Another Report Says Apple's AR/VR Headset Delayed Until Next Year, Preview at WWDC Unlikely

[Jensend]

I have quite a few friends who work in the AR/VR space, and they tell me that it is more of a technically impossible dream than a reality. The tech that exists is not wowing anyone, and what people want is not even remotely viable. The technology is simply not there, and it won't be for decades. I sincerely doubt that Apple will release a headset of any kind in the next 10 years. Computer processing power would need to be at least 50 times more powerful than anything that currently exists. That is not going to happen any time soon.

How can you say that something that already exists is a technically impossible dream? There are already tens of millions of consumer VR headsets out there (and I'm not including phone VR).
It "wows" most people who try it, in my experience. The issue is longer term retention.

Current processing power is fine—though more power is always better, of course. I think comfort and optics are much bigger issues, and those are hard problems to solve. Everyone had a different face shape, and many people wear glasses, and glasses aren't really compatible with thin and light headsets with a wide field of view.

I am less bullish on see-through AR, though. I don't think the technology is there for wide FOV AR in a reasonably compact package that people would be willing to wear all day even while out in public.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Still waiting for a real market to develop for this...

 

[michaelmaysun]

Maybe it's worth a board of director seat just to find out the answers two weeks ago, per Mark Gurman. I just need 14.9% of Apple for 3 years and vote myself in.

 

[wanha]

Nobody is concerned about this type of product, and the execution of it, by Apple in particular?

(I'm thinking about software quality - I'm sure hardware would be wonderful)

Who would you rather develop the software for it?

 

[nikaru]

I hope they will shows us the product and a demo. Imagine Tim saying: "I'm glad to introduce to the stage YouPorn CEO Fabian Thylmann who will show us what his team was able to achieve with the breakthrough technology behind Apple Glasses".

 

[frifra]

Last minute rumor: Glimpse of AR Headset likely today...oohh wait maybe not. Maybe yes...anyway you read it here first.

 

[laptech]

Sony (PSVR headset), Oculus and Hive have all released numerous verions of AR/VR headsets throughout the years (not sony as they are only on their 2nd version) and whilst they may have had a few hiccups along the way, they are all out there working well so it makes me wonder what is Apple trying to do that is different to the rest because the rest do not suffer from thermal issues. I still have the Oculus Development Kit 2 and it has never suffered any thermal issues. I also have the PSVR which I use on my PS4 and it also has never suffered from thermal issues. Both work great on the games I use them for.

So is it a case of Apple trying to reinvent the wheel, to make something that none of the other AR/VR headset manufacturers have done just so Apple can say 'Hey, look at this, it's AR/VR as you've never imagined it'.

 

[Sir Ruben]

I don't think this was ever intended to be at WWDC 2022 to be honest. However it was a good opportunity for rumour sites to farm out fan renders and multiple articles to fill their pages and YouTube channels

 

[svish]

Looks like it might not be today! Hopefully we get to see it soon.

 

[CarAnalogy]

I feel like Tim Cook’s Apple is good at giving us the what and the how but not the why. I think Jobs was much better at that. With a product like this the why will be very important. Apple isn’t a company that just throws things at the wall to see what sticks. The expectation is if Apple releases a new product there’s a reason for it to exist. I think one reason HomePod failed is it was hard to know who it was for. People who want a speaker for the smarts probably don’t care much about audio quality and can get something much cheaper. And people who do care about audio quality would spend more to get something better. Who will this AR/VR headset be for?

Well I think like the iPhone and the Watch and the Mac itself, it’s for everyone (who can afford it.)

But you’re absolutely right. Steve would have given another legendary presentation.

Tim seems to be limited to ”we think you’re gonna love it.”

 

[oneMadRssn]

I really don't understand what market Apple would go for with an AR/VR headset.

