Smart glasses: Apple is reportedly working on an internal user study

Apple's competitors Snap and Meta have already launched smart glasses. According to reports, Apple wants to intensify its efforts to develop its own glasses.

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Glasses such as those from Meta have shown that there is clearly a market for smart glasses. According to media reports, Apple wants to follow suit in the future.

(Image: Meta)

2 min. read

Meta and Ray-Ban led the way with their smart glasses, Snap did the same with its Spectacles – and now Apple is apparently also thinking more intensively internally about launching smart glasses that combine the functions of headphones and camera. The US financial news agency Bloomberg reports on an internal user study called "Atlas", with which Apple wants to find out which functions of its competitors are really interesting and should be integrated into its own product.

Until now, the rumor mill had only assumed that Apple had far greater ambitions: The Vision Pro was seen as the prelude to a series of further developments that would eventually lead to augmented reality glasses – i.e. glasses that look like today's visual aids and contain a miniaturized computer that superimposes screen information onto the real environment in the lenses. However, work on such a device has stalled, reports Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, citing unnamed sources within the company.

Even if Apple is sticking to its plan, considering the ambitions of competitor Meta and following the presentation of the Project Orion prototype, the company is now reconsidering whether there are products for the interim period that are seen as added value by buyers.

Internal user studies are a popular way for Apple to find out what potential customers who are not directly involved in product development want on the one hand, and to maintain confidentiality on the other – or, as in the current case, to at least avoid official confirmation that Apple is addressing the issue. The study is being coordinated by Apple's Product Systems Quality Team, which is part of hardware development.

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According to Bloomberg, Apple has long been working on smart glasses. The plan is to launch these as a further development of the AirPods. The advantage of a glasses frame is that it creates more space for new sensors, improved audio technology and better battery life.

(mki)

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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.