Apple AR Glasses - The Future of Reality!

AR is the future and I’m so excited for it! 

Apple is currently the leader in terms of AR Tracking right now. We know that they’re working on their brand new AR Glasses, which we’ve done a number of videos on but you see, this video is quite a bit different, this is because I’ve sort of tried the Apple AR Glasses myself. Well, not the actual unit as no one outside of Apple really has access to those, but I have tried two devices which are essentially early prototypes of what the Apple AR Glasses will deliver, in terms of functionality.

So, without any further ado, get those snacks ready and let’s jump into some AR.

---

DreamGlass 4K

The first item that I have tried is called the DreamGlass 4K. This thing hasn’t fully launched just yet, it’s on Indiegogo, DreamGlass hasn’t sponsored this in any way, they have sent this over for us to check out. After checking it out, I honestly don’t recommend it but it does have some interesting features that do give us an early taste of what the Apple Glasses can do.

This is basically a Heads-On Display Headset, very similar to the Google Glass where you had this tiny Display in a corner of your field-of-view. That tiny Display would show you some info such as the Time, Date, Weather, Notifications and stuff like that. The first difference here is that the Display on these is Full-Screen, rather than it being a tiny window. Secondly, these Glasses are actually tethered to a Remote, which I’ll get to in just a second, meaning that they’re more like a home-experience device rather than something that you would take on the street or in public.

The way they work is that they have these two tiny Displays in each of the Lenses, which your eye then perceives as one Display. It’s fairly high-res, at least according to DreamGlass. They claim that this is a 4K Panel, but  I’m not so sure about that as the content that I was viewing on this was mostly 1080p. However, I can’t deny that the Display inside of this is pretty decent. You connect the Headset to a Remote, which runs Android. It has Bluetooth, WiFi and all of that, which means you can put movies and a few Apps on here, then preview those on the Headset itself. The reason why this isn’t AR is because the Display itself is fixed, it doesn’t move. If you move your head, it will move as well, just like the Google Glass did. 

The DreamGlass 4K is an early prototype with some flaws to iron out, but it has some promising features.

Now, what’s cool about this is that the Remote itself also has a HDMI Port, meaning that you can connect this to a Console and play Console Games on your Headset without anyone even noticing. You can connect your Smartphone and play some movies directly or even stream content wirelessly, that’s doable as well. Plus, you can connect a Controller and basically have a gaming set-up on the go. However, my favourite feature is that you can also connect it to a Laptop and have a full Desktop UI, which you can then control with your Mouse & Keyboard and then when you remove the Glasses, the virtual set-up is all gone.

So, that’s what I really like about these, the fact that they give us a glimpse of what we could do with true AR Glasses in the future. If you’re ever played ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’, humans had these Chips that they would attach to their heads and they were able to see AR Elements in the real world, that’s how they were all using their computers. There were no Monitors, you would just sit on a desk, turn on your AR Chip or Headset and your computer will appear right in front of you. The DreamGlass is essentially an early look at that.

Unfortunately, it does have a lot of issues. For example, even-though DreamGlass says that this is 4K Display, on their Specs sheet they only list 2.5K, which I’m assuming is for each eye. But anyway, once I connected my Laptop to the Headset, the Laptop was only seeing this as a 1080p Display, rather than a 4K Display. Not only that, but there was a significant amount of ghosting and lag when using the Mouse. So, the Response Time on this is extremely high, making it unsuitable for almost anything other than watching movies really. Speaking of that, we tried manually putting some videos and Apps onto the Headset, but our computers just couldn’t see it. Not even a USB stick would work, through that single USB A Port. You can activate 3D Mode using a Button on the Remote, which actually works surprisingly well, that’s cool but realistically, I just cannot recommend this to anyone.

It costs $400 or £300, as much as a Console, but it’s nothing more than a Monitor that’s strapped to your head, which also needs another device to work properly. The DreamGlass isn’t really worth it, but at least we got a good idea of how the Apple Glasses could be used to interact with a virtual Mac.

---

Oculus Quest

Now, the second device that I have is a bit more special, this is the Oculus Quest. It is something that came out last year and we’ve even made a very detailed Review Video, which you can check out on the channel.

