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Apple VR Headset May Launch in Q1 2022 With LiDAR and $500+ Price Tag [Updated]
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I don't know about overpriced, but I suspect it'll be an even nichier niche product than AirPods Max. I bet Apple is/will be selling AirPods Max in the millions. After all, most Apple customers listen to music -if only 1% of a billion iPhone users buys them, that's already 10 million units. But VR headsets? Of the 1 billion iPhone users, how many are serious enough game players to have a use for a VR headset? Most iPhone users I know, just play casual games (solitaire, chess, WWF, etc.) or no games at all! Let's just grab 1% out of the air again - so that's 10m units iff every game player is willing to plunk down more money for their VR headset than their iOS device cost them. Not very likely IMHO. Maybe 1-10% would. So that brings down total sales to below a million.
I know I just pulled these numbers out of my ar$e, they're just to illustrate my opinion on relative market sizes.
I'm way more interested in the associated Apple VR/AR software than hardware.
That's what is really going to make a difference in the consumer and prosumer world.
That's what is really going to make a difference in the consumer and prosumer world.
VR has great potential in professional fields as well. Gaming is just one aspect of its use.
Uh, you do know he's not at Apple any more?
Quest 2 is sold at cost or below cost to walz thru the market. Facebook wants it and by the looks of it, getting it. Quest 3 will be out before the Apple attempt and will be lighter, higher res, larger fov and will bring facebooks marketshare from today 90% to 99%. I do not know what Apple can do there, what they can put into those goggles to warrant such a high price. The quest is good, for $300 its excellent.
You means the AirPods Max that are backordered for at least a month because they're so "overpriced" and "niche" ?
Right. I mean maybe they'll surprise us and it'll (optionally) work with SteamVR on Windows machines too somehow
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I'm just not seeing the "why" for this product.
However, Apple always has a killer use-case for each of their products, so I guess I'll wait and see if they give me a reason to pick this over any other VR set out there.
However, Apple always has a killer use-case for each of their products, so I guess I'll wait and see if they give me a reason to pick this over any other VR set out there.
If it's an overpriced stand-alone VR device, or overpriced iPhone accessory, it'll be a hard pass from me?
If it offers Mac/PC connectivity *as well as stand-alone and/or iOS connected operation*, depending on the price, I'll consider it?
A high price can be forgiven if the image quality and compatibility/connectivity are head and shoulders above the rest? Otherwise? It will just be yet another Apple product I look at and think to myself, "Yes, but why?"
If it offers Mac/PC connectivity *as well as stand-alone and/or iOS connected operation*, depending on the price, I'll consider it?
A high price can be forgiven if the image quality and compatibility/connectivity are head and shoulders above the rest? Otherwise? It will just be yet another Apple product I look at and think to myself, "Yes, but why?"
I believe that the LiDAR is used to detect your movement in your environment, in order to translate that accurately into the VR environment?
Yes I means, those AirPods Max’s. They are over priced for what they offer and they are a niche product, they appeal to only a small percentage of the population.
Exactly, X-Plane and iRacing are my primary areas of interest as well? iOS/stand-alone operation could be interesting, but if it doesn't offer Mac/PC connectivity I can't see myself spending $200, never-mind $500+?
But, the more I re-read the article, and think about how Tim's Apple is being run, the more concerned I get?
Besides actually being an overpriced stand-alone VR iDevice, which would be bad enough, I could actually see it sold as an accessory that only works with a next gen AppleTV/Apple Arcade box? An AppleTV with a M-series chip? AppleTV-VR?
I really hope I'm wrong/overly paranoid?
Well, my use case probably isn't the norm, but I live in both the Mac/iOS and W10PC world? iRacing in W10, work, video, photo on Mac, mobile life/work on iOS. And, would even upgrade to a current version of x-plane/Mac if life seemed to offer the time to put into it and enjoy it?
I'd also like to learn Swift well enough to develop a VR/AR app for iOS that would be directly applicable to my motorsports activities? I can see it in my head, exactly how it would work. I just don't know how to take what's in my head visually and turn it into an iOS/AR/VR app?
So, if Apple sold a device that would play nice in all these uses, Mac/W10/iOS, and offered great quality image and comfort? I'd be very interested?