I get the enterprise uses of AR, and Microsoft seems to be doing that well with the HoloLens. But that kind of enterprise market has never been Apple's thing. And the Oculus, Sony, Valve, HTC, HP, Lenovo, etc. headsets are all about gaming first and foremost, and immersive movie watching (and porn) are a secondary feature. This might be more up Apple's alley, as they have the money to boggle up good VR gaming titles and put them on Apple Arcade while at the same time releasing VR content to Apple TV+ (or both separately on Apple VR+). However, this seems like a smaller niche than Apple usually goes for.

iPhone, iPad, Watch, AirPods - those are products Apple released for everyone. Doesn't matter what you're into, Apple has a use-case for you in those products. But VR/AR seems to narrow for Apple these days.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I feel like Tim Cook’s Apple is good at giving us the what and the how but not the why. I think Jobs was much better at that. With a product like this the why will be very important. Apple isn’t a company that just throws things at the wall to see what sticks. The expectation is if Apple releases a new product there’s a reason for it to exist. I think one reason HomePod failed is it was hard to know who it was for. People who want a speaker for the smarts probably don’t care much about audio quality and can get something much cheaper. And people who do care about audio quality would spend more to get something better. Who will this AR/VR headset be for?

I think this is exactly right. Setting aside Apple, outside of gaming, I am not sure who VR is for in general in the consumer space.

 

[Ethosik]

I couldn't care less, I want more Mac time at WWDC.

Make macOS great again, and bring on those M2 machines, M1 Pro machines, updated MacBook Air and Mac Mini, and an all new new iMac Pro and Mac Pro.

Agreed. I feel they are already stretched too thin with their offerings.

 

[laptech]

AR/VR is a very niche market. When Oculus and Hive first released their products they were very expensive but over the years the prices have come down to much more affordable prices but yet even with the years of experience Oculus and Hive have behind them neither have been able to crack the market so to speak. Both of them work on windows based pc's and there is a lot more windows pc's out there than Apple mac's and yet again, neither company has been able to establish a solid footbprint in the AR/VR market. So if PC owners are apprehensive/not prepared about AR/VR what makes Apple think it's own users will be regarding their version of AR/VR.

 

[TurboDrooler]

Apple has been forced to delay the launch of its long-rumored AR/VR headset until next year due to thermal issues related to computing power with the processor, according to a new report from The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Apple headset render created by Ian Zelbo based on The Information reporting​

From the report:
Multiple reports in the last several months have indicated that the headset would not launch this year, despite speculation Apple could announce it during WWDC that starts on Monday. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in January that the headset faced a potential delay until 2023 due to development issues related to performance and thermals.

Apple's board has reportedly received a demo of the mixed-reality headset, indicating that despite reports of development issues, the headset is nearing completion. While Apple is highly unlikely to announce the headset on Monday during WWDC, it will announce iOS 16 and new tools for developers to create hands-free experiences and expanded use cases of Shortcuts and QR codes, according to the report.

Article Link: Another Report Says Apple's AR/VR Headset Delayed Until Next Year, Preview at WWDC Unlikely

TFW the rumors undo the rumors

 

[Zimmy68]

Apple's AR/VR Headset Delayed Until Next Year​

Of course it is.
I wish I could bet on things like this.

 

[trip1ex]

My source tells me apple car is delayed as well

 

[CoastalMaineBird]

Good news: Reality "just feels snappier" with this thing.
Bad news: The burn ring around your eyeballs takes a week to go away, after you put it down.

 

[EdT]

Well I think like the iPhone and the Watch and the Mac itself, it’s for everyone (who can afford it.)

But you’re absolutely right. Steve would have given another legendary presentation.

Tim seems to be limited to ”we think you’re gonna love it.”

MacRumors has an archive for forums that date back to the founding of MacRumors. I think everyone who worships at the altar of Steve should have to read a number of those replies because there were a lot of decisions that Steve Jobs made that people were unhappy about. I think that many of those decisions were of “6 to one person, half a dozen to another “ variety but people definitely had hard opinions and somehow the fact that saintly Steve is the one that made them didn’t cause people to instantly like that decision. Moving Apple away from using PowerPC, his war against Adobe Flash, not installing Blu-Ray DVD drives natively on IMac/MacBook computers, getting rid of DVD/CD drives entirely were all controversial in their day, and people weren’t shy about calling Jobs an idiot. The best thing that ever happened to Steve Jobs as far as PR went was first getting sick and then dying of cancer. Suddenly all of the complaints went away and then other people were catching flak while people created a version of Apple under Steve that hadn’t ever existed until he stepped down. He made no wrong decisions, didn’t mistreat anyone, and was the ultimate source of all things good, smart and done right when it comes to Apple.