Now, as most of you might now, the Oculus Quest is a VR Headset, meaning that you’re fully immersed into the experience and you cannot see the real world at all. Something quite unique about the Oculus Quest is that it is a fully wireless VR experience so unlike the Smartphone VR systems, where you just slide in your Phone and you can just look around up, down, left or right, the Quest has the full Six Degrees of freedom. This means that you can even walk around your room and the Quest would be able to track that. It’s pretty much like the high-end VR systems, like the HTC Vive, except it’s fully wireless and it does all the tracking on its own, without the need to place large tracking Sensors in your room. In order to achieve this, it uses four Cameras, one in each corner that tracks the environment in 3D. 

A recent update for the Oculus Quest really ups it’s AR game, with features that Apple’s own device could implement.

But what has this got to do with the Apple AR Glasses, which are surely AR and not VR? Well, Oculus has actually released a recent update, which allows you to also use the Quest as an AR Headset. So, remember those Cameras that I mentioned that are used to map the environment in 3D? Well, with this recent update, you can actually replace the standard background in the Menus, with the video feed from the Cameras. Even-though this is just black and white, it perfectly matches the environment in real life and you now have all the Menu Elements appear on top of your real world. This is fully tracked, which is really what the Apple AR Glasses will be all about.

The only difference will be that Apple’s Glasses will be smaller and made so that they resemble actual Glasses. Plus, the AR Elements would be overlaid on top of your real-world view, rather than a Camera recording your real-world view and then overlaying the AR Clements on top of that video recording. Everything will be just as sharp and just as colourful as in real life.

This would be cool if you could just use your hands to control the UI. Well, it turns out you actually can! The Oculus Quest has full Hand-Tracking Support, meaning that I can just use my hands to navigate the UI. There are also a few Gestures that I can do to simulate a click or even move the UI around. I have to say, if you do have an Oculus Quest, you have to try this for yourself.

Firstly, you need to make sure that you have the latest updates installed, then go into ‘Settings’, ‘Experimental Features’ and turn on the new Beta HomeScreen UI. Once you’ve done that, the Headset will reboot. After that, you can go into ‘Settings’ again, select ‘Virtual Environments’, select ‘Passthrough’ and there you go, an early look at AR Glasses.

---

Apple AR Glasses

Ok, so now that I have talked about two pieces of tech that give us an idea of how Apple’s AR Glasses will work, how would they be any different from these two Headsets?

First of all, Apple will designing their AR Glasses to look like regular Glasses. We have heard some rumors that Apple is also working on a VR/AR Headset, which is said to look similar to the Oculus Quest and that one might launch earlier. The main AR Glasses Headset that we’re all waiting for, that would just look like a regular pair of Glasses.

The use of the LiDAR Sensor on the iPad Pro & iPhone 12 Pro’s may be a test-run for something much bigger.

The second difference, like I mentioned before, is that the AR Elements would be displayed on the actual Lenses of the Glasses, rather than those being displayed on a video-stream, like they are on the Oculus Quest. You will get to see the AR Elements projected right onto the real world, with the elements themselves being in 8K Resolution, according to the info that we’ve seen so far. Also, instead of using actual Cameras to map the environment, like the Oculus Quest, Apple is said to be using LiDAR Modules that they’re currently using in the 2020 iPad Pro (this is also what the iPhone 12 Pro’s will be using).

Not only that, but Jon Prosser said that this is Apple’s plan, to implement the LiDAR Module on their iPads and iPhones first so that users get to use it for a bit, then take all the AR data that they’ve gathered from those devices and improve on the AR experience for the Glasses. It seems like the only reason why the LiDAR Modules are there is to create the AR experience of a future product, Apple’s AR Glasses. 

In terms of interacting with the UI Elements, Siri will indeed be present. Just like with the AirPods and pretty much all of Apple’s devices today, you’ll be able to ask Siri different questions and requests certain actions. The interesting part is when it comes to touch interaction. We’ve seen some reports that Apple will have a Touch Panel built into the Frame. That may be the case for things such as Volume Control, but I think the main interaction would be done in a very similar way as to how it works on the Oculus Quest, which is by fully using your hands in the air, flicking and scrolling through the UI. 

