Apple's AR/VR Headset Could Be Less Than a Year Away

[8CoreWhore]

The only way they can sell it for $3K is if it's a developer's kit. 4K screens still have "screen door effect." There's no way this can cost the same as ten Oculus Quest 2s. It has to be under $1K for it to succeed. For this to have a successful launch, developers will need more than a few months to get apps ready for it. So, big dev houses would already have to have prototypes now to have killer apps ready in time.

 

[Piggie]

Please tell me I'm wrong at a later date, but here is my thoughts at the moment.

As much as you might hate me for saying this, I think Meta/Facebook is doing this right.
Headsets that are "good enough" for most normal people, and keep the price point right down as low as possible.
Get the headsets sold in big numbers, get the market large, develop the ecosystem, and build it up over time.
Eventually perhaps introduce higher end headsets, still keeping the low end models.

Apple, I fear is going to do another Trashcan Mac / Original Homepod.

They are going to come out with something VERY nice, but it's going to be too expensive, and bought by the higher end Apple Fans for the most part.
It will get good/great reviews.
Some aspects will be far better than say a Meta/Facebook model, but it will be 4x or more the cost perhaps.
And like those Apple products I mentioned, will fail, as Apple again won't "get it" and then years later they will again realise have another try at it, but by then be too late as too many of the population will have invested in the cheaper alternatives.

I could be wrong, but so far this is how I'm seeing things develop.

Most normal? people don't share the hatred of Meta/Facebook we see on some forums as is evident by the number of people using it, and in some countries, Facebook/Meta IS the internet for them.

I think Apple are going to repeat their mistake yet again, and think they can wade in, with an expensive product, that everyone is going to buy.
I feel at the moment they are mistaken.

I could be wrong, but let's see where we are in 5 years.

 

[8CoreWhore]

These look like a nightmare if they get hacked and some hacker is seeing what your seeing.

Whaaaaa?

 

[Viale Montanane]

Of course,

 

[Snowshiro]

I'm not sure who the target is here for VR. Most consumers only really use VR in games, and Apple has consistently failed to support gaming for Macs. The other potential application for VR is enterprise, and Apple has never had a strong presence in business circles where Windows dominates.

Yes, they could create a headset which works with Windows, but then they're facing competition from Oculus, Steam and others who will probably be much lower cost. And knowing Apple, I highly doubt any device they make will be well supported on anything other than macOS or iOS.

 

[michaelprescott]

Awesome!

Initially, I'm just going to use it for developement and work. Of course, I imagine every single VR game on the market will be available for it, some of those are quite good now, and while they are neat and fun for short stints, I can't wait till next gen games are running on the new silicon. Apple is going to take over the gaming industry with this thing, Epic knows it, Unity knows it, all the big publishers know it and everyone from AAA studios to open source tool developers are gearing up right now. Heck, Epic has been running interference in the courts; however, that is by large a strategic distraction. It's only a matter of time before Epic and Apple are working in concert on next gen content.

I'd be surprised if they don't introduce VR-immersive, live sport-attendance on day one, at least a preview into it to stoke the broader markets. However, I'm not as excited about that as I am a new form of movies and shows that will arise soon after, where viewers are completely immersed in the content, a participant or passive character within movies. I suppose a first person view as the quarterback or referee would be just as amazing as racing through an action movie or flying through space. It's all coming, and that will forever change entertainment, not just a niche for the technical-fanatics, but for everyone.

After that, virtual teleportation anywhere as your high-fidelity realistic avatar (https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/digital-humans). Businesses and families alike will begin scooping up Apple VR, and that will be the beginning of the end of our old boxy, flat phones. The mere phone will of course not fade away overnight, just like the landline is still favored by some, but for the larger market, there will be a rapid transition. Not over decades, but years. Of course we won't wear them all the time, we have watches for those distraction free communications, but on our commutes, sitting at home or in the office, a complete immersive and infinite landscape and workspace where we can meet anyone anytime, well, that isn't just game-changing tech, that is world-changing... I'd wager for many, it'll even be life changing.

I remember several decades ago, eagerly trying out headsets, and it was just meh. Then came the Oculus and Vive, and it was neat, cumbersome, but it started to become a reality. And then everything that Apple started developing, hardware, software, and services started to look like strategic, very strategic, incremental steps towards next gen VR and AR. Quest 2 showed us we could go wireless and relatively light-weight, but still a bit too bulky. But if you breakdown all of the parts, the hardware stacks, the software stacks, the acquisitions and patents, side-investments and collaborations, it becomes so clear that next gen VR is going to be absolutely amazing, game-changing, world-changing... enabling all sorts of new types of entertainment, new types of jobs, new ways to work and play.

