Apple's Liquid Glass is prep work for AR interfaces, not just a design refresh

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Speculation about AR Strategy

  • Many commenters think Apple is indeed aligning UI across devices as groundwork for future AR glasses, building user familiarity and an app ecosystem in advance.
  • Others see this as pure speculation: Apple has repeatedly delayed or canceled AR glasses projects, and there’s no hard evidence that Liquid Glass is tied to a near‑term AR product.
  • Some argue the comparison to iOS→iPadOS is wrong: that design was tailored to the new device; here, AR‑oriented visuals are being pushed onto non‑AR hardware.

Usability and Accessibility Concerns

  • Strong worry that translucency hurts legibility, especially against busy or moving backgrounds, in sunlight, and for older users or in crisis scenarios (e.g., calling emergency services).
  • Multiple people note this “transparent UI” lesson was already learned (and rejected) in Windows Vista/7 and earlier Mac OS X “Aqua/Aero” eras.
  • A widely cited VR/graphics expert argues translucent UI is usually bad outside movies/games; many in the thread agree, calling Liquid Glass hostile to contrast and clarity.
  • Some defenders say Apple’s own guidelines restrict Liquid Glass to sparse controls over rich content, and that accessibility options (reduced transparency, higher contrast) soften the impact—though early betas are seen as overusing it.

Historical Parallels & Revisionism

  • Several comments push back on the article’s history: flat design was pioneered by Microsoft’s Metro and early Android before iOS 7, not the other way around.
  • People recall Apple’s skeuomorphic iOS 6 and OS X designs as more usable: clear affordances, visible boundaries, readable text, “tangible” scrollbars.
  • There’s broader frustration that tech media often describe Apple’s adoption of existing trends as unprecedented innovation.

AR Feasibility and Technical Constraints

  • Skeptics doubt AR glasses will ever be mainstream: social acceptability, bulk, and low‑res/low‑contrast see‑through optics are seen as fundamental obstacles.
  • Engineers working with AR displays note that true blur and refraction effects require sampling the real scene (camera passthrough, SLAM), which is power‑hungry and hard to align; current see‑through optics can’t easily do “liquid glass”‑style distortion.
  • Others counter that some camera‑based compositing is feasible, but acknowledge tight power budgets for glasses.

Platform, Ecosystem, and Business Motives

  • One strong thread: Liquid Glass is partly a moat for “real native” apps. The complex glass effects are hard for web, Flutter, or MAUI to match; they visually signal native Swift/SwiftUI on Apple hardware.
  • Critics argue most real‑world apps (airlines, banks, groceries) won’t invest in per‑platform eye candy; cross‑platform stacks remain economically favored.
  • Developers resent another large aesthetic shift that pressures them to reimplement UIs without clear functional gain.

Reactions to the Design Itself

  • Opinions are polarized:
    • Some find the new UI “gorgeous” and “delightful” after a few days, especially on larger screens.
    • Many think the skeuomorphic example in the article looks plainly better—clearer, more readable, easier to parse.
    • Others say Liquid Glass looks like dated icon packs or “disabled” controls, and they plan to max out opacity or disable transparency.
  • There’s also concern about forcing a single AR‑driven design language onto phones, tablets, and desktops with very different interaction modes and environments.

Apple, AI, and “4D Chess” Narratives

  • Several commenters see the article’s framing (“Apple isn’t losing AI, it’s playing a subtler game”) as apologetic “copium” after a weak AI showing and slipping timelines for promised “Apple Intelligence” features.
  • Others note Apple’s history of entering markets late with polished, integrated offerings but point out many expensive misses (cars, mixed reality, prior UIs), arguing Apple does in fact fail and spin those failures.
  • Overall sentiment leans skeptical that Liquid Glass is a master AR/AI strategy rather than a fashion‑driven UI refresh with real usability costs.