A Look into the Visual Future: Apple Glasses

Image credit: idropnews/Martin Hajek

   

Today will mark the first post of an ongoing segment called ‘A Look into the Visual Future’ where

we explore different advancements in technology and how they may impact our society. This is

overarching and can apply to both well-known companies and startups alike. To start things off, we

will explore a revolutionary product that is only a few short years away.

     Most of you do not think of Apple as a VR/AR company. They have been known for their phones and computers for decades. You will be surprised to learn that they are one of many companies that have been rumored to be working on an Augmented Reality pair of glasses. For all you Android fans out there, your initial thought might be that they will be overpriced and under specced pieces of nice hardware. However, there is no denying that when Apple puts its weight behind a technology, that technology goes into the forefront of the tech world.

The leaks pertaining to these elusive glasses are continuing to increase daily with current expectations placing them for launch between 2021 and 2023. But the real hype surrounds the theoretical abilities of these glasses. As we have discussed in previous posts, the future full of Virtual Reality will allow us to unlock information, abilities, and experiences we are not currently able to attain. The question here is what can the biggest tech company in the world do for Augmented Reality?

To get you caught up with where we currently are, Apple has been openly developing the Augmented Reality software for quite some time now. The multi-year old iPad Pro has a build-in lidar system that uses lasers to map an environment and then digitally add items into the said environment. The demos have often surrounded fun little games you could play with a friend or even aiding in shopping by placing furniture into your living room to see what it would look like before purchase. While these uses are a cool display of the technology, this is by no means what Apple intends on doing long term. The recent announcement of the new iPhone 12 Pro implements the same Lidar technology into their most popular product, truly doubling down on their intent to expand this technology.  

The new iPhone 12 Pro is advertised to use this Lidar tech to help streamline the development of workflows in laboratories or mapping out a 3D model of your home, however a more passive use for this tech is complementary to the camera. We are all familiar with lowlight pictures that come out out of focus. This is due to the camera not being able to take in enough light to tell what it needs to focus on. With Lidar, Apple will utilize Lidar to project lasers at the object you are photographing and tell the camera how far away the object is. This will result in tremendously better low light pictures than any other technology could produce. 

But what is Apple’s long term plan with Lidar? While this is only known to Apple, it is not hard to imagine ways it could be implemented in the future. For instance, when their Augmented Reality Glasses do finally appear it is almost guaranteed that, while it won’t have a traditional camera, it will have lidar. With lidar, the glasses will be able to project objects into your surroundings accurately. Say you want to watch television, these glasses will be able to determine how far away the wall is and accurately project this virtual screen onto the wall. At the same time, you could glance over at the other wall and see a virtual clock displayed at the same location every single time. The virtual mapping will be so accurate that it will be hard for our brains to differentiate between real and digital objects. That is until we take off the glasses. 

With these glasses, iPhone’s will become obsolete. There will be no need for us to carry around a black square in our pockets when the glasses that are already on our face can project a screen into our surroundings whenever we need it. Additionally, our input (keyboard) will either display digitally as well or we will be able to rely on voice commands. Our interactions with technology will change dramatically. No longer will we hold our hardware, all interactions will eventually be digital. 

Apple rarely is the first to develop a new technology, but they always bring a new focus onto a developing technology that catapults it to the forefront of society. With a big name like Apple working on an Augmented Reality headset, we are on the brink of an entirely different world of technology. I for one am very excited to get my eyes on this tech. Do you think you will be an early adopter or will you need some convincing before you strap the future onto your face?