Apple is considering entering the smart glasses market. After launching its Vision Pro mixed reality device in early 2024, the apple brand is conducting an internal study to analyze what products there are in this new sector in which they want to set foot. This implies that it could be added to the list of companies that are already part of said business, such as Meta or Xiaomi.
The project, which is internally called Atlas at Apple, is exploring the possibility of entering the smart glasses sector. According to anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the initiative was launched last week and Apple’s Product Systems Quality team is asking employees about the issue.
“Testing and developing products that everyone can love is very important to what we do at Apple,” said one of the employees by email. “That is why we are looking for participants to join us in an upcoming user study with smart glasses on the market today.”
It is not the first time that Apple has sought to create secret discussion groups to better understand what it likes and what it does not about the devices that are already on a market. Generally, those in Cupertino ask their employees first, to prevent outsiders from making their plans public. But they don’t always manage to keep their projects internally and sometimes there are leaks, as has happened in Bloomberg.
Apple’s smart glasses, rival to Meta’s Ray-Ban
At the moment, the best-known smart glasses on the market are the Ray-Ban from Meta. Therefore, Apple could be tracking them to compete with them. However, the Atlas initiative is still an idea, so Tim Cook’s company is very far from stepping on the heels of Mark Zuckerberg’s.
With the analysis of the sector that they are doing among their workers, Apple will assess whether or not it is worth developing its own smart glasses. If the project goes ahead, the developers will already know which features are most important and will be able to get to work trying to implement the necessary technology.
Even though Apple does its best, seeing a device succeed is tricky. They have shown us this with the Vision Pro mixed reality helmets, which some already consider a failure even though it has not yet arrived in Europe. According to a report published by Bloomberg, only 100,000 units were sold in the first quarter since its launch.
Much of the fiasco on sale is due to the fact that it is a heavy, expensive device and its battery life is short. Additionally, supported content is very limited. The device is interesting for watching videos and for certain office tasks, but it is not completely convincing. Although there were rumors that a cheaper version of the Vision Pro would arrive, with more affordable components, nothing is known about it yet.
Smart glasses, according to Mark Gurman in Bloomberg, would be “a more simplified formula” that could have some success. He gives the example of Meta, which has created ones capable of recording videos, answering phone calls and asking an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. It should be noted that they do not overlay information on the glass like the augmented reality option, but users really enjoy this invention.
Using the example of Meta and other brands that have already launched their smart glasses, Apple can get an idea of whether their product would work. Possibly, if they end up releasing a version with the apple logo, it will be more expensive than what Meta has us used to. However, they would be cheaper than the Vision Pro and that would be a compelling reason for more users to consider their purchase.
