The Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses need serious competition. | Image by Meta
Apple has decided to put the Vision Pro on indefinite hold for now as the company pivots aggressively towards finalizing and releasing its smart glasses to take on Meta. Now a new report has come out about Apple’s glasses claiming that they will feature something that sounds almost too good to be true.
Apple Vision Pro on hold
After over two years of very limited success — due mostly in part to the insane $3,499 price tag and a severe drought of content — the Vision Pro project is being shelved for now. Apple is now laser-focused on completing and launching its two smart glasses models as soon as humanly possible.
A lighter Vision Pro might still come out some day, but it seems very unlikely. One final refresh of the Vision Pro, which has already seen an update before in terms of improved processing, might see the light of day by the end of this year.
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Hand gestures on Apple’s smart glasses
The Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses use a neural wristband to read hand gestures. | Image by Meta
According to an exciting new report, the upcoming Apple smart glasses — which the company is aiming to release early next year — might feature the capability to read hand gestures.
Apparently, the glasses will be equipped with two cameras. One of these cameras will be used to take photos or record videos, while the other one will read the user’s hand gestures for navigation and carrying out simple commands.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses also feature support for hand gestures via a neural wristband that reads minuscule muscle movements. Apple is aiming to release a pair of smart glasses with a display by 2028 — earlier, if possible — but is allegedly bringing hand gesture support to the display-free model next year as well.
Is this possible?
Equipping smart glasses to accurately parse hand gestures through one stationary camera is a very difficult endeavor. The Apple Vision Pro, for example, has to rely on multiple cameras and sensors to read finger movements precisely.
Industry insider Mark Gurman, who reported on the two smart glasses models under development, is skeptical of this claim.
The technology to do this reliably with a single camera, no neural band and no eye-scanning doesn’t exist today as far as I know. I’ve also heard nothing to suggest the first version has any sophisticated form of gestures as this describes. I am extremely skeptical. https://t.co/27RGM2YhgA
The report also claimed that the upcoming AirPods which will have a camera will also be able to read the user’s hand gestures. Gurman disagrees here as well.
I don’t believe the AirPods will have hand gestures either. The cameras are for Siri. Regarding the Vision Pro wind down - they killed the cheaper/lighter overhaul and the thing is on ice till they figure out its future. It’s not completely dead. https://t.co/fKA8mBJKBi
It would make sense if Apple’s glasses came with hand gesture support, as the Vision Pro relied solely on that method of navigation, but to actually incorporate this successfully seems unlikely.
How should Apple's smart glasses and AirPods let users navigate?
I’m skeptical too
The Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses rely on voice commands. | Image by Meta
The problem that I have with that report is that no other leaks before have ever even made mention of the possibility of Apple’s smart glasses and AirPods supporting hand gestures.
Meta had to come up with an entire neural wristband to make such a thing possible. The chances of Apple making it work solely through one camera that’s not even pointed at the user’s hands seem very slim.
Apple has always tried to make its products feel as premium as possible, hence the ludicrous price tag of the Vision Pro. I find it highly unlikely that the company would settle for subpar hand gesture navigation when it can just rely on voice commands like its competitors.
If it sounds like it’s too good to be true, then it probably is. I’d love to be proven wrong, though. Meta needs serious competition now that we know that the Ray-Ban glasses share your intimate moments with people in another country.
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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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