Taking a look at Apple's other wearable devices could point to where Apple's rumored glasses are heading.

Other reports say Apple now seems to be readying its own pair of smart glasses, at long last, seven years after Google Glass and four years after the debut of the Oculus Rift. ?

Or, whether Apple proceeds with just glasses, or with a mixed-reality VR/AR headset, too.

Much like the Apple Watch, which emerged among many other smartwatches and had a lot of features I'd seen in other forms before, Apple's glasses will probably not be a massive surprise if you've been following the beats of the AR/VR landscape lately?

North Focals' smart glasses design from earlier this year.

I've found it a struggle to remember to pack smart glasses, and find room to carry them.

Apple always touted the Apple Watch, first and foremost, as a "great watch." I expect the same from its glasses.

North's concept for glasses might be too similar to Google Glass for Apple's tastes, but the idea of AR glasses doubling as functional glasses sounds extremely Apple-like.

Maybe the same idea is in the works for Apple AR features.

"Apple Glass" was one purported name for the glasses.

A report from Apple leaker Jon Prosser in May said a product named the Apple Glass will start at $499 plus prescription add-ons like lenses.

If the glasses are accessories, and meant to go with a watch, AirPods and an iPhone, you can't make them cost too much.

Reports of tracker tiles arriving as soon as this year, that could be seen via an iPhone app using AR, could possibly extend into Apple's glasses.

iPadOS 14 uses the lidar scanner to build out even more advanced depth features and room-meshing, and looks like the missing link to build a new wave of even more realistic AR graphics from Apple.

The first Apple Watch was feature-packed but still lacked some key things other watches had, like GPS and cellular connectivity.

Smaller, more normal smart glasses like North Focals or Vuzix Blade are more like Google Glass used to be; they present bits of heads-up info in a flat 2D screen. ?

Plug-in glasses like the nReal Light show some Magic Leap-like 3D graphics, and it runs using a phone.

Its AirPods can pair for audio (although maybe the glasses have their own Bose Frames-like audio, too), while the watch could be a helpful remote control.

The Apple Watch already acts as a remote at times, for the Apple TV, or linking up with the iPhone camera.

Apple's glasses could also look to the watch and expand its display virtually, offering enhanced extras that show up discreetly, like a halo.

The Apple Watch could also provide something that it'll be hard to get from hand gestures or touch-sensitive frames on a pair of glasses: haptics.

Glasses could eventually stand on their own and use 5G to do advanced computing, in a way like the Apple Watch eventually working over cellular.

Qualcomm's chipsets are in almost every self-contained AR and VR headset I can think of (Oculus Quest, HoloLens 2, a wave of new smart glasses, the latest version of Google Glass, Vive Focus).

While the Apple Glass may be Apple's biggest focus, it doesn't mean there can't be, or shouldn't be, competitors.

The iPhone, Apple Watch, HomePod and iPad all followed this path.

Prosser's report says a first announcement could come alongside the next iPhone in the fall, if it's a standard Apple event as was originally planned precoronavirus (which it probably won't be)

A report from The Information from 2019, based on reported leaked Apple presentational material, suggested 2022 for an Oculus Quest-like AR/VR headset, and 2023 for glasses

Maybe Apple takes a staggered strategy with AR, and releases several devices: one for creators first, with a higher price, and one for everyday wearers later. 

The Apple Glass -- or whatever the hardware will be called -- sounds like the culmination of years of acquisitions, hires and behind-the-scenes drama