Tag: ar/vr
AR/VR Headset Rumor Recap: 10 Features Coming to Apple’s Next Major Product
With the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, Apple’s hardware and software led it to dominate those categories within a few short years after entering a new market, and it’s possible the same thing will happen with augmented and virtual reality. We’ve rounded up 10 features rumored for the AR/VR headset that will set it apart from competitors.
4K Micro-OLED Displays
Apple plans to use two high-resolution 4K micro-OLED displays from Sony that are said to have up to 3,000 pixels per inch. Comparatively, Meta’s new top of the line Quest Pro has LCD displays, so Apple is going to be offering much more advanced display technology.
Micro-OLED displays are built directly onto chip wafers rather than a glass substrate, allowing for a thinner, smaller, and lighter display that’s also more power efficient compared to LCDs and other alternatives.
Apple’s design will block out peripheral light, and display quality will be adjusted for peripheral vision to cut down on the processing power necessary to run the device. Apple will be able to reduce graphical fidelity at the periphery of the headset through the eye tracking functionality being implemented.
Integrated Cameras
Apple is outfitting its AR/VR headset with more than a dozen cameras, which will capture motion to translate real world movement to virtual movement. It is said to have two downward-facing cameras to capture leg movement specifically, which will be a unique feature that will allow for more accurate motion tracking.
The cameras will be able to map the environment, detecting surfaces, edges, and dimensions in rooms with accuracy, as well as people and other objects. The cameras may also be able to do things like enhance small type, and they’ll be able to track body movements.
Iris Scanning
For privacy and security, the AR/VR headset is expected to integrate an iris scanner that can evaluate the pattern of the user’s eye, allowing for an iris scan to be used for payment authentication and as a password replacement.
Iris scanning on the AR/VR headset will be akin to Face ID and Touch ID on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It could allow two people to use the same headset, and it is a feature that is not available on competing headsets like Meta’s new Quest Pro.
Facial Expression Tracking
The cameras in the AR/VR headset will be able to interpret facial expressions, translating them to virtual avatars. So if you smile or scowl in real life, your virtual avatar will make the same expression in various apps, similar to how the TrueDepth camera system works with Memoji and Animoji on the iPhone and iPad.
Control Methods
3D sensing modules will detect hand gestures for control purposes, and there will be skin detection. The headset will support voice control and the AR/VR headset will support Siri like other Apple devices. Apple has tested a thimble-like device worn on the finger, but it is not yet clear what kind of input methods we’ll get with the new device.
Air Typing
For text input, the AR/VR headset will support “in-air typing” functionality, with the headset recognizing the fingers as they move using the built-in cameras.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says air typing is “finicky,” but Apple will offer the feature when the headset launches.
Thin and Light Design
Apple is aiming for comfort, and the AR/VR headset is rumored to be made from mesh fabric and aluminum, making it lighter and thinner than other mixed reality headsets that are available on the market. Apple reportedly wants the weight to be around 200 grams, which would be significantly lighter than the 722 gram Quest Pro from Meta.
In March 2021, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said current prototypes were around 200 to 300 grams, but it is not clear if Apple was able to stick to that weight later in the development process.
External Battery Pack
Most of the AR/VR headsets on the market have an integrated battery, but Apple is planning to have the headset connect to a separate, external battery that is worn at the waist. The external battery will power the headset for approximately two hours, and it will be able to be swapped out for continuous usage while a second battery charges.
App Experiences
The headset is going to run a new operating system called xrOS, aka “Reality OS.” Apple is designing unique apps made specifically for a virtual reality experience. Apple is said to be planning for a VR FaceTime-like experience with Animoji, where you might see a 3D Animoji or Memoji character version of a person instead of the person itself. The aforementioned facial expression detection would allow the headset to read facial expressions and features, matching that in real time for a lifelike chatting experience.
Apple is working with media partners for content that can be watched in VR, and it will integrate with Apple TV+. Users will be able to watch movies and TV shows in a virtual reality environments, with the display over a background like a desert or a mountain.
