Apple has been working on different kinds of future eyeware since at least 2008 when today's granted patent was originally filed. Apple filed a continuation patent for this invention in September 2019 when they added a new dimension to their headset: addressing prescription lenses. Patently Apple posted yet another patent application addressing prescription lenses in far more detail on June 4 2020.

Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple patent 10,686,922 for this possible entry-level headset system that supports using a modern iPhone as its display.