Apple is making Samsung look good without even trying

michael.hicks@futurenet.com (Michael L Hicks)
2025-02-05 03:00:00
www.androidcentral.com

When I heard that Apple had reportedly scrapped its plans for “Apple Vision Lite” AR glasses, I was the furthest thing from shocked. Apple cancels projects all of the time, but more than being risk-averse, the Silicon Valley company has shown very little interest in the categories where it doesn’t already dominate sales. And Samsung, which seems less afraid to experiment, will reap the benefits.

This is a conservative time for U.S. Big Tech. Not strictly politically — though most tech CEOs have paid homage to Trump — but rather that these companies keep laying off tens of thousands of employees in the name of “efficiency,” typically those working on non-AI projects without a tangible, quick path to profits.

Unlike Google and Meta, Apple hasn’t had the kind of mass layoffs that prioritize profits over caring about your workers, but it did have several rounds of 2024 layoffs at a smaller scale. And in this kind of environment, everyone needs to justify that their project has a future.

Maybe Apple’s “Apple Vision Lite” or “Apple Glasses” didn’t have a future. Wired AR glasses have their niche, but the fact that they reportedly couldn’t work with an iPhone limited their potential usefulness and portability outside of XR superfans.

But in this environment of skeptical, penny-pinching executives looking for products that immediately stand out from competitors, it’s not surprising that we haven’t seen much that’s new from Apple in years, aside from the Vision Pro.

Apple’s ‘vision’ doesn’t include smart rings, glasses, or foldables

Using the Apple Vision Pro at Viva Tech 2024

Was this Apple’s last product outside of its usual mobile and computing niches? (Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)

Want an Apple Ring as a petite alternative to an Apple Watch? Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says, “Apple isn’t actively developing a ring and has no plans to launch one,” despite years of smart ring patents and rumors. That gives Samsung, Oura, and other indie brands free reign.

Want an Apple Flip or Fold? Leakers keep predicting year after year that one is coming — now 2026 is the target, with Apple eyeing a new display manufacturer — but Apple keeps canceling or pushing back its rumored foldable phone so frequently that it feels like Lucy Leaker yanking away the football while Charlie Brown techies get excited over nothing.

And again, foldable phone brands like Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, and Honor can keep dominating in this area while Apple dawdles.

I’m sure Meta is thrilled that its Orion AR glasses won’t have to compete with Apple’s canceled AR glasses in 2027, but the fact that Apple hasn’t shown any indication to make “regular” smart glasses like Ray-Ban Metas is an even bigger deal.

Apple Music/Photos and Siri in stylish frames would prove insanely popular in one of the fastest-growing product categories. Instead, we’ve heard nothing on this end either. Meanwhile, Samsung and Google have teamed up for Android XR, and while a mixed-reality Project Moohan headset is the first priority, one leak suggests Samsung will make a no-display smart glasses product next as a Ray-Ban rival.

Think different? Nah…

Photo of Nick Sutrich wearing and using the Meta Orion AR glasses

We may never know if Apple’s AR glasses would’ve looked better than Meta Orion. (Image credit: Nick Sutrich / Android Central)

You can criticize Samsung’s tendency to rush products to market and count on name recognition instead of innovation to drive sales. The relatively mid Galaxy Ring is a fair example of this. But what matters more is that it hasn’t lost that greedy, ambitious, experimental tendency to try anything new and then iterate to make these products better year after year to strengthen its place in every category.

Frankly, as long as Apple stays out of these product categories, Samsung has less incentive to compete and innovate against its biggest rival, as it does with its Galaxy phones.

Apple has never fully lived up to its Steve Jobs-era reputation for “thinking differently,” but it truly feels like it has become so risk-averse in recent years that the only thing its users have to look forward to is Apple Intelligence. And that applies to other Big Tech brands like Google, too, with its Gemini push and Graveyard of other ideas behind it.

My complaint isn’t just about “Apple Vision Lite,” any more than it is about the Apple Car. It’s the fact that, again, my first reaction to the cancelation news was a weary, cynical lack of surprise.

As someone who writes for an Android site but used to exclusively use Apple products out of laziness, I’ve never been invested in judging one company or ecosystem as “better” or mocking Apple when it arrives years late on common Android features. All I care about is the traditional capitalistic idea that competition is good for consumers like you and me.

So, as the biggest tech brands retreat into their most successful niches and monopolies to keep shareholders happy and use shiny AI tricks to keep us complacent, I’ll continue to lament how companies other than Samsung seem to be giving up on trying new things.

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