It’s been a rumor for some time now that Apple had a pair of AR glasses in development, but a new report from Mark Gurman says the company has cancelled the project. Apple has expressed a lot of interest in the AR/VR space, but its first attempt with the Vision Pro didn’t make the splash the company expected. Its over-the-top price and more professionally-focused applications led to fewer sales and a lot of excess stock.
The goal was to create a competitor to the Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, but Gurman says the cancellation comes in the wake of an attempt to change and improve the design of the glasses. The first version of the glasses would link with an iPhone, but its limited power meant applications were limited — and the demands of the device also had an impact on phone battery life. Apple pivoted and focused on linking the glasses with a Mac instead, but that was met with poor evaluations. The development team reportedly dealt with frequently-changing goals, adding to the difficulty, until the project was cancelled.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Apple has shuttered a project. The company has entertained the idea of a self-driving car for a decade, but Apple gave that project the axe last year. Gurman says Apple also cancelled work on in-house LED displays for the Apple Watch, too. The loss of these projects doesn’t bode well for the future of the already-struggling Vision Pro. Gurman says Apple has a planned successor to the Vision Pro that would improve on the flaws in its original release, although there are employees who “believe there’s a lack of focus and clear direction within the team.”
Apple hasn’t completely given up on AR glasses. Several unnamed executives “still hope to eventually create a set of standalone AR glasses someday,” according to the report. Meta doesn’t plan to release its AR smart glasses until 2027, so Apple still has some time to come up with another approach. It would be a welcome addition to the lineup, and a much more affordable way to access Vision Pro-like features.