Google Glass Price Tipped At $300 For Final Launch

The public launch date for Google Glass has yet to be confirmed, however it is starting to look like they will arrive quite a bit less expensive as compared to the current price tag. Those who have picked up a pair of Google Glass through the explorers program paid $1500 and according to a recent report coming out of the China Post, the final price could end up dropping to $299. This estimate comes by way of Taiwan's Topology Research Institute who recently took a look at the possible bill of materials.

Google recently picked up a stake in Himax and it is looking like the display component from Glass will continue to come from them. Jason Tsai, who is a researcher with Topology has said this would cost somewhere between $30 and $35. Perhaps more important here, Tsai also said that would account for the biggest share of the total cost in the near term.

Looking back, that stake in Himax was for 6.3 percent and could grow to a total of 8.5 percent. A price point of $299 could certainly help the average consumer look towards a Google Glass purchase. And while Glass cannot be expected to jump to a mass market device at launch, the wearables category is expected to grow over the next several years.

Further research from Tsai suggests the wearables market will grown from $1.2 billion all the way up to $18.3 billion by 2018. Another research firm, IHS Inc. estimates that smart glass purchases may climb to as high as 124,000 this year. As expected, it was said that most of those sales would be to developers.

Similar to the wearables market increasing, it looks like the smart glass market will increase to almost 10 million units by 2016. With all that in mind, the latest belief is that Google Glass will be available for sale to the public late this year.

VIA: phoneArena