Apple plans to develop smart glasses to compete with Meta's "rival" Orion

Apple has been stuck in an innovation rut for the past few years. With the exception of the Vision Pro headset—which is not expected to be widely adopted—the company hasn’t made any significant hardware moves outside of its core mobile and computing portfolio. But that could change in the next few years with a promising product.

Apple plans to develop smart glasses to compete with products from "rival" Meta.

According to Bloomberg, Apple’s Vision Pro team is working on smart glasses to address a challenge posed by Facebook’s parent company, Meta. The social media giant has already made its mark with the well-received Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have consistently received meaningful social and AI upgrades.

Even more impressive was the launch of Orion, the company’s first augmented reality (AR) glasses, a few weeks ago. These glasses rely on Micro LED projectors and optical-grade silicon carbide for a wide-angle, customizable display unit and multi-layered sensor tracking — all overlaid on an AI-first software experience.

It’s arguably the “mainstream” XR technology Apple should be creating. For now, it seems like Apple is aiming for that in the long term, while also considering Vision Pro as a launch platform for broader XR technology. “By 2027, the team is considering launching smart glasses on par with the Meta Ray-Ban,” Bloomberg reports.

Notably, it seems like Apple is pursuing the same kind of world- understanding capabilities made possible by generative AI tools like GPT-4o and Google Gemini. Meta’s own work with AI is impressive, and was fully showcased in their futuristic Orion presentation.

For Apple, inspiration will come from its expensive headset. “The plan is to bring Vision Pro’s ambient-understanding capabilities to more products,” the Bloomberg report added.

The XR wearables industry is at a pivotal point. On one hand, we have products like the Meta Quest 3s headset that offer premium features like color streaming at a price that’s roughly a tenth of what Apple is asking for the Vision Pro.

Then we have companies like Xreal, Rokid, and RayNeo trying to make smart glasses that don’t look like silly toys. But at the same time, we have giants like Microsoft with ambitious XR products like HoloLens, despite being ahead in the AI ​​race.

It will be interesting to see how Apple approaches its vision of smart glasses. But when it comes to bringing them to market, it won’t be alone. If any hardware company has the software foundation to build such a bold device, it’s Apple, which makes it the clear favorite for success.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/apple-du-kien-phat-trien-kinh-thong-minh-canh-tranh-voi-orion-cua-kinh-dich-meta-192241014080640871.htm