Apple Working on AR/VR Headset With 8K Displays and No Smartphone or Computer Tether

[christo747]

Ready Player Three.
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Ok, so what's the answer? Why do I need a VR/AR rig tied to some tower-like box?

The number of answers is endless. VR is easily melting the brain to make you really addicted because in VR you can do and be anything. - Maybe we are lucky when we don't live to see it happening.

 

[blcamp]

I’m thinking this is a bogus project, and someone is getting themselves fired (and possibly prosecuted) for leaking to the media.

 

[thisismyusername]

So it's not tethered to a computer even though it requires a wireless connection to a box that looks just like a computer. Whatever.

I can't wait to see how much the Apple tax will be on this.

 

[MacLawyer]

I see a projected 2020 release date. The competition has just read this release and will rush to market some crummy knock-off of what we read here.

 

[mrzz]

8K in each eye?
I don't buy that for a second.
Outrageously expensive, and complete overkill.

it's not overkill at all, it's more than needed for close to "true" VR eperience, the major problem is that no current "home" computer is capable of feeding 2x8K at required frequency

 

[JimmyTW87]

8K in each eye?
I don't buy that for a second.
Outrageously expensive, and complete overkill.

No it won't be either, if Apple want mass adoption it can't be priced much more than a grand.

And 8k per eye is probably what's needed, if you've used even the new Vive Pro at 1600p per eye, it still has an extremely visible Screen Door Effect. We need much higher resolution so that pixels aren't visible with the display right up against your eye's.

 

[Dan Holmstock]

iSee

LOL eye c what u did thur! lol

or perhaps

iGlasses.

 

[robertcoogan]

It is a rumor worthy of Digitimes.

True. Or Gizmodo.

 

[LordVic]

I see a projected 2020 release date. The competition has just read this release and will rush to market some crummy knock-off of what we read here.

the competition is already out and lightyears ahead of what Apple is doing in the head mounted VR space. That is, Apple currently doesn't exist in the market.

 

[tigres]

Apple testing leaks

 

[Bacillus]

the competition is already out and lightyears ahead of what Apple is doing in the head mounted VR space. That is, Apple currently doesn't exist in the market.

Let Cook shake them with a new graphics array in the Mac Mini...

 

[Minxy]

It will be out just after the MacPro in about 60 months

Isn’t that a bit optimistic?

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Can't wait to refinance my house to pay for this.

 

[trusso]

This comment is likely to get lost amidst all the other snarky comments, but here's the thing:

Apple and others who began the personal computer revolution used to pride themselves on empowering their customers, providing them with solid and dependable machines that allowed individuals to create. We are ostensibly still allowed to do this, but the industry focus has shifted from giving people tools to make great things themselves, toward selling customers devices that disempower us, and compel users to consume.

It's not nearly as insidious as Whiteclay liquor stores helping destroy lives in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, but the roundabout logic of "giving the people what they want" because it's the only thing they can choose is pretty much the same.

This is a fundamental philosophical shift that I have observed in the technology/computing industry, and while Apple and similar corporations may dress up their products, at least a few of us can see through the baloney. Don't get me wrong, the tech is cool, but the philosophy behind it stinks.

 

[9081094]

Always seem like these leaks come out to prop up the stock when it's down. However, if true I hope Apple make it cross-platform compatible otherwise it'll end up like Homepod.

It’s all in the never ending pipeline and it’s all amazing and you can only see this coming from Apple. Two months after it is released you see some Chinese vendors offering the same for one third of the prize. Another two months later and we see other’s leapfrog Apple and Apple’s own offerings will be stagnant and über priced. This happened with every device, software or service from Apple these last 6+ years.

 

[JimmyTW87]

That would be pretty cool. Make it a social thing; that could attract some users. Maybe it could be 8K for 1 person, 4K for 2-3 people, and HD for 4 people, or something like that.

It doesn't really work like that, the person in HD would be having an AWFUL time, the 8K high resolution isn't a "nice to have" it's a necessity for invisible pixels which is important for VR and even more so for AR.

 

[Michael Goff]

Always seem like these leaks come out to prop up the stock when it's down. However, if true I hope Apple make it cross-platform compatible otherwise it'll end up like Homepod.

Apple making cross platform hardware? That's a good one.

