Apple has yet to enter the VR headset or smart glasses market, but analysts at Morgan Stanley believe the company is "approaching lift-off," noting similarities between its current and pre-launch patents for the original Apple Watch in 2015.

"Apple's patent portfolio is beginning to mirror the pre-launch period of the Watch," says a Morgan Stanley report seen by Investors.com.

There are two avenues Apple is said to be pursuing in the VR and AR space. First, there is Apple's VR and mixed reality headset, rumored to cost around $2,000 and likely to rival Meta's new Project Cambria headset.

Then there are Apple Glasses, which are entirely dedicated to augmented reality, and which are said to be announced much later.

It seems likely that Morgan Stanley is referring to the latter, but there is definitely some crossover in terms of functionality and patent filings. And there have certainly been plenty of AR patents filed by Apple recently, covering everything from smart rings and vibrating socks for hand gestures to gaze projection and iPhone privacy.

The Morgan Stanley report highlights the extreme challenges to making AR wearables a reality, but says Apple is still in the home stretch. The analyst writes, "The enormity of the technical challenge of compressing day-long batteries, 5G, compute, cameras, lidar, projectors, and wave-guide lenses into lightweight, attractive glasses is hard to overstate."

"And the analyst writes.

Overall, investment banks have high hopes for Apple's place in what has been a niche market. The firm says, "Apple's entry into the eyewear market will be a game changer for all participants as this technology becomes normalized and widespread," and that Apple could comfortably overtake Microsoft, Google, and Meta, which are dabbling in the AR/VR space.

"Apple has a long history of disrupting new markets and ultimately growing the addressable market size far beyond initial expectations," the company added.

Indeed, that's true: the iPod helped popularize the MP3 player to the masses at a time when it was a niche, a feat that was repeated six years later with the iPhone. [No one wears VR headsets coolly, and members of Google Glass' Explorer program were unapologetically called "glassholes" because of their ostentatious eyewear.

But if Apple can make AirPods a must-have fashion accessory despite initial derision, it must be said that AR glasses could at least become mainstream.