The lenses for Apple's AR glasses are slated to be made by Foxconn

Consumer-grade smart glasses were once touted by a handful of companies, Google included, as the wave of the future. Well, that future is here and that technology has never seen the uptake to match this optimism. According to recent reports, however, this has not put Apple off developing a version of this product.

These kinds of glasses are likely to be dependent on lenses that can integrate content projected to them from a processing platform into what the wearer can see. A new piece in The Information asserts that the Cupertino giant has in fact been developing these components for about 3 years now. It is possible that they incorporate liquid-crystal-on-silicon techniques in order to function.

This is the method by which the company Akonia Holographics made its own AR lenses, at least; coincidentally, Apple reportedly acquired this firm in 2018. However, there is no guarantee that its work forms the basis of trial-run batches of lenses apparently in production at Foxconn now.

In other Apple AR glasses news, the OEM has reportedly filed a patent that may make them configurable. This could at least give them a arange of different styles, as with Apple Watches. As to their use-cases, it is possible that their maker intends them to become as ubiquitious and as versatile as its iPhones are now.