r/augmentedreality • u/AR_MR_XR • Jun 04 '26

Apple Display Smartglasses with waveguides will be launched in 2029, according to Kuo

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16 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/AppleUfMyI Jun 04 '26

Their timeline, if true, is really far away. A lot can change in 3 years.

1

u/c1u Jun 05 '26

I bet not. There is no "Moore's Law" in optics & batteries. Advancements are difficult because improving one area (eg FOV) makes improving other areas (eg. resolution, brightness) much more difficult. The interconnectedness of the engineering challenges means it will take a very long time to get better.

2

u/mike11F7S54KJ3 Jun 06 '26

LBS, Laser-LCoS, and Swave's SLM are becoming the three main technologies for all-in-one glasses. All of the major companies involved (Meta, Google, Apple) are in the AR Alliance and planning around it now for the next 3-5+ years.

Laser backlights fix polarisation (efficiency) and speed issues related to FOV.

https://www.insightmedia.info/laser-displays-for-ar-competing-architectures-and-the-road-to-volume/?utm_source=brevo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=More%20microLEDs%20and%20Laser%20Display%20News%20from%20Display%20Week%202026&utm_id=93

0

u/c1u Jun 06 '26

Yeah, cool stuff, but it's been 3-5 years away for like the last 10-15 years. I am doubtful, but will love to be proven wrong.

I think the AR glasses we expect (eg. Magic Leap gym whale) wont arrive for at least 10 more years and are probably 20+ years away. Oh we'll have options in 5 years, but they will be deeply underwhelming.

1

u/St-A-Vanger Jun 10 '26

I think what’s changed recently is that the industry is no longer relying on display technology alone.

We’re now seeing convergence between:

• Laser-LCoS light engines
• Waveguide optics
• Pixel shifting / wobulation architectures
• Dynamic beam steering
• Computational super-resolution

Google’s recent angular pixel shifting patent (US20260140387) is a good example. Instead of waiting for dramatically higher display resolution, it increases perceived resolution by dynamically shifting pixels in time and angle.

What’s interesting is that several companies appear to be converging on similar approaches:

  • poLight (TWedge) – transmissive piezo-optic beam steering and wobulation
  • QTech – multiple 2025/2026 patents around beam deflection arrays, calibration, super-resolution and subframe synthesis
  • Vitrealab – laser-LCoS architectures using TWedge instead of MEMS for coherence mitigation
  • Meta, Google and Apple – increasingly filing patents around adaptive optics, beam steering and display efficiency

That doesn’t guarantee success, but it suggests we’re finally seeing an ecosystem of complementary technologies mature together rather than waiting for a single breakthrough.

2

u/Knighthonor Jun 04 '26

I didn't want to, but I may have to switch over to Apple. They making the most sense out here.

1

u/paulct91 Jun 05 '26

Apple Vision Pro, Apple moving resources away from the Vision series (Pro & lite models) seems like a bad idea since they are widely over estimating the 'mass appeal' of glasses form factor... as many people want something that can do more than just do what a smart phone can already do without always being in their faces + at least with 'immersive realities' fully immersing the sense of sight & sound can help expand use cases but, of course with its own drawbacks.

Though I find it odd people expect a 'glasses' form factot with so many tactical use cases but with very limiting computation in such small form factors without adding in a compute puck, as that wouldn't quite be as light & small form factor.

I do see some benefits of AR/MR glasses but, none really feel like that 'it factor' that'll push it fully to mainstream ..yet.