A series of recent reports claimed that Apple plans to unveil a brand
new product next year, augmented reality glasses that would work in
tandem with the iPhone. We’ve been calling the device Apple Glasses for
lack of a better name, but it turns out the first AR wearable product
from Apple might not look anything like glasses. A new report says that
Apple plans to launch an AR headset by 2022, and that AR glasses will
follow a year later. Recent rumors all said Apple might unveil its first
AR product as early as next year given that icons for an AR headset
were already spotted inside iOS, but there were never any guarantees
that would happen.
According to sources familiar with Apple’s internal dealings who spoke with The Information,
the company presented the upcoming AR product release timeline to
employees during a presentation at Apple Park last month. Apple
executives talked about the two AR devices in front of an audience of
more than 1,000 employees, the report says, with Apple’s AR/VR head Mike
Rockwell leading the proceedings.
The AR headset (N301) will look supposedly like Facebook’s Oculus
Quest VR wearable that was released earlier this year. But Apple will
reportedly deliver a sleeker design that will “make heavy use of fabrics
and lightweight materials” to ensure a comfortable experience during
extended use. The AR glasses (N421) are said to look like sunglasses,
featuring “thick frames that house the battery and chips.”
The headset will feature a high-resolution display and cameras that
will let users “read small type,” as well as “see other people standing
in front of and behind virtual objects.” Technologies like “3D scanning”
and “advanced human detection” are said to let the device map the
surfaces, edges, and dimensions of rooms with greater accuracy than any
competing product:
To illustrate these capabilities, attendees at
the October meeting were shown a recording of a demonstration in which a
virtual coffee machine was placed on a real kitchen table surrounded by
people in a room. The virtual coffee machine obscured people standing
behind it in the room.
The report notes that Apple plans to reach out to developers as early as 2021, with a preview possibly coming sooner than 2022.
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