Apple AR eyewear 'approaching liftoff' says new report

Apple AR eyewear 'approaching liftoff' says new study

(Image credit: Martin Hajek/iDropnews)

Apple has yet to enter either the VR headset or smart glasses market, but analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that the company is "budgeted liftoff," noting a similarity in patenting betwixt now and the period alee of the original Apple tree Picket's launch in 2022.

"Apple's patent portfolio is beginning to mirror the menstruum prior to the Sentry launch," the Morgan Stanley report, seen past Investors.com, reads.

There are two avenues Apple tree is said to be pursuing in the VR and AR infinite. First up, there'due south an Apple tree VR and mixed reality headset, rumored to toll around $2,000 and likely rival Meta'southward new Projection Cambria headset.

Then there's a pair of Apple Glasses, which would we fully focused on augmented reality, which is reportedly due much later.

While information technology seems probable that Morgan Stanley is referring to the latter, there'due south undoubtedly some crossover in terms of the functionality and patent applications. And there accept certainly been plenty of AR patent applications from Apple of late, with everything from smart rings for hand gestures and vibrating socks to centre projection and iPhone privacy covered.

The Morgan Stanley report does highlight the extreme challenges involved in making an AR wear a reality, but states that Apple is yet in the home stretch. "The enormity of the technical challenge — compressing daylong bombardment, 5G, compute, cameras, lidar, projectors and wave guide lenses into a lightweight, attractive pair of glasses — is hard to overstate," the analysts wrote. "Only nosotros are budgeted liftoff."

Overall, the investment bank has high hopes for Apple'south identify in a market that has, until now, been a niche one. "Apple tree'due south entry into the eyewear market will be the game changer for all participants every bit the engineering gets normalized and popularized," the company said, stating that Apple could comfortably overtake Microsoft, Google and Meta, which have all dabbled in the AR/VR space.

"Apple has a long history of disrupting new markets and ultimately growing the addressable market size well beyond initial expectations," it added.

That's certainly true. The iPod kicked off the mass adoption of MP3 players at a time when they were niche, and the company repeated the feat with the iPhone six years later.

Eyewear is a far bigger challenge: nobody looks absurd in a VR headset, and members of the Google Glass Explorers program were unaffectionaly christened "glassholes" due to their ostentatious eyewear.

Only if Apple can make AirPods a must-have way accessory, despite initial mockery, then yous accept to say the company at least has a fighting hazard of helping AR glasses go mainstream.

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in betwixt. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, yous'll probably find him tackling his always-growing games excess. Or, more probable, playing Spelunky for the millionth fourth dimension.