Apple’s initial mixed-reality (VR and AR) headset is designed to be a “pricey,” high-end niche precursor to more ambitious augmented reality (AR) smartglasses that will take longer to develop, Bloomberg News reported last month, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Apple’s first headset will be far more expensive than those from rivals, which cost about $300 to $900, leading some insiders to believe the company may sell only one headset per day per retail store.
The Information today reports more details and specs, including ultra-high-resolution 8K displays and confirming a price point around $3,000 making the product an enterprise-focused offering, not for the consumer market.
The Information viewed internal Apple images of a late-stage prototype from last year, which show a sleek, curved visor attached to the face by a mesh material and swappable headbands.
MacDailyNews Take: Think snow.
A mixed-reality headset Apple is developing will be equipped with more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements and showing video of the real world to people wearing it, along with ultra-high-resolution 8K displays and advanced technology for tracking eye-tracking technology, according to a person with direct knowledge of the device […]
The inclusion of two 8K displays in the headset would make its picture quality far higher than that of other consumer headsets – and even the majority of high-end televisions, which cost thousands of dollars at 8K resolution. Apple has for years worked on technology that uses eye tracking to fully render only parts of the display where the user is looking. That would let the headset show lower-quality graphics in the user’s peripheral vision and reduce the device’s computing needs, according to people with knowledge of the efforts […]
Among the biggest risks is the price of the device, which is likely to cost significantly more than the $300 to $1,000 for existing VR headsets from Facebook’s Oculus and others. Last year, Apple internally discussed pricing the product around $3,000, more than the starting price of the company’s high-end laptops but around the $3,500 that Microsoft charges for its mixed-reality headset, HoloLens, according to the person with direct knowledge of the device…
Apple is also working on a pair of lightweight smart glasses designed to overlay virtual objects onto a person’s view of the real world, as The Information previously reported. That device is still years away from release and faces steep technological hurdles. In October 2019, Apple told employees that it hoped to ship the headset in 2022 and the glasses by 2023.
MacDailyNews Take: The big, “pricey” VR headset will, in part, exist as a means for developers to build the next killer AR apps for true, light, powerful Apple smartglasses.