Aiming at being at the forefront of the latest technological advancements, Apple is looking to release a Virtual Reality headset with various Augmented Reality features as soon as 2022. According to Bloomberg News, this product may even serve as a precursor for a fully-fledged Apple AR device. This proposed device will encompass a 3D digital environment for gaming, watching videos, and communicating. Apple wants to secure the higher-end of the spectrum of the VR market, possibly launching at a price in the range of 300 to 900 dollars.
Apple’s headset is on the track to take on major VR/AR players like Facebook and Sony (Playstation), however Apple is staying on the cutting edge by integrating consumer technology from music players, smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, making it relatively reliable and applicable for anyone to use. In addition, Apple wants to include some of its most advanced and powerful chips in the VR headset along with higher-resolution displays than ever seen before.
While the possibility of an Apple VR device seems extremely appealing, the coronavirus pandemic has affected development substantially. Data collection and user testing has been slowed significantly for this new device, and has in turn taken a toll on the VR engineering teams at Apple. In addition, Apple is also finding conflict with what content and functionality the company intends to implement with the device. It’s not an unknown fact that Virtual Reality is still a relatively newer technology, so it’s safe to say major advancements to speed up engineering and offer more use-cases are still in store for developers and engineers.
Apple wants to do it right, not fast. And with their proposed design specifications and ambitions, testing and manufacturing could take a while to morph into an actual product readily available to consumers. As said previously, Apple wants this VR headset to be a stepping stone into a future of technologically advanced AR/VR devices, so who knows what the future holds in VR technology?
Authored by Vishruth Bharath
Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-21/apple-s-first-vr-headset-to-be-niche-precursor-to-eventual-ar-glasses.
Hayden, Scott. “Report: Apple Could Launch a Standalone VR Headset Sometime Next Year.” Road to VR, 21 Jan. 2021, www.roadtovr.com/report-apple-ar-vr-headset-n301/.