In fact, a recent Patent Application found by ‘AppleInsider’ shows that Apple is looking into having interactive AR Elements appear on a real-world surface. What this means is that you would be able to have Buttons, Menus and even Apps on a flat surface, in the real world, and interact with them just by pressing the virtual Buttons. This will be sort of like having a virtual iPad that’s just sitting on a desk, that you can actually interact with. 

In fact, one MacRumors user, ‘AngerDanger’, claims that Apple could potentially use Thermal Imaging to detect hotspots left by finger-taps on surfaces, which they can then register as Touch Input. Not only that, but if you’ve been following Apple’s advancements in AR, with ARKit, you know that they managed to pull off things that were previously considered impossible. They managed to pull of AR Tracking with just a single Camera Lens. Normally, you would need at least two Cameras so you can compare the differences between the two and create a 3D shape. Apple managed to pull this off with just one Camera and by using the data from their built-in Gyroscope and Accelerometer. Not only that, but Apple has also managed to add real-time shadows onto the virtual AR objects. What this means is that, if you have a virtual object and in the real world and you have a light pointed in one direction, that virtual object would blend into the scene perfectly with the light casting a shadow on its other side.  Apple has also managed to pull this off with reflections. If you have a glossy virtual object, objects from the real world, this would actually cast reflections on it.

The bulkier headset that Mike Rockwell advocated for would need external hardware, something that Jony Ive and Tim Cook did not side with.

Apple’s AR glasses are said to be announced by the end of 2021, with a full release in 2022. This can of course be delayed, depending on how the project is going for Apple. Speaking of that, a report that came from Mark Gurman in June 2020 claims that there have been some serious internal debates between Jony Ive and Mike Rockwell, who leads Apple’s AR and VR development on how this Headset should work.

Jony wanted a fully wireless Headset that was thin and sleek, essentially, the Glasses. Mike, on the other hand, wanted something revolutionary in terms of Graphics and experience and because of that, the Headset ended up being bulky and needing an External Box, which would process all the data and then stream it wirelessly to the Headset. This Headset would’ve been an AR and VR Headset, again, very similar to the Oculus Quest. 

Tim Cook apparently sided with Jony on a Headset that doesn’t take people from the real world, but instead adds Elements onto the real world in order to improve it, which I fully agree with. I’m personally team Jony here but do let me know what do you guys think? Would you prefer that Apple develops the AR Glasses or an AR/VR Headset, like the Oculus Quest, instead?

iPhone 13 (2021), AirPods Studio, Apple Glass & more!

We don’t even have the iPhone 12 yet, but we already have some iPhone 13 leaks. Get those snacks ready as we’ll be covering the recent iPhone 13 Leaks, Apple Glasses updates, iPhone 12 updates, AirPods Studio Headphones and so much more!

---

iPhone 13

Another iPhone, another Camera Module

Starting off with the iPhone 13, Twitter leaker Fudge (@choco_bit), who’s been accurate in the past, claims that this is the supposed layout for the iPhone 13 (Right), which would be the 2021 iPhone. He did say that we should take this with a grain of salt, since these leaks are pre-event. So, this could indeed be something that Apple is considering for the iPhone 13 lineup, it’s just that it’s way too early to know for sure if Apple would indeed go down this route.

Regardless, this is our very first look into what could materialise into the iPhone 13 and as you can see, the back is quite a bit different now. We have four Camera Modules, compared to three on the iPhone 11/12. That LiDAR Sensor, from the iPhone 12, has now been moved underneath that four Camera Array. I would say that this does make a lot of sense. If Apple were to add another Module, they would preferably add it in that Triple Camera Array, where the LiDAR Module is currently sitting on the iPhone 12’s. This would be in order to have a consistent design, so the LiDAR Module would be moved somewhere outside of that Array.

Now, you’re probably wondering, what would that fourth Camera be for? Is it a Zoom Camera? Is it one of those strange Colour Filter Cameras that OnePlus added?