In short, it's going to be awesome, and we don't have much longer to wait!

 

[AlexESP]

Please tell me I'm wrong at a later date, but here is my thoughts at the moment.

As much as you might hate me for saying this, I think Meta/Facebook is doing this right.
Headsets that are "good enough" for most normal people, and keep the price point right down as low as possible.
Get the headsets sold in big numbers, get the market large, develop the ecosystem, and build it up over time.
Eventually perhaps introduce higher end headsets, still keeping the low end models.

Apple, I fear is going to do another Trashcan Mac / Original Homepod.

They are going to come out with something VERY nice, but it's going to be too expensive, and bought by the higher end Apple Fans for the most part.
It will get good/great reviews.
Some aspects will be far better than say a Meta/Facebook model, but it will be 4x or more the cost perhaps.
And like those Apple products I mentioned, will fail, as Apple again won't "get it" and then years later they will again realise have another try at it, but by then be too late as too many of the population will have invested in the cheaper alternatives.

I could be wrong, but so far this is how I'm seeing things develop.

Most normal? people don't share the hatred of Meta/Facebook we see on some forums as is evident by the number of people using it, and in some countries, Facebook/Meta IS the internet for them.

I think Apple are going to repeat their mistake yet again, and think they can wade in, with an expensive product, that everyone is going to buy.
I feel at the moment they are mistaken.

I could be wrong, but let's see where we are in 5 years.

I wouldn't say they are "good enough" at all. As you said, there are models models from $300, and they're still totally niche. Apple can't succeed when they enter a market via price reduction. In fact, the Mac Pro and HomedPod didn't fail because of price: the Mac Pro due to its design/concept (the new Mac Pro is actually more expensive) and the HomePod because it didn't bring any significant innovation.

 

[ocnitsa]

I think people who can’t understand why this might be popular are using other iterations of VR devices by other companies as their means for envisioning it. I imagine apple will have tie ins with Apple Fitness + and Health and other current Apple features. With VR you could do a spinning class virtually with a trainer, do other sorts of workouts, etc. I think Apple is smarter than folks might think in terms of how it envisions products it is developing as fulfilling some new kind of potential that extends some of the work they are already doing.

 

[michaelprescott]

I think people who can’t understand why this might be popular are using other iterations of VR devices by other companies as their means for envisioning it. I imagine apple will have tie ins with Apple Fitness + and Health and other current Apple features. With VR you could do a spinning class virtually with a trainer, do other sorts of workouts, etc. I think Apple is smarter than folks might think in terms of how it envisions products it is developing as fulfilling some new kind of potential that extends some of the work they are already doing.

I agree. I see a lot of snarky comments about VR and AR lately, and it's really odd to me. I think maybe folks just haven't connected the dots yet. Apple has been strategically staging for this for years. Every single piece of hardware, every component, every software stack and every service... they are either diving into or creating new markets along the way, but simultaneously preparing for the introduction of this. It's an impressive, well-played strategy, and I'm excited about the outcome. They're about to make Facebook, err Meta's Quest look like a gimmicky toy.

 

[incoherent_1]

What can you say the Apple's AR headset device and the Apple Car are two of the longest running rumors.

And both will run off a PowerBook G5

 

[ducknalddon]

I agree. I see a lot of snarky comments about VR and AR lately, and it's really odd to me. I think maybe folks just haven't connected the dots yet. Apple has been strategically staging for this for years. Every single piece of hardware, every component, every software stack and every service... they are either diving into or creating new markets along the way, but simultaneously preparing for the introduction of this. It's an impressive, well-played strategy, and I'm excited about the outcome. They're about to make Facebook, err Meta's Quest look like a gimmicky toy.

Well you could be smarter than the rest of us or you could be wrong.

I'm doubtful that VR will ever be more than a small niche product. I just can't see enough utility in it.

 

[urnotl33t]

Starting price $1999. I doubt Apple will offer it at $999.

1199 if you act now, operators are standing by. But wait! There's more! If you call in the next 15 minutes, you'll also get this lovely stainless steel knife accessory kit with three pre-sharpened stainless steel diamond-cut blades, a 29.99 value, completely FREE! But you must call now!

