.

No dreaming necessary. AR applications and hardware have existed for years over a wide variety of disciplines. Apple’s AR device as glasses will bring them to both consumers and businesses.

Over the last two or so years I’ve listed a few dozen AR (not VR) uses/applications here.

 

[Trev816]

I would be very happy if Apple developed a pair of AR glasses for driving that tied into Apple Car Play to show my speed, directions, and possibly some hazard alerts etc. Not all cars come with a Head Up Display, so glasses dedicated to driving and Apple Car Play could be a product that has a lot of real-world benefits. I can't think of another practical use for AR glasses in other parts of my working or leisure days.

 

[unchecked]

Yep this thing has it's uses but this is an enterprise B2B or B2C kind of thing pretty much sums it up. Not exactly consumer electronics.

 

[Periwinkle85]

I’m looking forward to glasses with smart lenses that adjust and correct for my vision, if I’m looking near or far, through any point in the lens. Walking down stairs with progressive lenses, anyone? And adjust for sunlight and inside. One can dream!

 

[Richard700]

I would love to buy a VP because I have two extremely valuable potential use cases for it. However, the VP can’t currently execute them due to software, not hardware.
One use case is using Virtual Mac display for reference while drawing on a pen tablet display. But using Virtual Mac display apparently turns off all physical displays connected to the Mac, making it impossible to draw.
The other is using VR animation software like Quill for Oculus. As far as I know nothing like that exists for VP.
I don’t know if either of these will change soon if ever—my needs might be too niche.

I did see that there is an app for the AVP that displays an image projected on to a surface in VR so you could use it as a templet for drawing (I forget what it was called - I never tried it) - couldn't you use that app WITHOUT connecting the AVP to your computer or tablet?

 

[subjonas]

@Richard700 Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I can only use macOS for the time being because the software I use for work is Mac/Windows-only. Also it's not just a drawing app but incorporates video editing and many other functions--it's quite extensive and customized for my work.
But just out of curiosity, the AVP app you saw--did it only project images like jpegs, or did it project some sort of app window? Was it a drawing app?

 

[Richard700]

@Richard700 Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I can only use macOS for the time being because the software I use for work is Mac/Windows-only. Also it's not just a drawing app but incorporates video editing and many other functions--it's quite extensive and customized for my work.
But just out of curiosity, the AVP app you saw--did it only project images like jpegs, or did it project some sort of app window? Was it a drawing app?

I went and installed it - it's called "DaVinci Eye" - the demo had some pictures that you could select, and then you could 'place' them on surfaces in your environment. It seemed to lock the image to the surface (horizontal or vertical) quite well including perspective, almost perfectly (it seemed to change slightly in depth on the surface as I moved around). You could also adjust the transparency of the image on the surface. They advertise it as an aid for drawing. That's all I tried.