Sports content will be a focus, with Apple providing immersive viewing experiences for MLB and MLS content. Apple is working with third-party developers on gaming experiences, and there are 3D versions of standard iPhone apps like Safari, Calendar, Contacts, Home, Files, Messages, Notes, Photos, Music, Reminders, and more in development.
There will be a Fitness+ app that will allow users to work out while watching Fitness+ instructors in 3D, and Apple is creating a meditation app that will guide users through meditative experiences. A Camera app will be able to snap photos, a Books app will allow for reading in virtual reality, and a version of Freeform will be available for working on collaborative projects with others.
The headset will also be able to run thousands of existing apps that are designed for the iPad, with the apps showing up in a 2D format on the headset.
Apple Silicon Chip
Rumors suggest that Apple will use two Mac-level M2 processors for the AR/VR headset, which will give it more built-in compute power than competing products. Apple will use a high-end main processor and a lower-end processor that will manage the various sensors in the device.
With two Apple silicon chips inside, the headset will not need to rely on a connection to an iPhone or a Mac for power, and it will be able to function on its own.
Read More
For more on everything that we’ve heard about Apple’s work on the AR/VR headset, we have a dedicated roundup that aggregates all of the rumors.
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Apple Tester Claims to Be ‘Blown Away’ by AR/VR Headset, Says There Was Giant Development Leap
At least one person testing the device is enthused about it, however. Leaker Evan Blass, who has provided accurate insight into Apple’s plans in the past, claims to know a person who has had opportunities to “demo” the headset. Blass said that over the course of the last few months, the tester has gone from “lamenting its ‘underwhelming’ capabilities” to being “blown away” by the experience and the hardware.
“The leap they’ve made since [late last year] is giant,” the Apple tester told Blass. “I was so skeptical; now I’m blown away in a ‘take my money kind of way,'” they said. Blass shared the details on his Twitter account, which is private.
Apple has been working on the AR/VR headset for years now, and its debut has been pushed back multiple times as the company has aimed to solve development issues with the design and the software. Apple is now ready to preview it, and is expected to do so at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Back in March, The New York Times reported that several Apple employees it had spoken to were skeptical about the headset’s potential for success. The employees have questioned whether the headset is a “solution in search of a problem” and if it is “driven by the same clarity” as other Apple devices.
Apple CEO Tim Cook in April said that with everything the company has done, there have always been “loads of skeptics.” It comes with the territory of doing “something that’s on the edge,” Cook said.
The AR/VR headset is shaping up to be similar to the Apple Watch in terms of early functionality. It will be expensive at over $3,000, and limited in usefulness to begin with. Apple plans to iterate on the headset over time, and there are already new models in development. With the Apple Watch, Apple made notable strides in its technical capabilities, and within a few generations, the device became indispensable to many.
Apple’s headset will be its first new product category since the Apple Watch. Expected to be called the “Reality Pro” or “Reality One,” the headset will feature dual 4K micro OLED displays from Sony, for 8K total resolution. It will be equipped with more than a dozen cameras for mapping the area around the user, reading facial expressions, interpreting gestures, and more.
Design wise, it is said to feature a sleek, curved visor made from aluminum, glass, and carbon fiber, with Apple aiming to keep weight low. In fact, it does not even have a battery built in, with the battery instead worn at the waist to prevent the headset from being too heavy.
Apple is working on updating its apps for the device, with a specific focus on communication and collaboration, television and sports, gaming, and health and fitness.
More on what’s expected for the AR/VR headset can be found in our AR/VR headset roundup.
This article, “Apple Tester Claims to Be ‘Blown Away’ by AR/VR Headset, Says There Was Giant Development Leap” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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Apple Focusing on Sports, Gaming, and Fitness Apps for AR/VR Headset
Apple is planning to adapt iPad apps for the headset, and users will be able to access existing App Store content through the 3D interface of the device. Apple-designed apps such as Safari, Calendar, Contacts, Home, Files, Messages, Notes, Photos, Music, Reminders, and other built-in apps will be optimized for the device. Multiple apps will be able to be run at one time, and there will be a geolocation aspect for swapping between apps when the user is in different rooms.