Well, it is way too early to know but my personal guess is that it is some sort of Periscope Telephoto Module, similar to what Huawei and Samsung have added. It may possibly be a 5x Optical Zoom Module or something along those lines.The likelihood with a Module like that, is that you can only go from 1x to 5x, anything in between would just be Digital Zoom. However, if you keep the 2x Module and then add a 5x Module, you still retain a sharp Zoom Level in between the two. This is what I believe Apple would do, judging from this design leak.

Speaking of the Cameras, Fudge also tweeted some details about the iPhone 13 Camera System and according to him, the iPhone 13’s model number is D6x and the Main Camera would be a 64MP Module with 6x Digital Zoom. Others have done this in the past. Samsung is a very good example, they added a very high Megapixel count to their Smartphones but as a result, Low-Light Performance was affected negatively. They started having Focusing issues so, as long as you have a tiny Smartphone Sensor, adding more Pixels would just make those Pixels smaller as there’s finite room inside the Smartphone Sensor. Because of this, they would capture less light. This is why Apple is one of the last Smartphone manufacturers that kept the (now) low-res 12MP Sensor, because the lower the MP count, the bigger the Pixels are and the better the Camera is in Low-Light. Anyway, that’s just the Main Module.

Then we would have a 40MP Ultra-Wide Angle Module and a 40MP Telephoto Module with 3-5x Optical Zoom, like I was assuming, with a 15-20x Digital Zoom. These are very likely possibilities. Probably not so much in terms of the the Ultra-Wide Module as it’s already pretty bad in Low-Light, an increase in Megapixel count would just make it worse. But the Telephoto Module would benefit a lot from an increased Megapixel count.

Finally, the fourth Module would actually not be a 2x Telephoto. According to Fudge, it would be a 64MP Anamorphic Lens. So, a 2.1:1 Aspect Ratio that would give you an incredibly wide and cinematic view, especially when shooting video. But, is there really any point in having that if we already have an Ultra-Wide Module? I would say no, and Fudge pretty much agrees. He does say that we should take this with a huge amount of salt. It’s extremely likely that his sources did tell him that these are things that Apple is currently considering doing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will definitely happen. We can’t be sure of that just yet. Also, it seems that Jon Prosser disagrees. He says that the Camera layout of the iPhone 13 would be identical to the iPhone 12, something that ‘LoveToDream’, another accurate leaker, disagrees with. From my understanding, both LovetoDream and Fudge get their info from a Supply Chain source, whereas Jon Prosser gets his info from Apple’s own team, this is the reason why we have some conflicts here.

Given Apples’s history with recycling old designs, we wouldn’t expect any massive changes in that single year.

Aside from that, another change that could be coming to the iPhone 13 is the Notch. As you probably all know by now, the iPhone 12 will still have the Notch. It’s just that it would be smaller, thanks to the repositioning of the Earpiece. We’ve heard some rumors that Apple could be removing the Notch from the iPhone 13 entirely, with them being in favour of a Full-Screen Display. But, knowing Apple and how they like to keep a certain design for as long as possible, I don’t see them giving up on the iPhone 12”s front design after just one year. It would be cool, but I don’t think that’s happening in 2021.

But something that is happening in 2021, is Apple finally dropping Lightning from the iPhone! However, we would not be getting USB C, which we’ve been wanting for so many years now, but instead, the iPhone 13 would have a complete Wireless Charging solution. This means that we would have no Ports on the 2021 iPhone. Instead, we would be getting something that looks like a Smart Connector, which would allow you to connect a Magnetic Charging Cable and charge the iPhone like that. This would be very similar to how the Apple Watch charges.

Now, while that is pretty neat, USB C Charging would still be preferred. Otherwise, this would still be another extra cable that you would have to carry with you, which would be just as inconvenient as it is to carry the Lightning Cable now, when all of your other devices are USB C. But the thing is, this is looking extremely likely to happen.