Steve Jobs was a very smart businessman and had a much, much better than average batting record about what technology and software to promote, but he wasn’t infallible.

 

[h0ndaf4n]

Yup, I was going to say the same thing. Holding out for 3nm was likely their primary motivator for delaying. I also agree with your last point, I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple Car got delayed to 2028 or later...

I'm buying a new car this year so maybe my next car can be an Apple Car

There isn’t going to be an Apple car….

 

[EdT]

There isn’t going to be an Apple car….

Unless it’s a people mover (glorified small electric city bus) there isn’t going to be a $25,000 Tesla either. There are lots of technologies that are reasonably possible for upper middle class or rich people that would require government assistance to both companies and individuals to make large scale adoption viable that the US will probably not ever provide.

 

[duffman9000]

If we’re lucky, they’re going to delay it another 10 years and then forget about it. I’ve worked with this technology since the 90s on and off. It never got to the point where it’s really suitable for the mass market. There are specialized applications for certain markets which make sense, but for everyone? No. There is a study from a year or two ago that pointed out about 1% of users buying AR/VR gear keep using it and the rest ends on a shelf never touched again.

Whenever we do new AR/VR stuff, it’s more for tech demos, such as “interactive repair manuals” or stuff like this:

We used VR tech to train astronauts for docking maneuvers to the ISS. But that’s a very, very limited area of application. For more general use, you want at least a treadmill to “move around” in virtual worlds. Most people try these and then lose interest after 20 minutes or so.

If anything, the future of AR is more on phones and tablets. It’s nice to go sight-seeing, pull out the phone and get some info about an ancient building, pyramid or whatever. No one needs to wear glasses for this.

People who want a treadmill have no idea how much work it is to walk anywhere in a VR game. It’s work lol.

 

[spinedoc77]

It's way too huge and bulky for AR, although granted these are concepts and who knows what Apple truly has in their labs. But anything short of regularly sized glasses, and even arguably those won't work for people who don't wear glasses, will be useless for AR outside of industrial applications. Heck even VR headsets suck IMO, they are hot, heavy, uncomfortable, forget about hair and makeup, are socially isolating, motion sicknesss, and they have wires tethering you to device (unless you sell your soul to Meta for a heavily subsidized Oculus 2 which needs a bunch of aftermarket stuff to make it halfway comfortable).

 

[CarAnalogy]

MacRumors has an archive for forums that date back to the founding of MacRumors. I think everyone who worships at the altar of Steve should have to read a number of those replies because there were a lot of decisions that Steve Jobs made that people were unhappy about. I think that many of those decisions were of “6 to one person, half a dozen to another “ variety but people definitely had hard opinions and somehow the fact that saintly Steve is the one that made them didn’t cause people to instantly like that decision. Moving Apple away from using PowerPC, his war against Adobe Flash, not installing Blu-Ray DVD drives natively on IMac/MacBook computers, getting rid of DVD/CD drives entirely were all controversial in their day, and people weren’t shy about calling Jobs an idiot. The best thing that ever happened to Steve Jobs as far as PR went was first getting sick and then dying of cancer. Suddenly all of the complaints went away and then other people were catching flak while people created a version of Apple under Steve that hadn’t ever existed until he stepped down. He made no wrong decisions, didn’t mistreat anyone, and was the ultimate source of all things good, smart and done right when it comes to Apple.

Steve Jobs was a very smart businessman and had a much, much better than average batting record about what technology and software to promote, but he wasn’t infallible.

All I’m saying is he would have given a presentation that would make people understand what at least Steve would use it for, and he would make it relatable. Like sitting down on that couch with the iPad. Or the way he liked to whip the iPhone / iPod out of his pocket after talking up how cool such a device would be.

He had many flaws and made many stubborn decisions, but he could put on a show.