• Apple is reportedly doing market research on smart glasses as it readies to develop one of its own.
• We are still some years off from seeing an actual product, but smart glasses appear to be the new wearable that tech companies are obsessing over.
• The likes of Meta are leading the way currently with its Orion prototype.

Is it 2014 again? It may feel like it if you have been following the latest developments when it comes to wearables.

While the fervour around smart glasses has died down in recent years ever since Google shelved its Glass project owing to minimal uptake from consumers, it now looks like big tech companies are eyeing up the wearables as a way to deliver AI-powered extended reality (VR + AR + MR) experiences.

Last week we saw Samsung share an update on its plans, and now Apple appears to be throwing its hat into the ring. This according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who is usually on the money when it comes to anything involving the Cupertino-based company.

It may be some time before we see an Apple-brand pair of smart glasses being showcased at one of its product showcases or WWDC conferences, with Gurman noting that we are still several years away from a device seeing the light of day, but the company is indeed intrigued with the segment.

So much so that it is currently doing market research on the devices currently available to the public to assess precisely what consumer sentiment is, as well as how far the technology still needs to develop.

While it remains to be seen what the research yields, it looks like Apple is indeed preparing to launch a pair of its own smart glasses. The company has been dabbling in mixed reality experiences for a few years now, culminating in the Vision Pro headset that we saw last year.

That device is yet to receive a wider release globally, but Apple may look to use the Vision Pro as a launching point for a slimmer, more compact offering that is not dependent on an attachable power bank in order to operate.

Only time will tell, but at the moment, Meta seems to be leading the way compared to all other big tech companies. The Facebook owner has released several iterations of Quest headset to the public, and only a few weeks ago, showcased its Orion concept smart glasses (featured in the video embedded below).

The Meta Orion remains a concept for now, but the company is still some distance ahead of its competitors. Whether more companies will join them remains to be seen, but as more ways to make AI-powered platforms available to consumers in pervasive ways, having a pair of smart glasses may be the next step.

Either way, it looks like a decade later the once-shelved wearable technology is being revived, with AI being the catalyst to do so.

[Image – Photo by Laurenz Heymann on Unsplash]