While Vision Pro is getting all the headlines at the moment, it’s likely that a future Apple Glasses device will be the one to turn wearable AR into a mass-market product. Apple was set to face competition from a product codenamed Google Iris, but a new report says that the search giant has now abandoned work on the device.
Project Iris was first reported some 18 months ago, and unlike the ill-fated Google Glass product, it did seem to be something people might actually be happy to wear …
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The earlier abandonment of Google Glass
Google was the first major company to bring to market a pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses, in the form of Google Glass.
The $1,500 device was initially offered for sale to selected “Glass Explorers” back in 2013, before going on wider sale the following year.
Unfortunately for the company, it never took off as a consumer product. A combination of geeky design and controversy over the video recording capability meant that even most tech enthusiasts shied away from them, and Google abandoned consumer sales in 2015. The company switched to an enterprise focus, with two Enterprise Editions sold, but this too was withdrawn from the market earlier this year.
Google Iris development
Back in 2022, Google was reported to be working on a new version, with the codename Google Iris.
At the time, it wasn’t clear what type of device this might be, with The Verge suggesting that it would be something ski-goggle-like, which was the form factor later revealed for Apple’s Vision Pro.
However, subsequent reports indicated something much closer to Google Glass in a more conventional eyeglass design.
Work on Google Iris dates back to at least 2021.
Google abandons Iris project
As our sister site notes, it’s now said that Google canceled the project earlier this year.
According to Business Insider, Google is not currently working on its own pair of smart glasses after canceling “Iris” earlier this year. The plan was to “build and launch Iris as its own product.”
Insiders say Google leaders kept changing the strategy for the Iris glasses when they were in development, which led to the team continually pivoting, frustrating many employees.
That decision was the result of “layoffs, reshuffles, and the departure of Clay Bavor,” who led AR/VR efforts and was at the company for 18 years.
Top comment by BTS
Augmented glasses would be more practical from a marketing/revenue-generating perspective.
The report does note that the company continues to work on AR more generally, but it seems its focus may now be on the operating system, leaving other brands to make the hardware.
In terms of Google’s efforts in AR, the company is now working to replicate the Android-OEM playbook for the new form factor. The report says, “Google has focused on creating software platforms for AR that it hopes to license to other manufacturers building headsets.”
Apple Glasses timings still unknown
Apple Glasses is expected to be a wearable that looks somewhat like conventional prescription eyeglasses, and that can overlay augmented reality content like Apple Maps directions and notifications.
There has been much speculation on when such a device might make it to market, with some highly unlikely reports suggesting dates as early as 2024. With Vision Pro now expected to go on sale sometime next year, 2024 is clearly off the table for Apple Glasses.
Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said “2026 or 2027 at the earliest,” but personally I suspect it will take much longer to come to market.
Apple Glasses are currently a moonshot project. Making them do all the things expected of them, in a device that has all-day battery life, which has a form factor similar to prescription eye-glasses, and is affordable enough to be a consumer product (even an Apple one), is a massively ambitious project. One that was always going to take many years: It was never likely to follow on in quick succession to the Apple headset, gen 1 or gen 2.
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