Ivan Sutherland
A new report from The Information confirms and expands on an earlier Bloomberg report claiming that Apple is ready to launch a high-end virtual reality headset as early as next year, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the product.
Among the new revelations is that the new headset will reportedly feature two 8K screens (one for each eye) and that Apple has considered a steep price point of $ 3,000.
The headset (codenamed N301) will be able to display rich 3D graphics with the resolution, thanks to an ultra-fast M1 disk sequel and because Apple will use a well-known VR technique. detect to give objects in the user’s periphery in a lower way than the user focuses on.
This method almost looks like a more advanced version of the frustration expulsion technique that is widely used in video games, in which only what is visible on the screen at a given time is displayed, while objects behind the player’s character are not drawn be before the character begins. to turn. This is done to optimize performance and establish as much computing power as possible on what the player is watching.
Furthermore, the new story says that the headphones will change headbands similar to the Apple Watch wristbands, an external screen that can be used to show content to people in your area or to check information if the headset is not on your head is not, and a mesh fabric similar to what we saw in the company’s HomePod speakers.
At least one version of the headset that Apple is testing includes more than a dozen cameras used for everything from tracking hand gestures to delivering a live stream of space around the user for mixed and extended reality experiences, in instead of just fully immersive VR versions.
The headset also has a lidar sensor, which Apple has included with some recent iPhone and iPad models. Lidar scans the space in front of the sensor to quickly generate a 3D map for placing 3D objects, plus accurate shadows, occlusion, and more.
Apple is still testing various input methods, including things worn on the user’s hands or fingers, reading body and hand movements with the included cameras and sensors, and even a digital crown line button on the side of the headset.
Is this the right thing to do?
For Apple to launch a VR headset soon, it would (or not at all) be a surprising move.
The company has no developer APIs for VR other than the nominal support for the SteamVR SDK in its custom Metal Graphics API, though it has built up very robust AR APIs over the years. CEO Tim Cook has also publicly rejected VR in the past, citing the tendency to isolate users from, among others, people. He has repeatedly pointed to augmented reality as Apple’s future focus.
Apple has been building augmented reality content creation tools since 2017. That’s when the iPhone began using the iPhone and iPad – and their AR-enabled rear camera arrays – as a playground for AR developers who can create experiences for a future. app market for AR glasses. Because of the groundwork, Apple’s AR glasses could see an immediate wave of high-quality apps being released.
It’s harder to imagine the situation with VR, so one can still wonder why Apple will focus on VR instead of AR to get started when the groundwork is there for AR. And Apple is far behind in VR. The company took a half-hearted turn in VR with HTC Vive support by barebones in Final Cut Pro and a few other tools along with the launch of the iMac Pro, but little of the feature was heard.
While Apple worked closely with a very small number of VR developers during the short period in 2018, little or no visible work is currently being done to the public for VR software for Apple platforms. In addition, Apple has done nothing to encourage it.
The arguments in defense of the story “Apple is building an expensive VR headset for consumers” include the fact that Apple’s recent silicon price predicts a much better graphics performance in mobile mass devices than previously seen – and who knows how fast the chips will be by the end of 2022.
Some of Apple’s biggest successes in the past also come from emerging markets that match the current VR space.
These were markets that had a lot of promise, but early players only made modest progress due to restrictions on business or design. Think of the iPod, which has swept through a world of mediocre-best MP3 players; the iPhone, which has transformed a smartphone market that previously had only a niche appeal; the Apple Watch, which was by far not the first smartwatch, but certainly the most successful; and even the personal computer in the early days of the business.
VR is in a similar state to some of the examples before Apple’s access to their spaces. It has niche fans, and it has modestly successful products. But it’s hard to imagine the VR landscape, as we’re seeing it change quickly or at all in any mainstream right now.
And the prospect that Apple will bring VR to the masses is undermined by the supposed price point of this device. $ 3000 is not a mass market price, no matter how strong the experience compared to competitors.
Without an equivalent of the iOS and iPadOS AR app ecosystem and APIs, it is very difficult to suggest strong software support during the launch of this rumored device compared to the cheaper competitors, which is also the acceptance by will hinder consumers.
It therefore seems plausible that these reports may be accurate, but that one critical caveat is missing: that it is actually a tool made and marketed to developers to embark on the software support journey for mixed reality glasses, similar to the Apple Silicon developer set Apple sent devs to last year’s WWDC.
It is also possible – although it would be unusual – that it is both a niche product for very high consumers and a developer system designed to run the mixed reality software.
Both The Information and the author of the previous Bloomberg story have proven to be generally reliable when reporting on upcoming Apple products in the past, so there’s probably some truth in this story. But it is nonetheless hard to believe that what we have seen so far is the complete story. It just doesn’t make sense yet.
So yes, it looks like an Apple mixed reality headset is coming. However, it is best to wait for more information before drawing too many conclusions about exactly what form it will take.