Apple Glass Suddenly Takes Shape After Several Leaks Come to Light

Over the last few years, there have been many rumors about Apple working on a pair of smart glasses, similar to what Google tried to do with Google Glass. Despite several rumors, we never really had any solid information about the product. That is, until now.

Jon Prosser, a famous Apple leaker who is often right about Apple’s upcoming products, recently revealed a bunch of new information about these glasses, which are supposed to be called Apple Glass.

There’s still a ton of things we don’t know, but we do know some key details, such as price, design, and even a possible announcement date.

Spoiler alert, it won’t happen this year, although it would be fitting that Apple releases its first smart glasses in the year 2020. You know, 20/20 vision.. Sadly, Apple wasn’t ready to make the greatest pun of the year. But I digress, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Apple Glass.

Apple Glass Design

The Apple Glass won’t make you stand out from the crowd with a crazy design or anything like that. Instead, Prosser explains the Apple Glass will look just like regular glasses.

According to the prototype Prosser saw, the Apple Glass will be made out of plastic, albeit this could change when the final product releases.

On the exterior, you’ll only have a LiDAR sensor on the right temple, and nothing else. Prosser states the Apple Glass won’t have any additional cameras, most likely due to privacy reasons. And the glasses won’t have any built-in speakers either. This means that, in order to hear something, you’ll need to connect your AirPods as well.

You’ll only be able to charge your Apple Glass via wireless charging. You’d charge them by placing them upside down over a charging pad. This is the most realistic rumor about these glasses since Apple might be planning on going full wireless by the end of next year.

Also, according to Jon Prosser, Apple won’t sell sunglasses. This is due to some problems with the display on tinted glasses. You’ll only get regular glasses or prescription glasses if you need them.

How Would Apple Glass work?

Sadly, you won’t be able to use your Apple Glass as a standalone product. Much like with the first-generation Apple Watch, the information the Apple Glass processes will go through your iPhone first.

Prosser explains you’ll be able to control your Apple Glass by making gestures. You’d be able to make these gestures on the frames, or in front of the device. After the information is processed through your iPhone, the Apple Glass would show you the information you asked for on the lenses.

No one else would see what you see, as the lenses in the Apple Glass would only show the information to the person wearing them.

Also, Prosser also talks about Apple QR codes. While he doesn’t give much information about what they might be, it seems like the LiDAR scanner will mostly work for these types of QR codes.

It’s also possible that Apple could use the LiDAR scanner on the Apple Glass to track the also rumored AirTags. There have been rumors about Apple using LiDAR to give you a better location of where your AirTags are, so it would be a no brainer to use this technology on the Apple Glass once both products finally release. Although this is pure speculation.

How Much Would Apple Glass Cost?

Surprisingly, the rumored price for Apple Glass won’t be astronomical. According to Jon Prosser, Apple Glass will cost $499. If you use prescription glasses, you would have to pay extra for that prescription as well.

A price like this would make Apple Glass more affordable than most iPhones. Although, it’s worth mentioning that since the Apple Glass would only work when it’s paired to an iPhone, and the materials are going to be plastic, as the prototype shows, then that would explain while the price is lower than most people would expect.

Apple Glass Announcement and Possible Release Date

Even if we know a lot about the Apple Glass, you might still have to wait a couple of years to actually get your own pair.

Prosser explains that Apple was first planning to reveal the Apple Glass along with the announcement of the iPhone 12. Sadly, because of the global pandemic, Apple might push back the announcement date to March of next year.

Apparently, Apple wants people to be present when revealing this new product. While that’s understandable, it might mean waiting a few more months before knowing what these smart glasses might actually look like.

Still, to get your hands on the Apple Glass, you might have to wait until the end of 2021 or even 2022.

According to Prosser, Apple will show its Apple Glass at the end of this year or the beginning of the next year, but it will start distribution in the fourth quarter of 2021, or even the first quarter of 2022.

While this seems like a long time, Prosser also explains why this might be the case.

Turns out, Apple is supposedly using the current LiDAR scanners on the 2020 iPad Pro, and will also use the LiDAR scanners on the iPhone 12 to gather all the information it can.

Any type of information iPad Pro users are sharing with Apple is being used to improve the quality of the Apple Glass. If this is the case, it makes sense Apple would want to wait to release this product.

Since most information the company could gather would come from the iPhone 12, instead of the iPad Pro, it would need quite a bit of time to gather as much information as possible.

Sadly, this means we’ll have to wait a really long time until we can test these new glasses. It’s worth mentioning that, even if these leaks are coming from a reliable source, it’s worth taking all this information with a grain of salt.

It’s still possible for Apple to have a last-minute change of plans, so we’ll have to wait until the official announcement to know what these glasses will be capable of.

Nevertheless, this is the biggest news we’ve got from Apple’s smartglasses. Even if some things change along the way, this is the most information we’ve gotten in almost five years.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]