We’ve been waiting a long time for glasses, Apple’s mixed reality headset. Those of Cupertino have not even officially announced the device, but there have been plenty of rumors about it floating around the net for a good handful of months now. While analysts had been claiming that the product would be introduced in early 2023 (March-April), a recent report suggests that Apple has decided to delay its announcement until WWDC 2023, in June.
Although Apple has been working on its new headset for years, the company has faced last minute to some technical problems with the new product. This is natural, after all, it is the first time that Apple has built a device specifically for AR / VR.
And not only that, the rumors suggest that the hardware will be quite advanced and complex compared to the rest of the virtual reality glasses that exist in the current market. The Apple headset is expected to have two 4K micro-LED displays, high-resolution cameras, advanced sensors for motion and gesture detection, and the M2 chip. Undoubtedly, putting all this in a “wearable” accessory (although I wouldn’t know whether to include it in this category) is not easy, and of course, it will not be cheap either.
According to the latest reports, Apple’s AR/VR headset will cost around $3,000 or euros. To convince people to buy a product (although it seems that the first versions will come more focused on developers than the general public) so expensive, Apple has also been developing some exclusive features. For example, users will be able to chat with others in a virtual universe via FaceTime. The device would also work as an external screen for the Mac in the same way that we have seen in some video-render on the net.
But not all that glitters is gold the latest rumors suggest that the prototypes of these Apple Reality are still far from offering a good user experience. So that the device is not so heavy, Apple would have chosen to use two external batteries the size of an iPhone each. However, the glasses are not expected to operate for more than two hours unplugged. Some sources familiar with the project have also said that they are not exactly comfortable to wear.
However, it seems that the dates are closing and that, finally, we will reveal the final product in a One More Thing at WWDC in June 2023. Hold on, curves are coming.