Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes that Apple's headset design department has cancelled a long-gestating project. Development of the company's augmented reality (AR) smart glasses—allegedly codenamed "N107"—ceased not long ago, according to the journalist's insider network. At first, Apple's augmented reality engineering team supposedly envisioned the (regular/normal-sized) glasses being powered via a direct connection to a wearer's iPhone. Gurman reckons that the smartphone-connected system was a mega-drainer of batteries, due to the onboard chipset being a bit of a power hog. Apple proceeded to experiment with a glasses-linked up-to-Mac concept—reportedly, company leadership canceled the project after rejecting the inelegant personal computer-powered solution.

Apple's AR smart glasses could have competed with a similar next-gen offering, upon a rumored 2027 launch—Meta's "Orion" solution is still in a concept phase. Leaked feature set information indicates functionality akin to Xreal's One AR series, albeit with a required connection to a compatible Mac computer. The Apple headset department has struggled (allegedly) with the development of various concepts—going far back as 2017, according to several of Gurman's reports. Two years ago, he heard whispers about the AR/VR team labelling their N107 project as a "hopeless" prospect. By Mid-2024, industry leaks indicated an end of development for the "expensive Vision Pro 2" mixed reality headset.