The Apple Vision Pro, with its sleek and compact design, currently does not offer space to accommodate conventional glasses. This has been solved with prescription lenses that attach directly to the glasses and correct the image for the wearer’s eyes. A requirement that may evolve and eventually disappear.
An adaptation to the visual needs of each user
A new patent from Apple describes a system that could eliminate the need for these lenses. The proposed system uses electrically adjustable displays, capable of dynamically adapting to different prescriptions, even adjusting individually for each eye. This technology would serve both individual users and also allow the same device to be shared among multiple users with different vision needs.
Adjustable screens would use liquid crystal cells or voltage-modulated optical materials to modify the material itself, which essentially means that electricity would change and adjust the lens’s performance. By adjusting the voltages applied to the electrodes in these cells, it is possible to dynamically change the refractive index of the material, thus allowing customization of the lenses according to needs.
A system, it must be said, that would not only be applicable to devices like the Vision Pro, but also to technologically more advanced versions of conventional glasses. Meanwhile, in virtual or augmented reality systems, these adjustable lens components could be used to move content between different focal planes from the user’s perspective.
While we wonder if we can buy the Apple Vision Pro from outside the United States and see how it has sold twice as many units as expected, and in just two days, it is clear that Apple patents many technologies that do not necessarily become products, but a solution to make the Apple Vision Pro usable without specific prescription lenses has all the potential. We will see, with subsequent versions of the device, how this requirement evolves.