Fudge reported that this is indeed happening but that you would be expected to charge the iPhone wirelessly instead. Ming-Chi-Kuo has reported the exact same thing and Jon Prosser has also mentioned this as well. They are all saying that one Portless iPhone will be coming next year and that Apple will never add USB C to their iPhones. Bloomberg also reported a similar thing. That Apple will be removing the lighting connector from at least one of their iPhones, in 2021. These are four sources with a very good track-record, all reporting the exact same thing. So, it’s looking quite likely that at least one iPhone 13 would be going fully wireless next year.

So, there you go, that’s how the iPhone 13 is shaping up. This completely wireless iPhone with the same frame as the iPhone 12, possibly the same exact Notch and likely some Camera improvements, which will be focused on the Zoom functionality that is currently lacking.

---

iPhone 12

When it comes to this year’s iPhone, the iPhone 12, we do have some fresh updates. According to Ming-Chi-Kuo, the iPhone 12’s would not come with Headphones inside the box anymore, in order for Apple to sell more AirPods.

That does make a lot of sense, especially considering the price leaks that Jon Prosser has posted. According to Jon, the 5.4” iPhone 12, which would be the lowest-end model, would start from $650. It will come with an OLED Display, the new A14 Processor and a Dual Camera Module. That’s an insanely low price for new iPhones. The 6.1” iPhone 12 Max would cost $750, followed by the 6.1” iPhone 12 Pro, which could cost $1000, followed by the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max, which would cost $1100.

After the $400 iPhone SE, it seems that the base iPhone 12 is also on the more affordable side.

Aside from the Camera Modules and the Stainless Steel build, the regular iPhone 12’s would still come with all the features that the Pro models come with. Meaning that there hasn’t been a year when Apple had a better iPhone line-up. They obviously had to make some trade-offs to keep that price low and it seems like one of these would be not including Headphones. Unfortunately, one of the other trade-offs would be the lack of any high Refresh Rate Display.

There have been a ton of conflicting reports on this, with some saying that it would have a 120Hz Display, and some saying that it would not. Long story short, according to Display Analyst Ross Young, Apple wants to include an LTPO OLED Display on the iPhone 12’s so that they can dynamically adjust the Refresh Rate from 1Hz, all the way up to 120Hz. This is just like what they’re doing on the iPad Pro, but keep in mind that the iPad Pro has an LCD Display, not an OLED.

Samsung does have 120Hz Displays for Smartphones but the Refresh Rate is fixed. This is what Samsung has been using on their own S20 line and while they’re good, the Battery Life just isn’t that great, at least not on the Exynos models. Samsung will indeed have a 120Hz LTPO OLED Panel this year but according to Ross, they are reserving it for the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Fold 2.

Apple will only be allowed to use it next year, in 2021. Which means that this year, they will have to choose between a great Battery Life and a constant 120Hz Display, it seems like they’re not choosing the 120Hz at all this year. This is mostly everything new, when it comes to the iPhone 12. 

---

AirPods Studio

Next up, we have some quick updates on the next-gen AirPods.

So, Jon Prosser mentioned back in May that Apple will be releasing some new over-ear Headphones, just like the Beats Solo’s or Studio. However, rather than calling these the new Beats Studio, they will be marketing these as AirPods. Which means that we would now have three variants of the AirPods. The entry level models, the AirPods Pro and these new AirPods Studio, which are codenamed B515 and will start at $350, according to Jon

Be sure to check out our second Instagram account (@ZONEofCONCEPTS) for more concepts like this one!

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg released a massive report, with a ton of inside details on the new AirPods studio. According to Mark, Apple is actually working on two AirPods Studio models, a premium version with leather-like fabrics and a fitness focused model that uses lighter, breathable materials. The headband is said to be very thin, with full metal arms. Not only that, but Mark says that the ear-pads would be magnetic and that you can indeed replace them with different designs when you wish. This design would allow you to go from fitness mode to ‘pro mode’ so to say, whenever you want. Now, I’m not sure to what extent these ear-cups would be modular, since they do have a lot of tech inside and you can just buy more of these, as it would be quite pricey. I think it’s just the material surrounding it that would be modular and replaceable. 