If it's just a stand-alone iVR device, hard pass.
If it's iOS or even tvOS-only, hard pass.
If it's Mac/PC only? I'd consider it still, but would probably save my money and get the Valve Index?
Apple's rumored virtual reality (VR) headset may be released as soon as the first quarter of 2022, according to JP Morgan analysis seen by China Times.
The report, spotted by iMore, explains that the "industrial design of Apple's headset will be close to that of other brands of VR headsets." The headset is said to feature six lenses and an optical LiDAR scanner to map the wearer's environment.
Most of the components for the headset will reportedly be manufactured starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. JP Morgan revealed some of Apple's suppliers for the device, such as TSMC for the device's processor, Largan and Genius Electronic Optical for the camera lenses, and Pegatron for assembly. The report also notes that the headset's supply chain is heavily concentrated in Taiwan.
JP Morgan believes that Apple's VR headset will be targeted at the top end of the consumer market, with pricing being "more expensive than VR headsets currently on the market." This is apparently explained by the cost of the device's materials, which "alone may exceed $500." This mirrors Mark Gurman's recent report that stated Apple's VR headset "will be far more expensive than those from rivals" and "on par with other pricey Apple products, such as the $5,999 Mac Pro desktop computer."
Gurman also said that "Apple has planned to launch the product as soon as 2022," which aligns with JP Morgan's first quarter of 2022 prediction.
Separately, JP Morgan also provided some information about Apple's rumored augmented reality (AR) glasses project. Due to the "extremely difficult supply chain management and industrial design specifications," JP Morgan predicts that Apple's glasses are unlikely to launch within the next 12 to 18 months, and that Apple is conscious to make the device "light, beautiful, easy to wear, and able to withstand long-term use." The need for prescription lenses and customization may also be hampering the move toward mass production.
Rumors surrounding Apple's VR headset and AR glasses have been increasing in recent months, with one of the devices said to be moving into the "second phase of development." Bloomberg recently clarified that Apple is planning to launch a virtual reality headset as a "pricey, niche precursor" to a more ambitious AR glasses product that is set to follow at a later date. Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this month that Apple will unveil an unspecified augmented reality device at some point in 2021.
Update: Citing industry sources, DigiTimes is now reporting that Pegatron and Quanta Computer are vying for final assembly orders from Apple for its AR glasses product. Foxconn has reportedly obtained orders for component assembly.
Most recent rumors have centered on Apple's VR headset, which is thought to be much closer to production than its AR glasses, so it is possible that DigiTimes has conflated the two products. Regardless, in view of recent reports, it seems that Apple is focusing on establishing suppliers for its unreleased VR and AR hardware, which suggests that development on the products is continuing at pace.
Article Link: Apple VR Headset May Launch in Q1 2022 With LiDAR and $500+ Price Tag [Updated]
It's unclear what will be better about it than what's available now... want to experience your "environment" you don't need LiDar, just take the thing off. Then again, this will sell like hotcakes once people can get adult content with it.
As far as I know, VR is all PC (windows), Android, or Stand Alone, and Android VR just got more or less dropped. I'm not saying you couldn't wedge something in there, but right now mac VR doesn't exist.
Obviously Oculus has done fine on a closed or partially closed ecosystem though, and there are of course industrial applications for VR as some have pointed out. I personally don't see how mac will overcome significantly inferior graphics hardware AND the significant lead times in experience and inventory of PC VR and Oculus stand alone VR, but I roll my eyes at lots of Apple products that fail the value proposition test, have rudimentary design flaws and limited abilities, and still sell better than their counterparts, and in the end I do understand that consistency is a powerful marketing tool.
What surprises me, frankly, is that Apple is bothering to make a stop at VR before pushing ahead to AR. AR seems just right for Apple: it's a thinly occupied space with contenders that have struggled with both elegant design and functional, comfortable products, and the price points are already high. Apple could improve on any or many of these, and still sell for a premium and get significant market share before another entry claimed dominance. They wouldn't even need good computing to win in this space: a good interface and just really solid consistent tracking would go a long way toward a substantial lead here. Why do VR at all?
I'm not trying to hate, I just think that Apple VR has some significant hurdles unless the company decides to change style completely and make their hardware work well in existing VR environments.