Apple has killed plans to manufacture its rumored augmented reality glasses, according to a report from DigiTimes.
If true, the report would conflict with claims from sources that Apple planned to release augmented reality glasses as early as 2020. Well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman both revealed details of the project in the past.
The DigiTimes report is currently paywalled behind its "Before Going to Press" section, so we won’t have more information about the change of plans until the story is made public. MacRumors believes DigiTimes cites another report as their source for the story.
We speculated Apple was officially set on designing AR glasses last year when the company acquired Akonia Holographics, a Colorado-based startup with over 200 patents to make “thin, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images.”
Apple has been venturing into virtual reality and augmented reality technologies for over ten years, according to filed patents. We already know that CEO Tim Cook believes that AR will be huge and he’s alluded to several AR projects down Apple’s pipeline.
It's unclear if Cook is pulling back on Apple AR tech, but if the plans for glasses are actually terminated, it would be stifling news for the innovation-focused company.