This is how we’ve modelled our concept (Above) and we decided to base these off of the leaked iOS 14 icon. We’ve made these gigantic ear-cups, held in place by a fairly thin headband. We do have invisible touch controllers on the sides, which would allow you to adjust the volume, skip to the next song, skip to the previous song as well as invoke Siri, which you can also do by saying the magic keyword command.

At a price point of $350, Apple seems to be competing directly with Sony, Microsoft and Bose, with their line of high-end, Noise Cancelling Headphones. Sony is currently the king in this department, with their WH-1000WM3’s and I’m really curious to see if Apple can actually beat them in terms of Sound Quality and of course, Noise Cancelling. 

Personally, I’m not really into over-ear Headphones. I always find them to be way too big. They’re perfect on a plane but, aside from that, I would never use them. I do prefer in-ear Headphones, like the AirPods Pro, so do let me know down below, which team are you?

---

Apple Glass

Finally, just some quick updates on the Apple AR Glasses. In a previous video, I talked about those massive leaks from Jon Prosser. 

Jon Prosser also said that Apple is working on a circular version of their Glasses, which would be called the “Steve Jobs Heritage Edition” and they would be more premium and likely more expensive than the usual model. However, Mark Gurman calls this, and all of the leaks that Jon Prosser covered, as complete fiction.

All the patents we’ve sen so far point to something similar to the Oculus Quest, which we absolutely loved.

Mark Gurman said that there are two devices in the works right now, rather than just one, this is what I’ve personally heard as well. One device is the mixed AR and VR Headset, similar to the Oculus Quest. This is called N301 according to Mark Gurman, it could be announced as early as 2021 (matching Jon’s report) and released in 2022. The other model would be those pure AR Glasses (N421), which would not launch until the end of 2022 or even 2023.

Now, we have seen a ton of Apple patents on both of these designs, but most of the patents seemed to show the Oculus Quest style Headset, rather than the true AR Glasses design that we’re all looking forward to. My guess is that it’s somewhere in between. The AR/VR Headset would launch in late 2021, like Jon reported, and then the actual AR Glasses would launch in 2022. These ones will need more tweaks, especially considering the insanely high Resolution Displays. These would be 8K Displays in each eye, if we’re going by CNET’s 2018 report on this.

So, there you go! We still have quite some time to wait until any of these come out, so do let me know, which of these products are you excited for the most?

Apple AR Glasses (2020) - The FUTURE!

---

Some of you might know that Apple is working on a pair of AR glasses. Now in case you don’t know what those are, well I’ll explain everything you need to know in this article, alongside why these glasses have the potential of revolutionising the tech industry entirely, just like the iPhone did back in 2007.

I’m personal extremely excited about these, and you will most certainly be as well, by the end of this.

Grab some popcorn and here’s the real future of the tech industry!

---

Ok, so for those of you who don’t know what AR is, AR means augmented reality and unlike VR or virtual reality where you put this giant headset on and you’re transported into a fully virtual world, AR keeps you in the real world but it ads certain virtual elements to it.

We’ve recently started seeing AR being used in smartphones, like the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Apple released ARKit which is pretty much an API. In simple English it’s a tool that allows developers to easily make AR apps that would automatically take advantage of all the sensors that the iPhone has, such as the accelerometer, the gyroscope, the dual and now the triple lens camera module and so on.

IKEA’s Place app allows you to see how different items of furniture would fit within your home thanks to AR

So we started seeing apps such as IKEA’s Place app that allows you to place furniture from their store, inside your real world view. That app works incredibly well, the tracking is spot on, it never lost the tracking and the furniture even had real time shadows as well as the ability to get very close to them and see all the details so I was extremely impressed with what this app can do. I recently moved into a new apartment which is still empty so I’ll be using this app to buy some furniture in the upcoming weeks and it’s been great!

And Apple has put so much resources into ARKit that they got to a point where we have real-time shadows on objects, real-time reflections where lights from the real world will get reflected onto the virual objects which is just nuts. But what’s probably even crazier is that with ARKit 3, virtual objects can detect the presence of a real person and circle around it for example.

While I do see VR as more suitable for games and entertainment in general, I see AR as suited more towards productivity. 

And this is why having this AR experience all the time, without having to use your smartphone would be a game-changer. This is where Apple’s upcoming AR headset comes into play.

