There have been several rumors about Apple renewing efforts to build augmented reality (AR) smart glasses, although it seems like these could be ready by 2027 at the earliest. Now, a trusted source has reported that the company is considering less ambitious smart glasses.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, in his newsletter Power On, suggested that Apple is thinking about developing non-AR smart glasses. “That category has done quite well for Meta Platforms Inc. in recent quarters, so Apple may try to join the party,” Gurman added.
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Apple Wants To Take On Meta’s Smart Glasses
Several firms currently offer smart glasses, but the $299 Meta Ray-Ban glasses are arguably the most prominent product. The glasses come with a camera, built-in speakers, AI chatbot functionality, music playback, and the ability to take calls. However, Meta’s product doesn’t offer any AR features, such as head-tracking or an integrated display.
Dropping head-tracking sensors, an integrated display, and other AR features should result in a cheaper bill of materials and a less complex pair of smart glasses, though. So, Apple could launch non-AR smart glasses to market much quicker than AR-equipped specs and at a lower price. Furthermore, non-AR smart glasses would likely be less bulky and offer better battery life than AR-equipped shades.
Either way, it seems like the competition in the segment is getting fierce. Qualcomm’s CEO confirmed earlier this week that the company’s upcoming XR project is indeed a pair of smart glasses. The Samsung product could be backed by Google software, so it stands to reason that more OEMs will provide smart glasses based on this platform down the line.
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Apple Now Allows Apple Music Playlist Transfer To YouTube
Apple has announced that users will now be able to transfer playlists from Apple Music to YouTube Music. While third-party apps have previously allowed the transfer of data between audio streaming platforms, this is the first instance Apple has added native support for this functionality.
Apple has also released a support document detailing the process of moving playlists from Apple Music to YouTube Music. While the actual music files are not transferred, the shifted playlists will only have songs that are available on YouTube Music. Audio files such as podcasts, audiobooks, and user-uploaded tracks within a playlist won’t get transferred.
To transfer playlists, users will be required to have an active Apple Music subscription and a YouTube Music account. To kick off the process, users need to visit Apple’s Data and Privacy page (privacy.apple.com) and sign in with their Apple ID.