Apple’s rumoured forthcoming line of smart glasses could soon be a major health and fitness companion, but it might not be until later generations of the product, according to a new report.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the lighter and smaller form factor for smart glasses could enable Apple to realise a long-held desire after deciding against launching fitness features for the Vision Pro headset.
Gurman reports that Apple had hoped to bring a version of Fitness+ to the Vision Pro, but it was deemed unfeasible due to the weight of the headset and the discomfort in wearing it for long periods of time.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman writes: “One initiative was a version of Apple Fitness+ that could run inside the headset. The idea was to let users wear the device while working out and following classes, with the headset using its body-tracking technology to analyse movements. But this never launched due to technological hurdles and the headset itself being too heavy.”
With smart glasses, Apple perhaps has an opportunity to bring its plans back to the fore. Gurman points out that Apple is looking to hire for a role to lead the efforts. He adds:
“Its Vision Products Group, the team developing glasses and future headsets, is looking for that hire to “define the future of health, well-being and fitness experiences across vision products.” This person will need to “translate ambiguous opportunities at the intersection of spatial computing, wearables, consumer health and human behaviour” into a clear product direction, Apple said.”
Speaking of Apple wearables, Gurman says the company is closer than previously anticipated to launching the AirPods Pro model with cameras in, joining the heart rate sensors in the most recent model.
Pairing both of these features up with a pair of smart glasses with a heads-up display could make for an excellent health, fitness and environment tracking combination.
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