It’s no secret that Apple is working hard on augmented and virtual reality devices, Bloomberg in January, claiming that Apple is working on an ultra-advanced and expensive headset that could hit stores in 2022. Now, a new report from The information sheds new light on what to expect from the potential headset, including a rendering – allegedly based on “Apple’s internal images of a prototype late last year” – of what the device might actually look like.
The informationThe report corroborates several details of Bloomberg, including the fabric mesh material the company is allegedly using to lighten the device’s weight – and the high price. The new report states that the price can reach approximately $ 3,000, considerably higher than most other standalone VR headsets, such as the $ 299 Oculus Quest 2.
The alleged design also appears to borrow tips from a variety of other Apple devices, including replaceable Apple Watch-style headbands and HomePod-style mesh fabric.
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Image: The information
There are also new details about the real hardware of the device, which supposedly offers virtual and mixed reality apps, thanks to more than a dozen cameras (to track hand movements) and LIDAR sensors (to map rooms, similar to the AR effects on the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro). It is also said that it features two 8K monitors with eye tracking technology that can offer resolution far beyond any current commercial VR headset on the market today.
Notably, the report states that Apple will not run 8K monitors, which consume a lot of power, in full resolution all the time. Instead, the device will use eye-tracking technology to determine where users are looking and then render the peripheral areas at lower resolution to improve performance (a technique in the VR world known as foveat rendering). The chips, as previously reported by Bloomberg, Apple Silicon hardware that could potentially be more powerful than Apple’s current M1 chip should be developed in-house.
Apple is experimenting with a variety of control methods, including hand tracking and eye tracking, a dial mounted on the side of the headset and a “thimble-like” accessory, although nothing is said to be finished yet.
The headset, described primarily as a VR device with more limited AR functions, is still intended to be an important step towards Apple’s ultimate goal: a lightweight AR device indistinguishable from conventional glasses. That device is still years away from launch.