Seventeen years and five months after completely transforming the mobile industry with the iPhone, Apple is struggling to identify its next flagship product. While AirPods, the Apple Watch and the iPad generate considerable revenue, none have matched the societal impact of the Apple smartphone. However, the Californian firm’s quest to find a product worthy of succeeding the iPhone seems to be moving towards connected glassesan ambitious project that could require another five years of development. Can the historic feat of 2007 be repeated?
Connected glasses, natural heirs of the smartphone?
Since the introduction of Google Glass in 2012, the augmented reality (AR) glasses industry appears to be the most promising territory to revolutionize our digital uses. Although, at the time, Google really failed to transform the trial; a failure which can be explained by several factors (see below, in the second part).
Mark Gurman, journalist at Bloomberg and eminent specialist of the Cupertino firm, reports that Apple is actively pursuing the development of its own AR glasses. Information that he distilled in his weekly newsletter Power On. The principle: superimpose virtual information on our vision of the real world, like the Live View option of Google Maps which displays navigation instructions directly on the filmed environment.
A promising market, but still in its infancy
Apple’s entry into the VR/AR sector was not easy. Its first product, the very expensive Apple Vision Pro, did not meet with the expected success and sales continued to decline. Our test of the product then revealed major defects which constituted serious obstacles to purchasing: a prohibitive price, insufficient autonomy, a device that is not very comfortable to wear and, ultimately, not very convincing in the use that we could make of it. . More than enough to be eclipsed by the competition.
According to Gurman, the company will have to solve a fairly complex technical equation to be able to launch truly relevant AR glasses. A lightweight device with satisfactory battery life, capable of integrating high-performance screens while remaining affordable for purchase.
The example of Google Glass is a real ghost for Apple, who will remind him of the pitfalls to avoid : exorbitant price, controversial design, lack of useful applications and privacy concerns. Indeed, they could record videos and take photos discreetly without anyone, except the wearer, noticing.
If Google and especially Meta with its Ray Bans, seem much more advanced in the race for AR glasses, Apple, unsurprisingly, wishes to maintain its high quality standards for its future product. The company could need three to five more years before presenting a product that meets its requirements, according to information from Bloomberg. When we can allow ourselves to affirm that we have “ reinvented the telephone » as Steve Jobs rightly said in 2007, to offer a device which will also establish a new paradigm is an even more difficult undertaking.
- Apple is looking to create a new flagship that can rival the impact of the iPhone.
- Augmented reality glasses today appear to be a promising avenue on which Apple is indeed engaged.
- The firm could still need several years to design a device that is innovative, practical and affordable.
