At this point, I’ve started to wonder whether Jon Prosser actually works for Apple. A few days after he disagreed with analyst Ming Chi Kuo’s announcement date prediction for the rumored Apple AR Glasses, he’s revealed a lot of details about the upcoming product.
First up, the name – the product will be officially called Apple Glass. As with any new Apple product category, I was expecting a high price upwards of $1K. But it’s only going to cost $499 (more for Prescription). This is insane value, considering what the Google Glass and other AR competitors costed, but there’s a reason they’re able to bring the price down so low. Like the Apple Watch Series 1, all the data processing is done on the iPhone. This may disappoint some looking for a truly phone-free experience, but makes sense from a financial and technical perspective for Apple.
The current prototype is made of Plastic (subject to change), and looks like any other pair of glasses. Apple wants them to look subdued and blend in, not like some flashy high-tech product. There are displays in both lenses, and Prosser says they aren’t visible to an outside viewer. But, they’re having trouble integrating the display onto tinted surfaces, so no Apple Sunglasses (for now). The UI, as previously mentioned by Prosser, is called Starboard, similar to how the iOS UI is called SpringBoard. UI navigation is done through gestures, on and in front of the device.
What about privacy, you ask? There will be no cameras on the Glass, but there is a LiDAR sensor on the right side. This might be how those “in front” gestures work. There is also something about scanning proprietary Apple QR Codes, but there’s no concrete information on it’s purpose. Speaking of LiDAR, there’s a reason Apple refreshed the iPad Pro with nothing new except for a LiDAR sensor. If users give permission, all the LiDAR data from the iPad and upcoming iPhone 12 Pro lineup will be sent to the Apple Glass team, where they will use the data to make the Glass AR experience perfect. Charging will be done wirelessly, by “flipping the Glass upside-down” into the provided plastic wireless-charging stand.
As for a release window, Prosser says Apple will unveil it as a “One More Thing” announcement (like the iPhone X) anywhere between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. This means the announcement could happen at the iPhone 12 event, delayed to October. The Glass will actually be available for purchase starting in a Q4 2021 – Q1 2022 time window.
I’m quite impressed with Apple for the pricing they’ve chosen for this futuristic product, and will actually bring Augumented Reality to the masses – unlike the Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens. Apple believes the Glass will be their next iPhone or AirPods. Even more impressive is just how much information Jon Prosser has, and how he’s managed to hide his sources from Apple. On that note, Apple held a press meet for it’s new Pride Watchbands launch and asked media sources if they knew Prosser or his sources personally. Apple is clearly not happy (Phil Schiller blocked him on Twitter) and they could be implementing measures to reduce the amount of leaks. Again, they said this exact thing a year ago, and that’s when Prosser really started to shine.
TL,DR: Apple Glass massive information leak, we know pretty much everything two years before launch. Also, Prosser is a legend.
Last modified: May 19, 2020
