What Apple’s Glass project can learn from Magic Leap's mistakes

The end of Magic Leap’s mainstream mixed reality ambitions signals that we’ll be either be wearing Apple smartglasses or no smartglasses at all

It’s easy to pinpoint where it all went wrong for Magic Leap. It wasn’t the dazzling demo videos or the ILM and Weta partnerships or even when Beyoncé was reportedly bored by an augmented reality mermaid. It was when we started to see the thing, what would become the Magic Leap One headset.

The startup’s idiosyncratic founder Rony Abovitz just announced he’s stepping down as Magic Leap pivots to enterprise, healthcare and defence. 

This comes after Abovitz announced he was looking to be bought out in March, laid off employees - citing coronavirus in April, then raised a $350 million investment round, to add to the staggering $2.6 billion raised to date. 

But whatever potential a Magic Leap Two might hold for industry, it’s not quite the accessory we were promised back in 2015.

Magic Leap made the error of taking its 'lightfield' waveguide display technology and working backwards. With Glass, its long-rumoured augmented reality eyewear, Apple’s recent track record shows that it’s likely to do the precise opposite.

You only get one shot at a first impression and when it comes to wearable tech, it cannot be overstated just how make-or-break design is. 

With the first Apple Watch in 2015, and the first AirPods, in December 2016, it was clear that Apple’s Industrial Design team had triumphed over the engineers. In both cases, the first iteration was smaller, lighter, more polished and, for want of a better word, more iconic than any other product in the respective categories of smartwatches and wireless earbuds.

“Magic Leap is the latest example of what happens when technology is prioritised over design,” says Neil Cybart, an Apple analyst at Above Avalon. “Magic Leap lacks a design culture, which is crucial for succeeding in wearables.”

Neither of these devices were actually ahead in terms of technology and capabilities at launch and Apple, despite its keynote fanfare, steered clear of hype and overpromising what it couldn’t yet deliver. 

The Apple Watch lacked the key features of GPS and standalone cellular connectivity; the AirPods trailed on sound quality with the series holding off until late 2019 for noise cancelling with the AirPods Pro. 

Both, though, were designed first and foremost to be worn, and secondly, to work seamlessly with your iPhone. They got the basics right. The Watch and particularly the AirPods quickly outsold the rest of the competition, from Samsung and Google to sports, Swiss watch and audio brands.

The original design principles have adapted over the years - the Watch’s size and display bezels altered, the AirPods’ stem has been squashed - but in both instances, they are probably the most consistent element of the wearables. With Cupertino building towards launching its Apple Glass, augmented reality eyeglasses, at the end of this year or early next, it’s a natural fit for the next instalment of this anti-Magic Leap strategy.

YouTubee Jon Prosser, who has posted Apple bonafide leaks in the past, states that he has seen Apple Glass prototypes with plastic frames, though this may not be the final material. The smartglasses are likely to forego a camera, which would bring up unwelcome Google Glass-style privacy concerns, in favour of an integrated LiDAR scanner on the right temple to take care of depth sensing to measure the distance of surrounding objects. (There’s a LiDAR scanner in the 2020 iPad Pro’s camera array and data from this will reportedly feed into the team working on Glass).

The glasses will display heads-up information, with gesture controls and all the actual processing taking place on the iPhone. He says that Apple Glass will cost $499, a price point which suggests more of a Google Glass-style simple second screen accessory than a bulky, standalone device akin to the Magic Leap One.