Apple insider Mark Gurman’s newsletter Power On has been a treasure trove of information about the company’s upcoming smart glasses. There’s a lot of good news for Apple fans here. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
According to Gurman, the smart glasses — planned to be shown off in June and slated for release late next year — will have one very big limitation. This limitation being the iPhone.
Apple’s smart glasses will require an iPhone to work
Samsung's new smart glasses also require a paired smartphone, but they work with non-Galaxy phones too. | Image by Samsung
The smart glasses currently in development over at Apple feature limited memory and processing power. As such, like the just-released Samsung smart glasses, Apple’s glasses will also require a paired smartphone to operate.
However, unlike Samsung’s glasses, Apple’s offering will be limited to just the iPhone. According to Gurman, the glasses will require a “recent” iPhone, though we cannot yet guess how recent, and will not support Android devices at all.
The glasses will run on a pared-down version of visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro and will be equipped with limited hardware. Apple is designing the glasses to work in conjunction with the paired iPhone, mostly relying on the new Siri AI “App Intents” framework that the company is encouraging developers to use.
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App Intents will let Siri AI interface with third-party apps and carry out complex tasks. This implementation with iOS apps will be crucial for Apple’s smart glasses to work.
In short, if you’re not already in the Apple ecosystem and aren’t looking to join it anytime soon, the company’s upcoming smart glasses will be unusable for you.
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So what exactly will these glasses be able to do? Well, according to Gurman, even without a display the glasses are going to be capable of a lot.
There is all of the basic functionality that you expect from such glasses. For example, you will be able to identify landmarks and find your way around the city with step-by-step directions while listening to some music.
You’ll also be able to ask Siri AI questions, get it to translate signs and menus in foreign languages, and even translate conversations. The glasses will be capable of delivering iPhone notifications, sending and responding to messages, and placing phone calls.
Also, you’ll even be able to set reminders, manage your calendar, control music, and control your smart home devices as well. This all ties in very neatly with the Apple HomeView that came out recently. All of this, of course, relies on Siri working properly, which most people seem to agree seems like a long shot.
They're not wrong, Apple has been promising a better Siri for what feels like forever now. | Image by Reddit
Apple also wants users to be able to request tasks that Siri AI will soon be able to do on your iPhone. This can include booking a car on Uber, making a reservation at a restaurant, shopping on Amazon, or purchasing movie tickets.
And lastly, of course, it wouldn’t be a modern pair of AI-powered smart glasses if you couldn’t ask it which outfit to wear or what to cook depending on what ingredients you have in your fridge. Personally, I think at least some daily tasks should be left to our own mental faculties.
Some operations might not require the iPhone
Smart glasses that always require a phone might feel too restrictive to some users. | Image by PhoneArena
Gurman also hints at the possibility that some lighter operations might not require the glasses to always be near an iPhone. As the glasses come with Wi-Fi support, you could theoretically keep listening to audio over Wi-Fi even if you walk away from the paired iPhone.
If Apple allows such iPhone-independent operations, and that’s a big if, then I don’t expect them to be anything to write home about. The glasses seem very limited in scope to me because of their reliance on an iPhone.
Yes, Samsung’s new smart glasses also require a phone, unlike many other rival offerings. However, at least Samsung also allows its glasses to work with Pixel phones as well as the iPhone.
This is an emerging category for big manufacturers like Samsung and Apple, so I hope they become more lenient and their glasses more capable over time.
Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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