One of the major manufacturing partners of Apple Inc., Quanta Computer Inc., has stated that it has reached an agreement with Lumus Ltd to manufacture lenses for smart glasses.
Lumus which is an Israeli based company is popular for designing displays for AR glasses, this will help bring information to the wearer’s field of view. The CEO of Lumus Ari Grobman stated that the deal will see Quanta manufacture lenses for then but will still have the option to manufacture the company for other leading consumer technology companies. Quanta was a major player in the last round of financing for Lumus last year as it invested $45 million into the Israeli company last year. At the moment, there are some large tech companies that are manufacturing AR hardware such as Apple and Microsoft Corp.
Grobman during an interview stated that “This means that the most expensive key enabling technology in the AR glasses teardown will now be affordably priced, effectively bringing down the overall cost of consumer AR glasses. Quanta has suggested that full AR headsets would be priced for less than the cost of a high-end cell phone. That’s a big deal.”
Tech giants Apple is also developing an AR headset that would have features such as digital assistant Siri, and display maps and text messages to the wearer. Quanta has stated that it is concluding plans to ensure that its AR technology is ready by 2019 so that it can be released by 2020. In its statement, Lumus is optimistic that its headsets with the AR technology will be available for sale within 12 to 18 months. Grobman, however, didn’t specify is Lumus and Quanta are currently working on developing Apple’s glasses.
Even though Apple is known for designing and developing its hardware, it usually relies on outside manufacturers and component suppliers to manufacture the products in large quantities to feed their large customer base. An example of this is the screen of iPhone X being made by Samsung Electronics Co. while the phone itself is being assembled by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., a unit of Foxconn.
Quanta already does business with Apple as it manufactures some products such as Apple Watch and Mac laptops which are responsible for roughly 60% of Apple’s annual revenue.
