A DigiTimes report claims that the development of its AR glasses has been terminated by Apple.
The report claims that Apple temporarily stopped working on its AR / VR glasses, dissolving the team in May and assigning it to other projects.
Previous rumors have claimed that either at the end of this year or Q1 next year, Apple’s AR glasses could go into mass production. The glasses are reportedly set to be unveiled in 2020, although a delay is always possible given that they are still in development stages.
When it comes to Apple rumors, DigiTimes has a flaky record. While it has succeeded in getting a few things right, it ends up making inaccurate predictions on most occasions.
Apple has invested heavily in ARKit to push apps from AR / VR. So the company is unlikely to give up on its AR glasses. The company may have delayed the launch of its AR glasses if anything, but it seems unlikely to give up on them altogether.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a reputed analyst, believes that Apple works on AR glasses that would be marketed as an iPhone accessory rather than sold as a separate device. For all the heavy lifting, the AR glasses would rely on the iPhone and only display information on its 8 K display. A rumor from last year claimed that the AR glasses would run on a custom operating system called’ rOS’ and that a custom low-power processor would power it.
Apple also added support for AR headsets in internal iOS 13 builds, so it’s unlikely that the project would be completely canceled now. If the Digitimes report is true, Apple may hit a major roadblock, forcing it to complete the AR glasses project.
However, given how bullish CEO Tim Cook of Apple is about AR, I doubt the company would give up entirely on AR glasses. If anything, I think after iPhones, iPads, and AirPods, Apple’s AR Glasses will be its next major hit product.
