Apple Steps Up Work On AR Glasses: When and What to Expect

In recent years, several companies have offered augmented reality (AR) glasses with displays, smart features, and other bells and whistles. It seems that Apple is stepping up its efforts to enter this segment, but we will have to wait a very long time.

According to Mark Gurman's Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Apple is once again working on creating its own augmented reality glasses. Gurman noted that these glasses will be lightweight and designed to be worn throughout the day.

"according to those I spoke with, a 2027 launch date has been set for Apple's glasses, but insiders at the company are cautioning that they may not be ready for release in just a few years".

This will likely be a more technical challenge than the Vision Pro headset. Augmented reality glasses tend to require a thin, lightweight design, so they will require much smaller components.

In any case, companies such as Meta, XReal and Rokid have already managed to make a splash with their "smart" glasses. Both XReal and Rokid offer multimedia glasses with built-in displays for media playback and gaming. In fact, both of these brands allow you to connect a phone, computer or game console to the glasses for a more immersive, immersive viewing experience.

Meanwhile, the $300 Ray-Ban Meta glasses don't have a display, but they do have features like a camera, built-in speakers, live streaming, and Meta AI support.

Anyway, this isn't the first time we've heard about augmented reality glasses from Apple. Bloomberg previously covered the product, claiming that it was originally slated to launch in 2023 and then 2025, but Apple has apparently decided to delay the device's release indefinitely. So maybe we shouldn't hold our breath for a launch in 2027 either.