Apple Cancels Mac-Connected AR Smart Glasses

Apple is no longer developing augmented reality glasses designed to pair with the Mac, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple wanted to create smart glasses that looked like regular glasses, but had augmented reality capabilities.

Apple was developing AR glasses that connect to a Mac for power, because a chip powerful enough for AR applications would not fit in a device that's the size of standard glasses. Apple engineers determined that the AR glasses would need to provide the performance of an iPhone with a tenth of the power consumption, otherwise the chip would simply run too hot. Adding a battery to the glasses would also be problematic because of the weight.

At first, Apple wanted the glasses to connect to the iPhone, but the iPhone didn't have the power or battery life to support them. Apple then transitioned to using the Mac as a power source, but Apple executives weren't convinced a Mac-connected device was a good solution, leading to the shutdown of the project.

The AR glasses that Apple worked on were lighter than the Vision Pro and did not require a head strap, nor was there a front-facing screen showing the wearer's eyes. Apple reportedly created lenses that could change tint based on what the wearer was doing, such as doing work, as a signal to people around them.

There have been rumors about Apple's work on AR glasses for almost 10 years now, and the Vision Pro headset is what Apple built because the technology doesn't yet exist for the kind of augmented reality glasses that Apple is aiming for.

Back in 2023, Gurman said that the AR glasses were a running joke on the AR/VR team because it was a "hopeless" device they worked on to keep Apple CEO Tim Cook happy. Back in 2017, Cook himself said that the technology to make AR smart glasses "in a quality way" simply didn't exist, and it appears that's still the case.

While Apple's work on augmented reality glasses has been paused, the company is still developing new versions of the Vision Pro, and when the technology exists, Apple executives want to revisit the possibility of a set of AR glasses.

Apple's smart glasses featured projectors able to display information like images and video to the wearer, and Apple is continuing to work on custom microLED displays that could one day be used in AR glasses.

Apple competitor Meta has already demonstrated its "Orion" augmented reality glasses that are in development, but the glasses are in a prototyping stage and cost over $10,000 to make. Meta is aiming to release the glasses by 2027, which is also when Apple was originally planning to debut its now-canceled smart glasses.