Apple may be turning its eye to augmented reality glasses, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.
Apple might be trying to succeed where Google Glass and the Microsoft HoloNet failed with the general public. The proposed digital glasses could interface with the iPhone to give the user augmented reality information projected onto their field of view.
Apple acquired PrimeSense, the company which developed motion-tracking for Microsoft’s Kinect, in 2013, and has also purchased software startups that could be leveraged for their experience with augmented reality. Patents which Apple holds for virtual reality and street-level mapping could also be folded in to the project.
In the effort to make their own digital glasses, the company has also ordered a small number of near-eye displays from a supplier for testing purposes, the source said. This would indicate that Apple is experimenting with small batches of the product, but may not have plans to commercialize it any time soon.
This could very well remain in the realm of rumor, as Apple’s supposed electric car plans have done. One of Bloomberg’s sources said that the product could be introduced in 2018 at earliest.