Could smart glasses be the next major computing platform?
Computers play a very important role in our lives. Over the last 70+ years, as we have transitioned from an analog age to a digital age, computers of all types have been central to delivering our current and future digital worlds.
While the early computers were large systems, the minicomputer introduced in the 1960s started us down the path towards the smaller but just as powerful systems we have today. Indeed, PCs and laptops dominate the workplace, schools, and homes and have become the center of our work and personal digital control systems.
Since the personal computer came to market, the next significant personal computing platform to emerge was the smartphone. Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007 launched the most mobile computing platform. Smartphones have become personal computers in our pockets and have given us a whole host of new types of apps and services driven by a mobile work and educational lifestyle. Apps like Uber, mobile payments, mobile gaming, and tens of thousands more allow us to compute anytime and anywhere.
In the world of tech, progress is part of its DNA. While we can compute and connect just about any time and anywhere, tech leaders are investing heavily in what could become the next major computing platform.
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his VR vision and manifesto in 2021, he launched his quest to drive us to the Metaverse. He was so sure of this vision that he even renamed the company Meta to emphasize that his company would transport everyone into the Metaverse.
Although Zuckerberg and Apple’s CEO Tim Cook still believe in a metaverse vision, now loosely called spatial computing, both companies are now focusing on a different form factor and a way to deliver what they believe will eventually be the next computing platform.
Mark Zuckerberg has been the one to make what is coming clear. And he did so with a telling phrase. “It will be like computers,” he said. He recently discussed a product that will “gradually” replace smartphones. “There will come a point where your smartphone will be in your pocket more than out of it, I think that will happen during the 2030s, and although you may be able to perform the task in a more complete or better way with your phone, users will opt for the convenience of glasses to do so.”
Although Meta is still enhancing its VR goggles with the Quest 3 and investing in the Quest OS and app ecosystem, his newest vision is to create smart glasses that he believes will someday become our next computing platform.
Apple and Meta are on a collision course regarding smart glasses. Tim Cook has often shared how he felt that the proper form factor to deliver Apple’s spatial computing vision needs to be unobtrusive and more like normal glasses.
Both companies are working hard to lay out the hardware and software ecosystem to deliver and support smart glasses, even though it is many years away.
The reality is that the technology in terms of optics, power, and connectivity has yet to be available to deliver what they and others believe needs to be in smart glasses that the masses will accept.
I have attended numerous industry events showcasing next-generation optics, wireless radio, and battery technology. These technologies aim to provide functionalities that enable a significant portion of computing to occur directly within the glasses.
At the moment, we are at least five years away from that reality, if it can ever be delivered at all. In the meantime, they are using the smartphone to drive and deliver the various video and data feeds from the smartphone itself.
The good news is that Qualcomm, which is diligently working on dedicated chips and wireless radios for smart glasses, is making progress. All of the optics vendors have projects aimed at smart glasses, and new battery chemistry for smart glasses is being researched all over the world.
Zuckerberg’s assertion that smart glasses will emerge as the next computing platform “sometime in the 2030s” is a plausible prediction.
At CES 2025, on January 7 at 9:00 AM, I will be moderating the opening panel on the Metaverse, Spatial Computing track, titled “2030: The Impact of XR Headsets, AR, and Smart Glasses on Spatial Computing.”
This panel will explore the various designs and form factors in VR-XR headsets, AR, and smart glasses, which will enable everyone to experience a new way of personal computing. I am pleased to have executives from Lenovo, Meta, and Snap-on this panel to discuss this topic.
While the promise of smart glasses in the future, especially as a new computing platform, is exciting, the current focus will continue to be on creating products that highlight spatial computing. Many companies see this as an essential stepping stone to prepare us for the time when smart glasses can become an important computing platform, even if it is many years away.
Disclosure: Meta, Apple and Qualcomm subscribe to Creative Strategies research reports along with many other high tech companies around the world.
