There have been rumors of Apple testing a new AR Glass for quite a while now. We recently saw that the company will be launching the wearable AR device along with its new ARM-based MacBooks. However, recent reports suggest that former chief design officer, Jony Ive was responsible for the delay in the launch of Apple’s AR Glasses.
According to new reports, the Cupertino-based tech giant was working on the development of its AR/VR Glasses for a long time. However, the then-CDO, Jony Ive objected to the design of the headset as he did not like the idea of it being an AR/VR glass paired to a separate hub device.
The idea of an AR/VR headset connected to a dedicated hub device was developed by Apple’s Technology Development Team to give the product faster graphics and powerful VR features. This team was headed by Mike Rockwell who joined the company back in 2015 to work with the team and develop an AR/VR Oculus-style headset for the ultimate gaming experience. This device was given the codename of N301.
However, according to the recent reports, Jony Ive preferred another design for the Apple Glass that would solely put AR into a single pair of glass without the separate hub device. He did not want users to wear an Oculus-style headset and be unaware of their surroundings.
So, Ive was able to finally convince CEO Tim Cook to develop another device, codenamed N421 that was a scaled-down version of the N301. And this is the wearable device that Apple is rumored to launch this year.
Now, the original device, the N301, would have had its own App Store and some other perks. However, the final device, N421, will reportedly be heavily using Siri as many of the engineers working on the voice assistant have been deployed to work on Rockwell’s Technology Development Team.