And the questions you all probably have regarding this headset are:

1. How will it work?

2. What would it look like? 

3. How much will it cost? 

1. HOW WILL IT WORK?

So let’s start off with how it will work? 

Ok, so there’s multiple ways that you can build such a headset. Usually VR headsets are big, bulky and they connect to your PC via an actual cable. 

There are a few examples such as the Oculus Quest which are completely wireless, and that is where the future of VR is heading towards. When it comes to Apple their AR headset will indeed be fully wireless as well.

One of the patents that Apple has filed for regarding their AR Glasses (Source: Patently Apple)

There’s been quite a number of patents that Apple has applied for, all showing a very thin and light device, that looks pretty much like a regular pair of glasses. CNET even released a pretty big report back in 2018, with some details that they got from inside sources, on how Apple’s AR glasses would work like. 

The project is apparently called T288 internally, and even back in 2018 it was still aimed at a 2020 release, just like more recent reports have all pointed towards.

CNET did detail that Apple is actually planning on making this a fully wireless device. So instead of Apple building the processor and everything inside the headset, this would be built into a different device, which would then render the entire scene and transmit the video stream to the glasses. This means the glasses will just act as the display, but a different device will actually render the entire scene. Otherwise, the glasses would have to be very thick, in order to accommodate a large battery that would be required for driving such a powerful processor. In case you’re wondering, the glasses will also be housing multiple cameras for tracking the environment, very similar to the Oculus Quest’s cameras, it’s just that the processing would be done outside of the headset.

Now CNET did also mention that Apple will have a separate box that would be processing all the data from the headset. However, Ming-Chi-Kuo, who’s been pretty much the most reliable source in terms of Apple leaks, reported earlier this year in MacRumors that the separate processing box would actually be the iPhone and that the AR Glasses would be “marketed as an iPhone accessory”. So this would be similar to the Apple Watch or the AirPods, essentially a new product category that would go hand in hand with the iPhone. 

Another report from Bloomberg, that we got back in 2017, pointed towards the exact same thing. It suggested that Apple was working on an AR headset that would release in 2020, and that would eventually even end up replacing the iPhone. In the first few years, it will need the iPhone for processing power, but once the chips get even more power efficient and we hopefully get a new battery technology, that would not be required anymore. 

Now that’s all well and good, but what will you be able to do with the Apple Glasses?

Well essentially you would be able to see everything from your iPhone directly in front of your eyes. So things such as; your messages, your Instagram feed, your emails, all of that would be viewable at all times right in front of your eyes. It would not take your entire feel of view, but instead, a small window overlay would display all of that data, and it’s very likely that you would be able to reposition that window, resize it and so on. The AR Glasses themselves will have Siri integration so most of the interaction will be done by voice and by some touch panels which are said to be embedded into the frame itself. 

So that’s pretty cool but what else will it be able to do?

Google Maps now supports AR where your route will be shown in real life (Source: Darrell as a Service)

Well, the uses cases that I would personally love to see would be integration with Maps, so that you can see arrows and real time directions on the street itself, right in front of your eyes. Google Maps recently had an update with AR integration, so now you can just lift your phone and you would indeed get real time directions in the real world as to which exact way to go. This is just on smartphones at the moment, but imagine having this on a pair of AR Glasses, that would be incredible!

But the most useful case scenario, for me at least, would be just having loads of displays anywhere I am. Imagine having three big curved monitors surrounding you, or even a room full of displays, or just a gigantic display right on your work-desk or even floating above it that you wouldn’t be able to have normally. 

Speaking of displays, one of the current issues with AR and VR today is the pixel density of the display panels. The lower the resolution of the display is, the lower the pixel density will be and the more pixels you will actually see when you put the headset one, which will create this very blurry and grainy effect.

The Oculus Quest for example, which is by far the best VR headset that I have used, has a resolution of 1440x1600 per each eye which is pretty high, it’s actually on par with the HTC Vive Pro. But you see, even with such a high resolution display, I can still easily see the pixels and the image quality just isn’t realistic at all. We’re still years ahead of extremely high resolution displays on VR and AR headsets.