A Fitness+ app will allow users to exercise while watching the Fitness+ instructor in a virtual reality setting, and there will be a Health app for guiding users through meditations with graphics, sounds, and voice-overs. With Apple’s deeper push into sports, there will be a focus on immersive viewing experiences for MLB and MLS content, plus there will be a dedicated TV app for watching videos in virtual reality environments.
There is a dedicated FaceTime experience that will use Memoji-like avatars and virtual meeting rooms, and Apple is designing a Books app for reading in virtual reality. A Camera app will be able to take images from the headset’s cameras, and a version of Freeform will be adapted to a 3D interface for working on collaborative projects with others.
Apple has been working with a select number of gaming developers to help them update their existing content for mixed reality, and Apple will also have a robust set of tools available for creating AR/VR experiences.
The AR/VR headset is expected to be priced at around $3,000, and Apple is not planning for it to sell well to begin with. In fact, the company is expecting sales of approximately one million units in the first year, which is low for an Apple device.
Apple employees have expressed concerns about the usefulness of the headset given its price point. Some have questioned whether the device is a is a “solution in search of a problem” and not “driven by the same clarity” as other Apple devices.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in early April that the AR/VR headset is the “last hope” for persuading investors that AR/VR devices will become the “next star product in consumer electronics.” Other devices from companies like Meta have lacked appealing software, and this is a major hurdle that Apple will need to overcome.
To get people to purchase the mixed reality headset, Apple will need to convince users that the software experiences are worth it. That will require compelling first-party experiences as well as innovative third-party apps from developers.
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The MacRumors Show: Product Designer Marcus Kane Envisions What Apple’s AR/VR Headset Could Look Like
Marcus is an industrial designer and UX consultant who uses virtual and augmented reality headsets on a daily basis to support his workflow. He recently created detailed concept renders of what he expects Apple’s mixed-reality headset will look like with YouTuber David Lewis based on rumors, Apple patent filings, and his own expertise.
We talk through Marcus’s approach to the design and what existing Apple products inspired him, looking at some of the key aspects that Apple will have had to consider with the device. We also discuss the broader user experience with the headset, including its rumored waist-mounted battery pack – which Marcus has envisioned as enclosed in a pouch on a shoulder-strap that also contains a cable to power the device, potential restriction to indoors use only, and real-world passthrough with a “reality dial.”
Since Marcus uses existing headset products to support his design work, we learn about some of practical use-cases for this category of device, where Apple could compete, and what key software features the company could deliver. See more of Marcus’s work over in David Lewis’s latest video, and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
We also discuss some of this week’s latest Apple news, including the rumor that watchOS 10 will include significant UI changes, iOS 17‘s purported Control Center redesign, display changes for 2025’s iPhone lineup, and more.
Listen to The MacRumors Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. Watch a video version of the show on the MacRumors YouTube channel.
If you haven’t already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about WWDC 2023 and whether Apple’s headset will finally emerge at the event.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Andru Edwards, Tyler Stalman, Jon Prosser, Sam Kohl, Quinn Nelson, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Sara Dietschy, Luke Miani, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, iJustine, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, Jon Rettinger, Rene Ritchie, and Mark Gurman. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the show, and let us know what subjects you would like the podcast to cover in the future.
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Kuo: Apple’s AR/VR Headset Announcement is ‘Last Hope’ for Persuading Investors It Will Be the Next ‘Star Product’
“Apple’s announcement event is likely the last hope for convincing investors that the AR/MR headset device could have a chance to be the next star product in consumer electronics,” Kuo wrote in a Medium article estimating upcoming virtual reality headset sales from Sony and Meta.
With Sony cutting production plans for the PS VR2 and an estimated 300,000 product lifecycle shipments for the Meta Quest Pro, Kuo believes there is “insufficient evidence” to indicate that AR/VR headsets can become the next major thing in consumer electronics.
As the unveiling of the AR/VR approaches, there has been growing skepticism that Apple will introduce a product that people actually want to buy. In late March, The New York Times cited Apple employees who were concerned about the usefulness and the price point headset. Some questioned whether the device is a “solution in search of a problem,” unlike the iPhone and the iPad. There are also worries that it is not “driven by the same clarity” as other Apple devices.
Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this week said that there have been “loads of skeptics” with everything that the company has done, but that Apple has succeeded anyway. “If you do something that’s on edge, it will always have skeptics,” he said. Cook said that Apple is “not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else’s stuff,” and that in markets it enters, the company wants to “control the primary technology.”
While Kuo suggested in late March that Apple’s AR/VR headset might not make an appearance at WWDC because Apple had pushed back its mass production timeline, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman on Sunday said that Apple still plans to announce the device during the WWDC 2023 keynote. Kuo has not walked back his delay suggestion, and his note today does not include a timeline for Apple’s event.
Rumors indicate that the AR/VR headset will use 4K micro-OLED displays, dozens of cameras for capturing everything from a user’s surroundings to their gestures and facial expressions, a lightweight, comfortable fit facilitated by an external battery, and a focus communication software.
A full rundown on what we know about Apple’s plans for the AR/VR headset, which could be called the “Reality Pro,” can be found in our roundup.
This article, “Kuo: Apple’s AR/VR Headset Announcement is ‘Last Hope’ for Persuading Investors It Will Be the Next ‘Star Product’” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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Teens Continue to Love iPhone, But Aren’t So Sure About AR/VR Headsets
88 percent of teens said that their next smartphone will be an iPhone, but iPhone ownership has held steady at that 87 percent figure since last year. Over the last decade, the number of teens that own an iPhone has more than doubled. In 2012, for example, just 40 percent of U.S. teens reported owning an iPhone.
As for the Apple Watch, 35 percent of teens own one of the wrist-worn devices, up four percent since last fall. 15 percent of teens said they plan to buy an Apple Watch in the next six months.
Apple Pay was the number one payment app used for purchases with 39 percent of teens reporting using Apple Pay within the last month, followed by Cash App at 25 percent. For peer-to-peer money transfers, though, Apple’s Apple Cash option hasn’t caught on. Teens prefer Square’s Cash App and PayPal’s Venmo for sending one another money.
Spotify was the most popular music platform among teens with 68.1 percent claiming to have used Spotify over the last six months. Just 36.4 percent of teens said they had used Apple Music in the last six months. 44.3 percent claimed to be subscribed to Spotify, while 31.5 percent said they were subscribed to Apple Music.
A total of 29 percent of teens reported owning a VR headset, with just 14 percent using the device on a weekly basis and four percent using it daily. That metric comes as Apple gears up to launch its own AR/VR headset this year, which will be more expensive than existing options.
Among teens that do not own a VR headset, a total of 61 percent said they had no plans to purchase one. 16 percent said they were moderately interested and might purchase, while just seven percent expressed a deeper level of interest and said they intend to make a purchase.
A lack of interest in the AR/VR space from teens does not bode well for Apple’s upcoming headset, but the rumored $3,000 price tag for the first iteration does not suggest that it is aimed at a teen audience at this time. Still, the survey makes it clear that other VR headset options from companies like Meta have not been able to make inroads with the key teen demographic.
Just seven percent of teens that were polled said they were planning to purchase a headset, while another 52 percent were “unsure or uninterested.”
Piper Sandler has been conducting teen surveys on a biannual basis for more than a decade. Thousands of teens across the United States are surveyed for each one, and this year’s spring study includes responses from 5,690 teens with an average age of 16.2 years.
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Gurman: Apple Still Plans to Announce AR/VR Headset at WWDC Despite Recent Uncertainty
“The showcase at WWDC, the Worldwide Developers Conference, will likely include the headset itself, but also its onboard xrOS operating system, accompanying services, and — perhaps most critically — a software development kit and platform that will let developers write new types of apps,” wrote Gurman, in his weekly “Power On” newsletter.
Last week, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said mass production of the headset was pushed back by an additional one to two months to the mid-to-late third quarter of 2023. Kuo said the delay added “uncertainty” to whether the headset would be announced at WWDC this year, but Gurman is still confident the device will be unveiled then.
