Apple may be jumping on the smart glasses bandwagon, report says

Snapchat just made a pair of smart glasses people are genuinely into, and it appears Apple might want in on the smart glasses action, too.

According to a report in Bloomberg, the company is considering making a foray into wearables by way of a pair of digital glasses.

People "familiar with the matter," who declined to speak publicly, told the publication that the venture is just in its beginning stages, but the glasses could potentially connect to the iPhone and use augmented reality.

SEE ALSO: Augmented reality app to teach Australians beach safety

While there are now virtual reality headsets aplenty, including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the main augmented reality competitor for the moment is Microsoft with its HoloLens product that superimposes images on the real world. 

Microsoft has also expressed interested in "mixed reality" headsets that support both modes.

In any case, it seems Apple's project is exploratory, with any product unlikely to be brought to market until 2018.

"Apple has talked about its glasses project with potential suppliers, according to people familiar with those discussions," Bloomberg reported. "The company has ordered small quantities of near-eye displays from one supplier for testing, the people said. Apple hasn't ordered enough components so far to indicate imminent mass-production, one of the people added."

It would make sense for Apple to investigate the territory, given CEO Tim Cook has expressed significant enthusiasm for augmented reality. 

"AR I think is going to become really big," Cook said during the Utah Tech Tour in Salt Lake City. 

While he acknowledged there were technical challenges, Cook said he thought augmented reality would one day be as integral to our lives as smartphones.

"I do think that a significant part of the population, of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences everyday," he said. "It will be almost like eating three meals a day, because it will become that much a part of you."

While virtual reality requires people to switch off from what's going on around them physically, augmented reality could more readily fit in with the email-checking and train-catching activities of daily life — something Apple already tries to serve through products like the Apple Watch.

As Mashable reported at the time, Apple has a variety of patents and acquisitions that suggested an ongoing interest in the technology, although it could all come to naught.

In 2015, it bought the German augmented reality software company Metaio, for example, which had previously made a TimeTraveler Augmented app that added historical footage to tourist sites.

Snap Inc. has proven you can make digital glasses that don't scare people into thinking you're a privacy-invading cyborg (see Google Glass). Let's see what Apple makes of it.

Apple has been contacted by Mashable for comment.