Smart Glasses Show How Apple Is Different From Companies Like Facebook, Snapchat: Gurman

Mike Gurman, a noted Apple Inc AAPL analyst, spent a week with “Ray-Ban Stories” smart glasses from Facebook Inc FB and has been left less than impressed.

What Happened: Gurman used the latest edition of his newsletter to highlight a difference between the approach taken by Apple rivals — Facebook and Snapchat parent Snap Inc SNAP — in the release of such eyewear missing augmented reality features. 

“Apple could launch a pair of smart glasses without AR today. They’re not doing that, however — they’re going to wait until that technology is ready,” noted Gurman.

“I just don’t see the point of this pre-augmented-reality era of smart glasses. That’s not specific to Facebook either: I feel the same way about similar offerings from Amazon.com Inc. AMZN and Snap Inc,” wrote Gurman.

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As per the analyst’s “math,” purchasing a pair of Ray-Bans plus earbuds costs the same as a single pair of Ray-Ban Stories and the functionality of the smart glasses is inferior to regular Ray-Bans plus AirPods plus phone camera combo.

Why It Matters: Gurman also touched on the cumbersome process of transferring and sharing photos from the Ray-Ban Stories, which requires a lot of “steps.”

He was dismissive of other smart functionality of the smart glasses like calls and music, which he said similar but inferior to AirPods and other earbuds.

Snap revealed an AR version of its Spectacles smart glasses in May, but those are yet to go on sale and are meant for AR creators.

Meanwhile, Facebook is setting its sights on wearables like watches to gain in the augmented reality segment, as per Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest.

However, Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster said that it is Apple that will pioneer the “transformational” AR revolution.

As per the analyst, by 2025, multiple consumer AR glasses will be available from big tech and the AR experience will shift from being powered by phone to being power by wearables. 

Price Action: On Friday, Apple shares closed nearly 3.3% lower at $148.97 in the regular session and fell 0.2% in the after-hours trading. On the same day, Facebook shares closed almost 0.2% higher at $378.69.

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Photo: Courtesy of Facebook