A Bloomberg report over the weekend suggested that we may see Apple smart glasses as an interim step along the way toward a full AR-based Apple Glasses product.
Essentially, it would be a copy of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses – and as someone who uses those, my view is that an Apple version only makes sense if two key conditions are met …
Let’s start by talking about the existing Ray-Ban glasses.
They don’t look or feel very different to ordinary dumb Ray-Ban sunglasses. Indeed, I don’t think anyone would notice they are anything different unless they were already aware of them. It’s important to understand that there’s no display of any kind: they are not an augmented reality device. What you get is a pair of sunglasses with a camera, microphones, speakers, and a neat set of controls.
The glasses offer three main pieces of functionality:
- AI smarts – they can see what you see, and you can ask questions about that
- Voice-based messaging
- Hands-free POV photos and video
The AI smarts part gets the headlines, but to me it’s the least-useful thing about the glasses. Yes, I’m impressed as a technological achievement. It’s fast, effective, and it can sometimes produce some remarkably specific information based on rather limited visual cues. I’m really excited about the future potential of this tech. But the reality is that, after testing it for review purposes, I haven’t used the AI feature once since. It’s just not a useful feature today.
It’s the other two features which have me routinely wear the slightly heavier glasses over a dumb pair. It’s very handy, when I receive a text message of some kind, to have the glasses read it to me. That’s convenient when walking – it’s even easier than glancing at an Apple Watch – and even more so when cycling.
Second, the ability to shoot hands-free point-of-view (POV) photos and video. I’m not one of those people who thinks cameras necessarily get in the way of experiencing something. Indeed, there are times when looking for photo or video opportunities has me pay more attention to my surroundings, rather than less. But there’s no question that there are times when getting out your phone and taking a photo or shooting a video clip does get in the way.
So for me, the ability to say “Hey Meta, take a photo” or “Hey Meta, shoot a video” – or just to reach up to the button on my glasses – is sometimes the better option. This is especially so when cycling, as I can do that without even breaking pace.
The two requirements for Apple smart glasses
Voice messaging is a given, so let’s look at the other two boxes Apple has to hit.
First, AI smarts. As I mentioned, I view the AI features of the Meta glasses as a very cool and exciting proof of concept, but not yet a reason to wear them. If Apple is to offer a pair of its own glasses, it has to do better.
That’s a big ask! Currently Siri is the dumbest of the AI assistants out there, and I’m saying it has to be better than one of the best of them. Siri has to be able to handle a whole bunch of tasks using only a two-way voice interaction, and it has to make those tasks easier than pulling out our phone. If it can’t do that, then Apple Smart Glasses are a non-starter.
But there’s a second requirement I’m surprised I even have to mention: the photo and video capabilities. This is an absolutely key feature, and yet Gurman has suggested the company might plan to omit it.
Gurman has mentioned that Apple may not want to allow the glasses to take photos due to privacy concerns, though that’s still undecided.
Now, I do kinda get Apple’s concern here. It is absolutely true that smart glasses make it easier than ever to surreptitiously shoot video footage. For a company as privacy-focused as Apple, it’s not unreasonable that the issue be considered.
But let’s be real here. First, this is a core feature of smart glasses, without which the product doesn’t do enough. Second, the video privacy ship sailed a long time ago. There’s absolutely no way to tell whether the person walking toward me with their iPhone held up in front of them is looking at a map, reading a message, engaged in a video call – or shooting video. Glasses with photo and video capabilities change nothing.
So photo and video capabilities are a must-have feature. But Apple’s far bigger challenge is making Siri smart enough that a pair of Apple Smart Glasses actually live up to the name. It will happen sometime, but we’ve seen no evidence as yet that Apple will achieve this anytime soon.
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