However CNET did mention in their report that Apple would be using 8K displays in their headset! To give context, VR headsets today have close to a 2K display per eye and Apple wants to use an 8K display per eye! That’s insane! With a resolution like that, per eye, you should be able to see a perfectly clear image, without any pixilation at all, or at least barely even noticeable. 

But can the iPhone drive two 8K displays whilst calculating everything required for the AR Tracking in real time? Well considering that the Apple A10X processor that’s inside the AppleTV 4K can actually handle full 4K output and even 4K games albeit mobile ones, and that the Apple A13 processor that we have in this year’s iPhone 11’s is pretty much twice more powerful than that, and the Apple A14 chip which will be coming out next year will be the first to be based on a 5nm process and it should smoke the A13 chip. Well, it’s looking pretty likely that the A14 will indeed be able to push dual 8K output for the Apple AR Glasses.

2. WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?

Ok, so that was a fairly long section since how it would work is the most interesting and important part of the headset, but now let’s see what it would look like.

Well, considering Apple’s patents and the fact that the glasses themselves will only be streaming the data from the iPhone rather than calculating that itself, they should look very similar to traditional glasses.

Apple does already have two wearable devices, the Apple Watch and the AirPods, and they both look good. They have an elegant look to them, however we can all agree that they do have a weird/unique look. For example, the Apple Watch is rectangular and you can immediately tell when someone’s wearing an Apple Watch compared to a regular watch, or any other smartwatch for example. The same goes for the AirPods they have this very weird and distinct look to them, and you can always tell when someones wearing them. So I do believe that the Apple Glasses would have a similar look. They would still look like glasses, but they will have Apple’s unique taken on them with a more unusual design.

The ZONEofTECH Concept for Apple’s AR Glasses

In our concept we actually made it in a realistic way, with a fairly thick frame that houses the battery and the chips for capturing the 3D data and then sending it over to the iPhone. We have three cameras on the front and then two more on each side, for special awareness. We have the wireless charging coils because let’s be real, Apple will very likely use a similar charging system as to what they already use in the Apple Watch and the AirPods, so wireless charging. The speakers would be bone conducting speakers, so the grills that you see there are just for the design actually and for airflow. This is of course our take on it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple does something similar. Like I said, a pair of glasses that looks a bit more unique than the rest, just like the AirPods and the Apple Watch. 

3. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

Now this is actually a bit of a tricky one because you see in order for Apple to make the best possible AR Glasses, they would need to charge loads. This is a truly futuristic device that won’t be cheap to make by any means. But at the same time, Apple simply cannot price this at say $3000 since who would really buy it in that case? 

The rumoured price is around $1000-$1500 at this point, which I still think is very high and I don’t see many people buying this considering that it is not a phone, but instead an accessory that you also need an iPhone for.

What I think Apple should do is make the best Apple Glasses that they can, even if it costs them $3000 per unit and then price it very low, at $300 or so, around the same price as an Apple Watch costs. If they did this they would sell loads, and then they can make their money back through software purchases. That’s what I would do. 

But whatever price Apple decides to sell them for, we know that they are definitely happening. We have multiple reports from Ming-Chi-Kuo, DigiTimes, Bloomberg and even actual code found in iOS 13, that points towards Apple actively working on the AR Glasses. Apple even applied for a patent that allows you to adjust the opacity of the display so that AR objects are more or less visible in the real world, apparently. 

However, something that I find to be even more interesting is a recent report coming from DigiTimes that claims that Apple has partnered with Valve to develop the AR headset. Valve has just released their own headset, the Valve Index, which is pretty much the highest end VR headset that you can buy, and the HTC Vive and the Vive Pro had both been made in partnership with Valve. So Valve has been in the VR industry for quite a few years now and it’s definitely been one of the pioneers of VR and Apple partnering with them is just some amazing news! 

The article published on Monday explains that Apple has partnered with Valve (Source: MacRumors)

So there you have it, all the latest we know about the upcoming AR Glasses. I am personally really excited to see how these turn out, but we will have to wait until next year at least. Let me know what you guys think in the comments.