It’s time for Apple to get into smart glasses. This is an emerging product category that combines AI, cameras and audio… three components that the iPhone-maker is either already expert at or is working hard to improve.
Apple Glasses could be critical for the company long term because it would be an important step toward someday making the Vision Pro AR headset into a viable product.
Apple Glasses: Start small
Apple Vision Pro is packed with bleeding-edge technology that makes it the best augmented reality headset by a wide margin. It’s also huge, heavy and wildly expensive at $3,500.
Of course, Apple is working to fix those drawbacks in future versions. But that’ll take years. I predict that a slim, lightweight and affordable Vision Pro won‘t be on the market before 2030. And that’s an optimistic estimate. The company needs a viable product well before then.
A way to get there is to take the opposite product strategy from Vision Pro: start with a basic device that’s simply a first step toward the final goal then build on it. That’s Apple Glasses. It would combine a camera, open-ear speakers and the upcoming AI-powered Siri into a lightweight pair of frames.
None of that is cutting edge, as Meta Ray-Bans demonstrate. Apple’s version would be essentially a redesigned pair of AirPods with a camera that automatically uploads images and videos to iCloud. And an iPhone would be necessary for any functionality. A basic device, true, but it would do more than AirPods with a longer battery life. And it could sell for under $500.
2025 or 2026, not 2027
The good news is that Apple is already working on a pair of smart glasses, according to an unconfirmed report from this autumn. These will allegedly use Apple’s Visual Intelligence to identify items around the wearer. The problem is that they aren‘t expected before 2027. A three-year wait is too long a delay getting into this important product category.
Visual Intelligence would be great for Apple Glasses 2.0, but a more basic version really needs to launch in the next year or so, or Apple will get left behind by Meta. And expect Samsung’s first smart glasses in just a few weeks.
Looking farther ahead, as screen technology becomes cheaper, Apple Glasses 3.0 could offer the same functionality as Apple Watch except projected in front of the wearer’s eyes rather than on their wrist. And that’s the model to follow: gradual improvement on a basic device, keeping the product affordable the whole time.
Apple Glasses evolve into Vision Pro
The current Vision Pro packs in nearly every technology one could want in an AR headset. Its screens are stunning, it easily tracks the wearer’s hand movements, and the software is intuitive and smooth as silk. And that’s why it costs and weighs so much. Apple’s basic plan to fix those drawbacks is to wait for screen, processor and battery technology to catch up to its dream. That’s not going to work out.
Apple Glasses, on the other hand, can be made with tech available today. And as improvements in screens, batteries, etc. come along, they evolve to the point where the product line could merge with Vision Pro. That’s a workable long-term strategy.
Advanced smart glasses with AR are the future of technology. They’re eventually going to replace smartphones, smart watches, tablets and notebooks. Really, anything with a screen. Apple absolutely cannot miss this boat. And that’s why it needs both Apple Glasses and Vision Pro in its product lineup.
