Google has hinted that the company’s much-maligned Google Glass headset could one day make a comeback as “augmented reality” technology improves.

Rick Osterloh, the head of Google’s hardware division, said hi-tech glasses were “very interesting to us”, although he admitted it would be years before they will become a mass market product.

Google first released its camera-equipped glasses, which featured a screen for reading texts and discreetly watching videos, to the public in 2014. They sparked a privacy backlash and Google cancelled the project a year later, with the project ranking as one of the company’s major failures.

However, recent technological advances have reignited interest in augmented reality (AR) headsets. Intel and the secretive US start-up Magic Leap are both working on holographic glasses while Microsoft’s HoloLens went on sale in 2016.

Apple is also rumoured to be developing its own device.