Smart & Connected Life > Smart Watches & Wearables Apple Glasses: News and Expected Price, Release Date, Specs; and More Rumors When to expect Apple's augmented reality glasses By Tim Fisher Tim Fisher Facebook Twitter Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability Emporia State University Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of Lifewire. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 17, 2023 Reviewed by Ryan Perian Reviewed by Ryan Perian Western Governors University Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email In This Article Release Date Estimate Price Rumors Pre-Order Information Possible Features & Specs How Does Apple Glasses Work? Latest Apple Glass News Apple Glasses (aka Apple Glass) has been the rumored next step in augmented reality for consumers. Apple was granted a U.S. patent for a 'predictive, foveated virtual reality system' and another for a head-wearable device. Both appear to be part of a long-rumored augmented/mixed reality head-mounted display system from the tech giant. U.S. Patent Publication 20210034145 When Will Apple Glasses Be Released? There are dueling opinions on a release date, partly because there could possibly be three types of glasses and headsets that Apple has planned on releasing. Apple Glasses is the AR device that analysts at one time said we won't see until after Apple's VR headset (which is possibly called Apple Reality Pro). Here's a look at a few release date rumors that, sadly, never came true: Prolific Apple leaker Jon Prosser surmised (and he's frequently correct with his predictions) in May 2020, the company could introduce the AR glasses in the first quarter of 2021. Respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at one time said that the first quarter of 2022 is more likely (at least for the "helmet type"). According to analyst Jeff Pu, the AR glasses might be postponed until 2025 or 2026 "due to design issues." However, Mark Gurman provides the latest insight: Apple has postponed the AR glasses indefinitely. Lifewire's Release Date Estimate Gurman's report means we should be on the lookout for MR headsets, not AR glasses, over the next couple of years. If Apple finds success in their other extended reality headsets, maybe we'll see Apple Glasses in the future. Apple VR Headset: News, Rumors, and Expected Price, Release Date, and Specs How Much Will Apple Glasses Cost? According to Prosser, the starting price will be around $500 plus the cost of an eyeglass prescription (if needed). Where to Pre-Order Since there's been no official announcement, there's nothing to pre-order. Yet. Apple Glasses Features and Specs We're going off rumors here, but these are only the ones that make sense. Here's what we're expecting: As close in style to typical glasses as possible A half-inch display with 1280x960 resolution using Sony OLED Micro-displays The iPhone will process all data Plastic or metal frames Both lenses will display information A UI called 'Starboard' Controlled by gestures A Lidar sensor on the right temple Over 12 cameras, both low and high resolution Wireless charging features Ability to scan Apple QR codes Wi-Fi 6E support Prosser claims current LiDAR data from the 2020 iPad Pro is going straight to the Apple Glasses team. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also has LiDAR, so if you have one of those systems, and he's right, you just might be assisting in the development of these new AR glasses. Here's a neat concept video with some feature ideas that could make their way into these glasses via xrOS (at one time thought to be called realityOS): How Does Apple Glasses Work? No one knows for sure, but the general idea behind the key patent is an eyewear system that uses sensors to detect and track motion. The word 'foveated' stems from the idea of 'foveated rendering,' which essentially changes what the eye sees when something is viewed through a foveated lens. The key patent abstract says 'a Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may capture views of the world around a user using multiple resolutions. The Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may include one or more cameras. They would be configured to capture lower-resolution image data for a peripheral field of view while capturing higher resolution image data for a narrow field of view corresponding to a user's line of sight. Additionally, the Predictive, Foveated Virtual Reality System may also include one or more sensors or other mechanisms, such as gaze tracking modules or accelerometers, to detect or track motions.' Building off this abstract, one could look at similar ideas from other companies to start getting the idea of what the eye would see. Nvidia researched this and has some compelling images that give a general idea of how Apple Glass could work. This Foveated 3D Graphics paper from Microsoft Research is also helpful in understanding where Apple is headed with Apple Glass. In 2022, Apple was granted a patent titled 'Tunable and foveated lens systems'. The idea is to stack liquid-filled lenses for each eye, with each lens potentially containing voltage-modulate optical materials surrounded by electrodes and embedded between transparent substrates. The idea with these stacked lenses seems to be that the lenses could instantly and automatically adjust to correct a wearer's vision. Or maybe there will be a clip-on prescription lens option like this patent details. Apple Glass as imagined by some in the tech industry. Apple Insider Interested in other tech rumors? Here's how a Tesla smartphone could work. The Latest News About Apple Glasses You can get more Smart & Connected Life news from Lifewire on all kinds of topics; here are more stories (and some of those rumors) about Apple Glasses in the meantime. Apple’s First Mixed-Reality Headset Just Got Pushed Back Apple Glass Could Use VR Gloves for Gesture Detection, Patent Suggests Apple Glass Will Be Self-cleaning, According to a Patent Apple Reportedly Completes Production Tests for AR/VR Headset Apple Glass Could Project AR Directly Onto a Wearer's Retina