Apple Inc. sees a future in digital glases - report

Apple Inc. apparently sees a future in digital eye glasses, a source-based report says.

The US-based computing giant is said to be exploring the concept, and apparently sees potential for them to connect wirelessly to the company's flagship iPhones.

Digital glasses are widely seen as a risky but potentially lucrative element of wearable computing.

Their potential is against a backcloth of VR headsets and FPV goggles, both of which have established popular consumer followings.

Apple could design digital glasses to display images and other data in a wearer's field of vision, and could potentially venture into augmented reality, reported Bloomberg, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The sources said Apple had chatted about its glasses concept with potential suppliers, and had apparently even requested small stocks of near-eye displays for testing.

Order sizes were not large enough to imply near-term mass production, one of the news agency's sources said.

The other suggested it would be 2018 at earliest before Apple went ahead with digital glasses, if at all.

A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment to the news agency.