Rumor: Apple nixes its AR glasses over technological hurdles
Apple has reportedly canceled its augmented reality (AR) smart glasses, which were rumored to have been in development for at least a decade.
The headset group was apparently developing AR glasses code-named N107 that would pair with the Mac and rival Meta’s future AR glasses (which could arrive in 2027) but found out the hard way that building sophisticated AR glasses that looked regular glasses was easier said than done, Mark Gurman reported on Bloomberg.
Interestingly enough, Apple reportedly couldn’t develop a chip that would fit inside the device and provide performance on par with the iPhone. I say “interestingly enough” because Apple has been able to beat Intel at it one game with its silicon and design a processor that fits inside the tiny Apple Watch case.
Rumor: Apple kills its smart AR glasses project
Gurman has learned that the chip was supposed to provide an iPhone-class performance with just one-tenth of the power consumption. Otherwise, it would need a battery that would make the glasses too heavy to wear comfortably.
As a result, the headset group pivoted to possibly offloading all processing to an iPhone but ultimately determined that the phone lacked the power and battery performance required to provide those capabilities.
The company had initially wanted the glasses to pair with an iPhone, but it ran into problems over how much processing power the handset could provide. It also affected the iPhone’s battery life. So the company shifted to an approach that required linking up with a Mac computer, which has faster processors and bigger batteries.
That wouldn’t be unheard-of as the company was previously rumored to have originally tried the same method when developing its Vision Pro headset, but abandoned it in favor of a self-contained product.
But the Mac-connected product performed poorly during reviews with executives, and the desired features continued to change. Members of Apple’s Vision Products Group, which worked on the device, grew increasingly concerned that the project was on the rocks. Sure enough, the final word came this week that the effort was over.
Gurman writes that Apple developed special lenses that could change tint based on whether the user was working, playing and so on, which sounds a lot like the EyeSight feature on Vision Pro. Apple likely owes this feature to its acquisition of a startup named Akonia Holographics, which specializes in vibrant lenses for AR glasses. Like other smart glasses, Apple’s were supposed to project images and video in front of the wearer’s eyes and let you navigate the interface with your eyes.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/01/31/apple-ar-glasses-canceled/
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