Did you ever try out real AR glasses?
I don’t mean “smart glasses” that only play music or take calls (like the Ray-Ban Meta or Xiaomi glasses), nor do I mean heavy headsets like the Meta Quest or Apple Vision Pro. I mean those “glasses of the future” that look like regular glasses but can overlay info onto the lenses.
This technology, hitherto only the dream of sci-fi movies and research labs, is now a must-compete area for all major tech companies. Meta, Apple, and Google are all clandestinely experimenting with new devices, even going so far as to think of it as the next break-through product which can replace smartphones.
If AR glasses were comparatively immature until now with many limitations on the user experience front, then from the second half of this year through the next year, this space will be a phase of exponential growth. We will see various more practical and feasible solutions turn into real products.
Meta: Putting a Periscope inside the Lenses
Meta unveiled its first display-enabled glasses a month ago, the Ray-Ban Display, to wide interest. It is presently the most optimized form factor and most advanced AR glasses technology. Those who experience it generally affirm that the future is here.
These glasses have a significant innovation: when the screen is active, there is literally no visible reflection or light spillover from the outside—just like regular glasses. This is unlike other existing AR glasses.
The teardown technology agency iFixit discovered the trick behind this. It comes down to a battle between two distinct technical paths:
The Mainstream Path (Diffractive Waveguide): This is akin to “engraving” millions of tiny pathways onto the lens with nanotechnology, allowing light to travel along these pathways and eventually end up in the eye. However, light can easily “wander” and leak out in tracing the complex pathways, causing the lens to glow on the outside.
Meta’s Adopted Path (Geometric Waveguide): Its process is closer to a “periscope.” It utilizes a series of microscopic prisms and mirrors along the periphery of the lens to reflect light off the projector right into your eye, like a relay race. Because the light path is more direct and simple, it barely “leaks.”
No light leakage is impressive. It tackles one of the basic social clumsiness of AR glasses: when a person is talking to you, if they are able to see light on your lenses, it works as a obstacle, disrupting normal eye contact. It is why Apple’s Vision Pro was specially designed to display the user’s eyes.
Apple’s Strategy: Not an iPhone, an Apple Watch First
In the ecosystem and software realm, Apple is brewing a different path.
Due to the very small size and limited abilities of glasses, it is difficult to employ a full-fledged operating system like a phone. Apple’s solution is clever: Its first glasses will not replace the iPhone but rather be more like an Apple Watch, becoming a powerful assistant to iPhone and Mac.
When linked to an iPhone, the glasses display a reduced UI, benefiting from the phone’s computing resources. When connected to a MacBook, it might unlock a more complete visionOS system experience.
This is a very Apple strategy—fully leveraging the advantages of its own hardware ecosystem. Imagine being able to see navigation without pulling out your phone or having 3D models float right before your eyes while working. That alone is quite groundbreaking.
Of course, Apple has to deal with wireless connection latency as well. In the Apple tradition, they will likely implement a single connection solution for the glasses, just as they have built proprietary chips into the AirPods—a quintessential “Only Apple Can Do” move.
Solving Other Problems
Aside from display and ecosystem, the market is already working on other inadequacies of AR glasses:
Battery Life: A couple of companies (Quark being an example) have used a replaceable battery approach. The temple tips are the batteries, and once they are drained, you simply remove them and replace them with new ones, kinda like exchanging a pen refill. This effectively yields all-day battery life—a pretty practical and efficient approach before battery technology improved.
Prescription Flexibility: Myopia users usually require bespoke lenses, which is a nuisance. Some manufacturers (like XREAL) are attempting to disrupt with an easier alternative: a unique clear adhesive film on the lens that can be used to alter the prescription, making life much easier for users.
AR Glasses Coming of Age
The majority of the technologies mentioned above will not be the last ultimate optimum solutions, but as long as there are current technological constraints, they are the most genius and pragmatic optimal solutions.
Looking back to the past, the evolution of every new generation of devices went the same way: smartphones also experienced battery fear and unresponsive touch screens; smartwatches also became gimmicky criticisms.
Instead of some ideal concept idle in the lab, having actually usable products out into customers’ hands means that AR glasses are leaving a fledgling concept and inching toward a grown-up destiny. If an analogy is necessary, AR smart glasses today are roughly at the cross-over point from feature phones to early smartphones. Their iPhone moment awaits.
