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Apple Could Be Working on 'Spatial iPhone' With Holographic Display

Well this paints a different picture on my reality.

IMG_9257.gif
 
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This is exciting. Finally something new and potentially useful in smartphones. I don't give a damn about foldable phones and would actively avoid them if they end up being heavier or more expensive, but I would pay more for a 3D screen.
 
Yet another solution in search of a problem.

The real challenge for Apple is to launch a new iPhone Mini. No folds, no large display, no fancy zoom lens, no fancy neuro processor, no holographic display. Just a mini-iPhone please. I'm ok if you'd call that the iPhone Neo.
 
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I know this is far-fetched future tech. But thinking broadly, the ability to extend the user area beyond the physical borders of the device is the next frontier. Apple Vision was kind of this basic idea but a wildly different take. I would much prefer a device around the size of an iPhone 4 that projects a user area larger than the device itself.
 
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A lot of the comments here don’t really make sense. There’s no “holographic projection”. It would be great if the article talked about what the technology actually is. I assume it’s probably a lenticular display with many many viewing angles similar to light field labs?
 
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TruthAboveAllElse said:
A lot of the comments here don’t really make sense. There’s no “holographic projection”. It would be great if the article talked about what the technology actually is. I assume it’s probably a lenticular display with many many viewing angles similar to light field labs?
Click to expand...

Good point. I think the image/mockup is doing a lot of the misleading heavy lifting.
 
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Jensend said:
Nobody cares that it isn't literally holographic film. The important part is that it's responsive to changes in viewing angle, unlike "3D" stereoscopic movies. Holographic is just a borrowed term to differentiate from "3D" display tech.
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*I* care. Either a term means something or it doesn't.

A dynamic display based on eye tracking is one thing, adding stereoscopic views (different frames for each eye) is an extension of that technology, being able to do that without glasses is another extension of it, but it is not holography, in the same way that the LaserWriter is not a "laser" version of a commercial web offset printing press, and in the same way that AI is not "intelligence."

Now if they can pull this off, it would be really cool, but it raises a few questions:
  • what problem is it solving, for whom?
  • is this a problem? like... is the lack of this tech a barrier to anything?
  • how does this redefine the problem (if there actually is one?)
  • is this a category that Apple can dominate in (like they have with music / phone / watch / laptops / services), or is this a concept that's not really monetizable?
  • how easy or difficult would it be for developers to make use of?
  • what new application categories would be enabled, if any?
  • would people pay a premium for this kind of display?
  • is it a "must have," vs a novelty?
I can see barriers to adoption that are largely the same for AR/VR:
  • Limited utility
  • high price
  • not usable by many people (due to eyesight, motion sickness / vestibular disorder etc.)
  • high computing / graphics requirements (what's the battery drain going to be?)
 
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rembert said:
Yet another solution in search of a problem.

The real challenge for Apple is to launch a new iPhone Mini. No folds, no large display, no fancy zoom lens, no fancy neuro processor, no holographic display. Just a mini-iPhone please. I'm ok if you'd call that the iPhone Neo.
Click to expand...
Here's the thing - technically you can use an Apple Watch to make and receive calls without your iPhone nearby (if it has cellular capability and you attach it to your primary cellphone account). So it can get at least as mini as that.

I kinda think Apple could just take that a tiny bit further and give us the Apple Commbadge.
  • No screen (or it can relay info to Apple Glasses if/when they appear)
  • Tap to use voice to initiate a call or ask Siri something (synced to BT earbuds)
  • maybe use a wristband sensor to detect hand gestures / taps the way that the Meta glasses do (or two, for complex gestures?)
  • Theoretically break out the health sensors / EKG into separate accessories?
 
JayKay514 said:
Here's the thing - technically you can use an Apple Watch to make and receive calls without your iPhone nearby (if it has cellular capability and you attach it to your primary cellphone account). So it can get at least as mini as that.

I kinda think Apple could just take that a tiny bit further and give us the Apple Commbadge.
  • No screen (or it can relay info to Apple Glasses if/when they appear)
  • Tap to use voice to initiate a call or ask Siri something (synced to BT earbuds)
  • maybe use a wristband sensor to detect hand gestures / taps the way that the Meta glasses do (or two, for complex gestures?)
  • Theoretically break out the health sensors / EKG into separate accessories?
Click to expand...

This all sounds very complex and overly convoluted compared to say just "using a normal iPhone", no?

What is all that solving for and/or making better by having discrete devices that talk to each other and all need to charge and with having its own micro set of compromises?
 
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