Apple’s AR glasses plan isn’t dead—it’s just on Apple Time™️, which means they’ll probably launch right when you’ve finally given up hope.

The Mac-tethered AR glasses are what was pronounced dead, but don’t pour one out just yet—this was just a detour, not a dead end.

The real goal is a standalone pair that won’t need a Mac to function, but it’s gonna take a minute.

Meanwhile, Apple isn’t just tinkering with AR—this week also brings fresh hardware drops, including the long-awaited Powerbeats Pro 2 for fitness junkies who love bass, and a new iPhone SE, which keeps proving that budget iPhones can still slap.

Late last month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman dropped the news that Apple quietly axed its plans for AR glasses that would have required a Mac connection:

The company shuttered the program this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The now-canceled product would have looked like regular glasses but with built-in displays, requiring a tether to a Mac, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work wasn’t public. An Apple representative declined to comment.

Sounds dramatic, but it’s really not.

This only affects the tethered version—think RayNeo Air 2S but with Apple’s signature polish (and a much higher price tag). The real prize has always been standalone AR glasses, and Apple’s still in the race for that.

According to Gurman, Apple hardware chief John Ternus is playing it smart and taking his time, likely to avoid a repeat of Vision Pro’s “cool but niche” situation.

That means no rushing half-baked AR glasses to market. Instead, Apple’s Vision Products Group is focused on nailing the core tech—like displays and custom silicon—before committing to a final design.

Realistically we’re looking at another 3-5 years before anything materializes.

But with visionOS already laying the groundwork, Apple has plenty of time to make sure these glasses are actually worth the hype.