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Apple is stepping up its work on AR glasses, but don't expect them soon
- Apple has reportedly “renewed” efforts to develop its own augmented reality glasses.
- Unfortunately, it sounds like they’ll only be ready by 2027 at the soonest.
Several companies have offered augmented reality (AR) glasses in recent years, featuring a display, smart features, or other tricks. It now sounds like Apple is stepping up its efforts to enter this segment, but we could be in for an extremely long wait.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that Apple has “renewed” efforts to develop its own AR glasses. The journalist added that these would be “lightweight” glasses that could be worn all day.
“Though a launch date around 2027 has been bandied about, no one I’ve spoken to within Apple believes the glasses will be ready in a few years,” he cautioned.
Why would you want AR glasses?
This would likely be a tougher technical challenge in some ways than the Vision Pro headset. AR glasses generally require a slim, lightweight design, so this would necessitate much smaller components.
In any event, companies like Meta, XReal (seen at the top of the page), and Rokid have all made a splash with their smart glasses. XReal and Rokid both offer multimedia-focused glasses with built-in displays for media playback and gaming. In fact, both of these brands let you connect a phone, PC, or games console to the glasses for a more expansive, immersive view.
Meanwhile, Meta’s $300 Ray-Ban Meta glasses lack a display but deliver features like a camera, built-in speakers, live-streaming capabilities, and Meta AI support.
In any event, this wouldn’t be the first time we hear about Apple AR glasses. Bloomberg previously covered the product, claiming that it was originally slated to launch in 2023 and then 2025 before Apple apparently decided to indefinitely delay the device. So maybe don’t hold your breath for a 2027 launch, either.