 

[JimmyTW87]

8K sounds like overkill, especially for a first version.

Make it support 4 simultaneous headsets at HD for each eye and 60 FPS. Could make something like a holodeck with that. Biggest difference would be the lack of physical contact.

It's VR, it bloody better be higher than 60fps, I don't want to vomit. 90fps is the minimum needed for this.

 

[Starship67]

I think cnet missed this by about 26 days.

 

[9081094]

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.” - Steve Jobs

With the number of new projects coming online, I can see Apple being the next HP, focusing on everything from small to big. The laser focus Apple had on the iPhone resulted in a really great product. Apple is now trying to do everything from create TV shows to manufacture micro LED. Let's not pretend Apple wasn't working on an electric car with the hundreds of automotive, transmission, mechanical, and battery engineers it was hiring. At some point, the focus of the company is lost.

It’s definitely lost. Haven’t seen a good computer coming from Apple these 6+ years. iPhones aren’t competitive at the prizes they’re selling now. Software is in decline. AppleTV doesn’t offer anything new what’s already built in in smart tv’s. I often wonder what’s going on behind those curtains from Apple. They’re 10 times as big as they used to be but deliver 100 times less.

 

[techwhiz]

Apple is working on a powerful headset that will support both augmented reality and virtual reality applications, according to an inside source that spoke to CNET.

The headset, which is codenamed T288, features an 8K display for each eye that would be untethered from either a computer or a smartphone.

Instead, it would connect to a "dedicated box" using a high-speed short-range wireless technology called 60GHz WiGig. The box would be powered by a custom 5-nanometer Apple processor that's "more powerful than anything currently available" and similar to the custom chips that Apple will use in future Macs. At the current time, the box resembles a PC tower, but it "won't be an actual Mac computer."Users will not need to install special cameras in a room to detect their location as with some available VR headsets. All of the technology will be built into the headset and the box.

Past rumors have suggested that Apple is working on a number of virtual and augmented reality prototypes using a secret research unit, but recent information has been specific to a set of augmented reality smart glasses. It is not clear if the smart glasses mentioned in previous rumors are the same as this new AR/VR headset.

Those rumors have suggested Apple is developing an augmented reality headset with a dedicated display, a built-in processor, and an "rOS" or reality operating system that's controlled using input methods like touch panels, voice activation, and head gestures.

Apple has been heavily focused on augmented reality with the launch of ARKit in iOS 11, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has said multiple times that he believes augmented reality is more important than virtual reality. Augmented reality, says Cook, is the "larger of the two" because it allows people to "be very present," but he has admitted that virtual reality has interesting use cases for education and gaming.

Apple is said to be aiming to launch the headset in 2020, but CNET's source warns that work on the device is in the early stages and plans could be changed or scrapped.

Article Link: Apple Working on AR/VR Headset With 8K Displays and No Smartphone or Computer Tether

They talk about a 5nm node.
the 5nm process node is proposed sometime in 2020 and even that is speculation.

Yawn.

 

[iSteve-O]

Airpods -> Homepods -> iVR

3 failed products in a row...Apple is going for a 3peat.

 

[9081094]

Sounds exciting as long as they don't have stupid Siri.

They’ve to fix first what’s broken. Get their focus back by making and updating good products again. Even a Dell gets higher rankings than Apple these days. Before expanding to other territory Apple needs to make sure their products are worth their premium prizes.
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it's not overkill at all, it's more than needed for close to "true" VR eperience, the major problem is that no current "home" computer is capable of feeding 2x8K at required frequency

Correction... by “home” computer you probably mean Macs. Most windows pc’s are capable of viewing VR... Macs don’t. Oh, you mean 2 feeds of 8K. Well, maybe the modular Mac Pro € 9999,99 will. But by that time it is released the other home computers will be able to do it like they’re able to play VR today.

 

[sol33t]

So, it will run its own OS? I have an idea...”wearOS”

But i wonder, how will this work? They should do a google glass type of thing. Some stylish Apple glasses would be cool. Would kind of make the watch obsolete though, wouldnt it?

‘Or.... eyeOS ... *drumrolls*

 

[Pupi]

Airpods -> Homepods -> iVR

3 failed products in a row...Apple is going for a 3peat.

Can't same the for the HomePod, but the AirPods are a phenomenal product and a big hit.