Apple Eyeing Smart Glasses Market, Reportedly Conducting Internal Surveys

Apple Inc. is reportedly working to develop smart glasses and has launched an initiative named Atlas to conduct internal surveys of smart glasses available in the market. The iPhone-maker is gathering feedback from employees on smart eye wear such as that from Snap Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. in a bid to develop its own in the future, Bloomberg reported.

When Apple is in the development stage of a product, it usually conducts on-campus research. It conducted surveys when developing AirPods, Vision Pro and HomePod, and is now doing the same for smart glasses by researching on existing products in the market. The research is meant to identify features the company could potentially include in and improvements it could develop for its device.

Notably, at Meta Connect in September, Meta had released a limited edition, regular-looking smart glasses and added new AI features to its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The current smart glasses that Apple is surveying allow users to record video, answer question about what they’re seeing, while wearing the glasses, play music and make phone calls.  

In February this year, there were rumours that Apple was considering the idea of smart glasses, and reports of the research only seem to confirm the company’s attempts to play catch-up with Meta’s Ray-Ban and other devices in the market.

Gurman also wrote in his article that Apple could take multiple approaches with the glasses: develop a glass-based version of its AirPods or create augmented reality glasses, which would combine the features of Vision Pro into a set of glasses that people could wear all day.

Apple does have a mixed-reality headset in the form of Vision Pro, but its bulky form and high price have been barriers to its success.

However, considering Apple's quality standards, an AR experience from the company’s stable could be years away, Gurman noted.