Apple CEO Tim Cook alluded to the headset in a recent interview, saying that AR could “greatly enhance people’s communication” and “connection.”
Apple announced that WWDC 2023 will take place from June 5 through June 9, with sessions, labs, and other content to be made available online for free. There will also be an in-person component in the form of a “special day” at Apple Park, where randomly selected developers and students can watch the keynote and State of the Union videos together, meet teams at Apple, take part in evening activities, and more.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook Teases AR/VR Headset and More in New Interview
Cook features on the cover of GQ‘s Global Creativity Awards 2023 issue. The interview with GQ‘s Zach Baron, titled “Tim Cook Thinks Different,” delves into multiple aspects of Cook’s career, premiership, and personal life. Explaining why Apple may, hypothetically, be interested in AR/VR hardware, Cook said:
If you think about the technology itself with augmented reality, just to take one side of the AR/VR piece, the idea that you could overlay the physical world with things from the digital world could greatly enhance people’s communication, people’s connection. It could empower people to achieve things they couldn’t achieve before. We might be able to collaborate on something much easier if we were sitting here brainstorming about it and all of a sudden we could pull up something digitally and both see it and begin to collaborate on it and create with it. And so it’s the idea that there is this environment that may be even better than just the real world—to overlay the virtual world on top of it might be an even better world. And so this is exciting. If it could accelerate creativity, if it could just help you do things that you do all day long and you didn’t really think about doing them in a different way.
Cook went on to suggest that measuring physical objects and placing digital art on walls are just the start of the potential use-cases for AR, seemingly implying that there are far greater possibilities. Baron then raised the fact that in 2015 Cook told The New Yorker that he was highly skeptical of Apple manufacturing smart glasses, similar to Google Glass, as an early AR product. At the time, Cook said:
We always thought that glasses were not a smart move, from a point of view that people would not really want to wear them. They were intrusive, instead of pushing technology to the background, as we’ve always believed. We always thought it would flop, and, you know, so far it has.
Now, Cook admitted that he is willing to say that he was wrong:
My thinking always evolves. Steve taught me well: never to get married to your convictions of yesterday. To always, if presented with something new that says you were wrong, admit it and go forward instead of continuing to hunker down and say why you’re right.
Baron then asked Cook if the fact that neither Google Glass nor Meta’s Quest headsets have made considerable impact among consumers would make him skeptical of Apple offering a product in the AR/VR space. Cook responded that Apple has a history of succeeding in areas where people have doubted it:
Pretty much everything we’ve ever done, there were loads of skeptics with it. If you do something that’s on the edge, it will always have skeptics. […] Can we make a significant contribution, in some kind of way, something that other people are not doing? Can we own the primary technology? I’m not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else’s stuff. Because we want to control the primary technology. Because we know that’s how you innovate.
Read the full interview for more information about Cook’s thoughts on leadership, his public image, comparing himself with Steve Jobs, working at Apple Park, his pay, and more.
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Apple Working on AR/VR Headset Technology to Help People With Eye Diseases
While there is no detail available on just what Apple has in development for a future AR/VR headset, accessibility has always been an area of import for the company. Apple aims to make its devices usable by everyone, and the iPhone, iPad, and Mac have a range of accessibility settings that provide extra assistance with various visual, hearing, and motor issues.
Rumors suggest that the first version of the AR/VR headset will have more than a dozen cameras, several of which will be used for mapping the area around the user. This functionality could allow the headset to project extra visual information to those who are legally blind or have other visual problems, and it could potentially provide audio directions to those with no sight.
There could be targeted functions for people with diseases like AMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration), which causes blind spots in the vision. Oculenz AR Wear glasses, for example, have been described as being able to use floating lenses to modify real-time streaming video to move objects into an area that people suffering from AMD can see.
Apple’s first AR/VR headset is set to come out this year, and while we haven’t heard news of specific accessibility settings, it stands to reason that even the first model will have some accommodations based on Apple’s deep interest in accessibility on its other devices.
For more on what to expect from the AR/VR headset that Apple has coming this year, we have a dedicated AR/VR roundup that aggregates all of the rumors that we’ve heard so far.
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