In its relentless search for ways to incorporate digital products into people’s lives, Big Tech has scored some big successes. Smart phones are ubiquitous. Apple Watch users talk to their wrists. Artificial intelligence-powered assistants are everywhere.
But convincing people to put computers on their faces has been a futile exercise. At least until now.
Augmented reality glasses overlay digital images onto a person’s view of the physical world. They are different from virtual reality headsets that completely immerse people in a computer-generated environment.
Over the past decade, tech giants have been focusing on developing glasses that project digital screens in front of the user’s eyes. The fact that they have so far failed to convince people to wear smartglasses on a daily basis hasn’t stopped Google and other companies from pouring money into the endeavor because they believe the hardware could one day transform the way people socialize, work, and learn.
Despite being dwarfed by the Silicon Valley giants to the north, Snap, the Los Angeles-based company behind the disappearing messaging app Snapchat, is competing in this smartglass arms race. The company, which unveiled its fifth version of AR glasses at its annual conference on Tuesday, hopes improvements to the device will lead to mass consumer adoption.
Other industry giants include Google and Samsung are also working on smart glasses, and Apple is considering the idea. The competition raises the stakes for publicly traded Snap as it seeks new products to help reestablish itself in the tech world as rivals such as Instagram and TikTok outdo it in grabbing people’s attention and dominating the market.
But experts say that a future in which augmented reality glasses become a part of our everyday life has not yet arrived and there is still a long way to go. The future of smart glasses is still unclear.
“This is a marathon. It’s not a sprint,” said Gartner analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen, who is part of a team researching immersive technologies, including AR. “We need not just hardware and software but an ecosystem of content that works together to create a seamless experience.”
Snap first released Smart Glasses Capable of recording video, in 2016 they were sold in vending machines in Los Angeles before being made available online. The company reported selling 150,000 pairs, but most people turned them down using them One month later and disappointing Demand for gadgets This resulted in hundreds of thousands of pairs going unsold.
Snap’s latest eyewear, called Spectacles, overlays computer-generated images onto a person’s view of the physical world. This new device is based on the first AR glasses released to software developers in 2021. Snap is not selling them to the public, but rather making them available to software developers in the hopes that they will design experiences for the platform.
What people can do with AR glasses is limited. Snap’s glasses can track a person’s hands, allowing users to pick up and assemble virtual Legos, swing an imaginary golf club, draw with friends and punch numbers into a digital calculator. It also includes some artificial intelligence features that allow users to get answers to questions and generate an image with voice commands.
In an effort to spur interest, Snap is leaning toward whimsical apps and gaming experiences that it knows users are addicted to, said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst at Creative Strategies, a consulting firm that works with technology companies.
But Snap is still treading cautiously as it releases new AR glasses.
“We can’t predict how much consumers will adopt it, and so we’re being more thoughtful about how we release this version,” said Sofia Dominguez, Snap’s AR platform director. “That could change at any time, and if it does … we’re ready.”
Dominguez said the company believes AR glasses will one day become the primary way people access the digital world. Instead of a computer or phone screen, AR glasses will allow people to have one foot in both worlds at the same time, he said, making it “easier for you to interact with technology in the same way you interact with the real world.”
There are doubts as to whether AR glasses will make this possible.
Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford University professor who founded the college’s Virtual Human Interaction Laboratory, said wearing AR glasses could hinder people’s social behavior in the physical world, making them feel less present.
“Wearing glasses that connect to digital content, whether it’s AR or VR, should be done in moderation for specific experiences,” he said. “I’m not a proponent of blocking your perceptual system, sight and sound, for constant surveillance.”
Bailenson et al. Stanford researchers Tested the Meta Quest 3, a “mixed reality” headset that lets people blend the physical and virtual worlds. Although the headset is different from AR glasses, this gadget can display real-time video of the user’s surroundings in the physical world.
The researchers, who were accompanied by a chaperone for safety reasons, wore Meta’s headsets while talking to people, walking around the premises, and cooking food. They reported that people felt less real in the physical world, as if they were watching television rather than interacting with someone face-to-face.
Bailenson said people wearing AR glasses will have a different view of the world than those who don’t wear them, and losing that “common ground” will impact the way people socialize.
Previous attempts to incorporate smartglasses into people’s lives have not been successful. When Google launched smartglasses in 2013 that could take photos and shoot video, privacy and security concerns arose from consumers, lawmakers and business owners. People started calling Google Glass Owner Those who used smart glasses in ways that were socially unacceptable created “glassholes”. One of the socially prohibited things is: secretly recording and reading on the device while ignoring others.
Although AR glasses could prove helpful in many areas including training, education, shopping and gaming, industry analysts say it will be difficult to convince consumers to adopt these devices.
“Our eyes are very precious real estate,” said Bajarin, who tried out Snap’s AR glasses ahead of its conference. “Consumers are going to protect it very, very closely.”
Keeping the price low enough to entice people to buy them will also be a challenge. Meta, which has teamed up with Ray Ban to create smartglasses that let people take photos, listen to music and make video calls with the help of an AI assistant, sells its device for about $300. Snap hasn’t said what it will charge for its latest glasses if they become available to the general public.
Snap’s glasses are still a work in progress. They’re heavier than regular glasses, heat up to uncomfortable levels after prolonged use and have battery life of less than an hour. They require extraneous hand movements, such as grabbing digital objects in the air and tapping the front and back of your hand to adjust volume or launch a menu.
The device is powered by Snap’s own operating system, giving the company more control over the experience. During a recent preview of the AR glasses held at a San Francisco home, a Times reporter used voice commands to create images that appeared almost instantly — a robot dog, Elsa from Frozen and the San Francisco skyline.
In another activity, a wide-eyed, yellow creature appeared before walking outside to a surreal San Francisco patio with a stunning view of the city. Niantic, the maker of the AR game Pokémon Go, created the “Peridot Beyond” experience for Snap’s AR glasses.
Asim Ahmed, who leads global marketing at Niantic, said AR glasses give the company the opportunity to experiment and design “new kinds of gameplay paradigms.” What works in games played on mobile phones may not work on AR glasses, which provide a wider field of view and do not rely so heavily on the hands to play. Niantic also had to think about safety issues, including making sure the virtual pet does not get too close to its owner and block their view.
With a number of challenges, including figuring out how to pack processing power and other computing hardware into a device smaller than a smartphone, analysts predict that smartglasses will take at least several years to achieve mainstream adoption, if they ever do.
According to the market intelligence firm, shipments of VR and AR headsets declined 67.4% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2024 but are expected to improve as consumers move to new types of devices. IDCMeta led the market, followed by ByteDance, Xerial, and HTC.
Analysts say that because companies are still testing or developing AR glasses, no clear frontrunner has yet emerged.
Snap’s rivals, including Meta and Google, have more money to invest in research and development of AR glasses, said eMarketer analyst Jacob Born. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has 3.27 billion people using one of its apps every day. Snapchat has 432 million daily active users.
“I would probably put more money on Meta because it has the keys to the (research and development) capabilities that would allow this to actually be brought to market,” Bourne said. “But I wouldn’t rule out Snap at all.”
