Could smart goggles bridge the gap between Vision Pro and Apple Glasses?
1 day ago
It’s widely acknowledged that while Apple is happy for any Vision Pro sales it can get, the primary purpose of the existing headset is to let the company take a first step in the journey towards an Apple Glasses product.
But while a cheaper Apple Vision still seems to be a couple of years away, along with the company’s equivalent of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, we are now seeing the potential emergence of smart goggles as an interim device – with TikTok entering the fray …
Vision Pro is just a step toward Apple GlassesEven Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged that the primary role of the existing Vision Pro model was to begin creating a mixed-reality ecosystem for the company.
The expensive device is expected to get an update this year, giving it a more powerful chip and comfier strap, but otherwise both headset and price are expected to remain unchanged.
A cheaper Apple Vision product is reported to be in the works, though the consensus view is that we won’t see that before 2027. That’s also the expected timing for Apple’s version of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that impressed us here at 9to5Mac.
But the real prize here is neither a bulky headset, nor smart glasses with limited functionality, but rather a device that can deliver augmented reality content in a true glasses form-factor.
Reaching that point, and especially being able to achieve the quality and usability we expect from an Apple product, is no easy task. It’s likely still years away yet.
But a fourth product category is emergingSo far, then, the roadmap looks like this:
(Technically, we could also throw into the mix what I call “face monitors,” though personally I see these as sitting outside the roadmap as they are literally just monitors in glasses form. Don’t misunderstand me – I love mine, and do see them becoming more useful as the tech develops, but I don’t consider them a smart glasses product.)
However, Meta showed off a prototype that – if launched – would sit between the last two. The Meta Orion tries hard to be a pair of glasses, but is so bulky that it would really be better described as goggles.
Could Orion-like goggles be a product?At the time, I just viewed Orion as Meta taking a step towards its own true mixed-reality glasses product, not as a form factor it would ever actually sell.
But a paywalled report in The Information suggests that mixed-reality goggles may be set to become a product in their own right. That’s because TikTok owner ByteDance is aiming to actually launch its own version of Orion, as Engadget reports.
The product isn’t expected to go on sale in the US, but if it proves popular in its home market of China, it could potentially demonstrate a market for a fourth product to tide us over until a true glasses device is practical.
Nobody is going to wear goggles in the street, but if they could offer a significant chunk of Vision Pro type functionality in a much lighter device, they could become a thing for home or office use. A revised roadmap could then look like this:
What’s your view?Could you see a goggles product finding a market, between Vision Pro and an eventual Apple Glasses device? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Image: Meta
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