Apple Exploring Wearable Digital Glasses for 2018: Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports Apple is considering wearable digital glasses, as the idea is in its exploration phase, according to unnamed sources.

The glasses would connect wirelessly to an iPhone, show pictures and other images in the wearer’s field of vision and could be based on augmented reality (AR), something Apple CEO Tim Cook has advocated recently over virtual reality (VR).

Apple has talked about its glasses project with potential suppliers, according to people familiar with those discussions. The company has ordered small quantities of near-eye displays from one supplier for testing, the people said. Apple hasn’t ordered enough components so far to indicate imminent mass-production, one of the people added.

One source claims if Apple is indeed set to launch a set of digital glasses, a launch could come in 2018, at the earliest. Apple’s former acquisitions of PrimeSense, Metaio, and Flyby Media could signal a move into AR.

Cook told BuzzFeed last month “Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it’s profound. We might…have a more productive conversation, if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right?”

Do you even Google Glass?

Last March, analyst Gene Munster claimed Apple had a small team working and exploring possibilities with AR. Earlier this year, the Financial Times claimed Apple was working on a VR product.

The challenge for Apple will be to create hardware that’s cool, unlike the negative backlash faced by former Google Glass wearers.

Are you ready for some sort of AR eyewear from Apple? When will Minority Report-like AR come true?