1 Dec 2023 | Mike Boland

AWE Talks: Plotting AR Glasses' Evolutionary Path

AWE EU 2023

Key Takeaways
– Computing innovation happens gradually, from mainframe computers to smartphones.
– What does this tell us about AR's evolutionary path? It will be gradual but steady. 
– We're now at a point when there are several approaches towards AR's holy grail. 
   – By holy grail, we mean all-day wearable glasses that are visually-rich and stylistic. 
– We're far from that goal due to tech challenges and tradeoffs... but getting closer. 
– The current AR glasses landscape has many variations that can be put in a few buckets. 
   – Optical see-through, optimized for maximum capability (e.g., Hololens 2)
   – VR Goggles with passthrough (e.g., Quest 3, Apple Vision Pro)
   – Highly-specialized industrial/enterprise hardware (e.g., Vuzix, Realwear)
   – Low-cost tethered, usually with simple optics (e.g., Xreal Air 2)
   – Small & lightweight optical see-through (e.g., Snap Spectacles, gen 4).
– These approaches each evolve towards AR's holy grail from different angles. 
– The list of specs that will define that eventual AR endpoint includes...
   – Untethered & cloud-connected
   – Lightweight (<100g) for all-day comfort
   – Optical see-through for optimal display comfort
   – Wide field of view for maximum immersion
   – Lots of compute for compelling applications
– And the X-factor according to Wagner is for stylistic viability... so people actually wear them. 
– We can look forward to this evolutionary path but should set expectations of realistic timing.
– That AR glasses "holy grail" moment likely won't arrive until sometime in the 2030s. 

For more color from Wagner, see the full video below...    

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