 

[Cosmosent]

VR possibly, AR NO WAY !

See Goldman's Rod Hall's comments on CNBC, might have been just yesterday.

 

[macguru212]

Looking forward to when this comes out. I think we are years away from a Ready Player One level of AR/VR, but baby steps. There's no doubt that in 20 years time this kind of stuff will be part of glasses/windscreens/windows for navigation and the obvious entertainment aspects. Maybe ten, who knows.

If you've ever used an Oculus Rift system with a massive host PC (16GB video card and 64GB RAM) the tech looks pretty frickin cool for VR. Just not very portable. and prohibitively expensive. I did minor development in '16 on this system and man the results were getting close to reality then. Love this stuff! Go Apple.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

The only way they can sell it for $3K is if it's a developer's kit. 4K screens still have "screen door effect." There's no way this can cost the same as ten Oculus Quest 2s. It has to be under $1K for it to succeed. For this to have a successful launch, developers will need more than a few months to get apps ready for it. So, big dev houses would already have to have prototypes now to have killer apps ready in time.

But that's 4k per eye micro led. I have the Oculus Rift S (1280x1440 per eye 80 Hz) and Oculus Quest 2
(1832x1920 per eye 120Hz), and even those are pleasant to work with. I barely notice any screen door effect.

I think it if reviews praise it, it will sell.

I do agree, Apple better have enough content ready for this. No content, no buy from me.

 

[Le0M]

The point of VR is to be immersive. So any actually practical use case would have to be something that benefits from full immersion. Why would you want to browse the web in an artificial 3D space? How would web-browsing benefit from this?
Or how would you edit video in VR? With gestures? How is that better than mouse + keyboard or a dedicated editing controller? How would you work ergonomically? I'm not a professional video editor so I really wouldn't know - I'm genuinely curious.

There's a lot of potential in VR for many things but I don't think that an artificial three-dimensional workspace, possibly without tactile feedback, would be that great. But that's pretty much what people said about on-screen keyboards when the first iPhone launched, so who knows.

If properly developed, the answer reside in one word: speed.
I personally think that mouse pointer is obsolete. Eyes are so much faster than the pointer. The new pointer should, in fact, BE the eyes.

 

[boss.king]

I agree. I see a lot of snarky comments about VR and AR lately, and it's really odd to me. I think maybe folks just haven't connected the dots yet. Apple has been strategically staging for this for years. Every single piece of hardware, every component, every software stack and every service... they are either diving into or creating new markets along the way, but simultaneously preparing for the introduction of this. It's an impressive, well-played strategy, and I'm excited about the outcome. They're about to make Facebook, err Meta's Quest look like a gimmicky toy.

The tech isn’t going to be the problem. Convincing a regular person to strap a computer to their face will be the challenge. Until this can be done in a glasses form factor, it’s going to struggle to get significant market share.

 

[AppleTO]

Still not really sure what a regular consumer would do with this (unless that’s not the target audience).

 

[HarryKeogh]

My wife got me an Oculus for my birthday. We were all excited to use it the first few days. Now it sits collecting dust. Wonder what the Apple version could offer to not make this a novelty product.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

It could be a year away. But it isn’t.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Too bad they're not available now so people can see what it would look like to have a new iPhone 13 Pro or MacBook Pro 14/16 under the tree. Instead, just out-of-stock notices most places.

 

[Madmic23]

And we are calling it: „AirSight“

How about the iSight? The iSight Air and iSight Pro will come out later.

 

[citysnaps]

Personally...I have no interest in VR. AR, though, has a bright future with loads of potential in both consumer and commercial spaces.

I'm really looking forward to Apple's upcoming device and AR-focused apps.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Can someone point me to a good use case of VR for the general public that is not a gimmick? Even pornography and gaming seem to be novelties in VR that will get you to use the headset once before it collects dust.

Gatherings.

Consider whether an in-person class or a class over zoom is better. Or whether you'd rather have a party in-person or a zoom party.

Confining gatherings to just a grid of videos on a screen sucks. It's better than nothing, or just a conference call or something, but this will be the killer app of AR/VR, where you can make a strong case for saying this is better in every way. It has the advantages of not having to physically travel, and it has the advantages of everyone being together in a shared space.

 

[JosepPont]

Will it be copatible for gamming? for example, Flight Simulator?