Apple is reportedly conducting its own study of existing products and customer sentiment as it considers its own entry into the smart glasses market.
Reports from a number of sources, including Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, suggest the interest follows the launch of its high-end Vision Pro augmented reality (AR) headset.
Bloomberg has reported that Apple’s initiative is called ‘Atlas’ and it started in October with an email sent to select Apple employees that read: “Testing and developing products that all can come to love is very important to what we do at Apple. This is why we are looking for participants to join us in an upcoming user study with current market smart glasses”.
It is suggested that Apple is doing this to understand consumer perceptions and preferences without revealing its own plans.
As part of this it is reportedly evaluating smart glasses from competitors like Snap and Meta Platforms, with a potential launch date of 2027.
These devices, while not full-fledged AR headsets, offer functionalities such as video recording, phone calls and music playback.
“It’s a category where Apple is suddenly playing catch-up, despite all the work it put into the bulkier and pricier Vision Pro,” Gurman said.
Earlier this year, a report said that Google was in talks with eyewear major EssilorLuxottica about bringing its Gemini Al assistant to its next-gen smart glasses.
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