Huawei promises AR glasses in 1-2 years, but sets expectations low

Huawei plans to commercialize its own augmented reality glasses over the next one to two years, but doesn’t expect their value to be instantly apparent to consumers. “In the beginning you may feel AR … is nothing,” Huawei consumer CEO Richard Yu told CNBC, “but in the future you will see more and more the value of that.”The Chinese company’s push into AR appears to have been inspired by Apple, which has reportedly been working to release its own AR glasses within the same timeframe. Like Apple, which is using ARKit to bring AR games and apps to iPhones and iPads, Huawei expects to train users with AR experiences on phones before releasing glasses. Some AR apps are already available on its flagship Mate 20 Pro, which runs Android 9 Pie.Huawei might be able to leverage its hardware development expertise to compete in the AR space. The company has already released two virtual reality headsets and develops its own chips, including the Kirin 980 chipset found in the Mate 20 Pro, and 5G modems. This chip expertise could enable it to build a custom hardware solution quite different from AR platforms already under development by Microsoft, Qualcomm, and others.