Just a few days ago, at the start of February, Bloomberg's Apple whisperer Mark Gurman reported that Apple had canceled its Mac-tethered Apple AR glasses after it "performed poorly during reviews with executives."
Despite that, Gurman is back with another report from his Power On newsletter claiming Apple hasn't totally abandoned plans for augmented reality glasses.
Apple has been rumored to have started and stopped its smart glasses projects multiple times. The Mac-tethered version may be just one road that Apple traveled down briefly before turning to a new path.
Apple’s long-term goal of standalone AR glasses remains intact, and the company will keep working on underlying technology.
Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
The Cupertino company was rumored to have abandoned AR glasses in 2019 and allegedly delayed them 'indefinitely' in 2023 before Apple launched the Vision Pro headset last year.
According to Gurman, Apple has a "long-term goal of standalone AR glasses." He says that the tech giant will forge ahead on the underlying technology like the chipset and screens.
A rumor from October of 2024 claimed that we might see a pair of Apple Glasses with microLED screens in 2026. Of course, that was before Gurman's cancellation report, and it's not clear if those rumored glasses are the same as the Mac-tethered ones Gurman wrote about.
Unlike VR headsets, AR or XR glasses have grown slowly and steadily. They are becoming more powerful and capable but still have room to grow.
It wouldn't surprise us if Apple took inspiration from the Xreal One AR glasses, which can be tethered to multiple devices but also feature their own Xreal-designed silicon, the X1 chip.
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