AR/VR Headset Rumor Recap: 10 Features Coming to Apple's Next Major Product

[DarthDon]

I hope there will be versions for special peoples?

 

[DarthDon]

Final Version. IHelmet VR Pro.

 

[TVreporter]

Curious how they will demonstrate this - you can’t parlay the experience watching on monitors.

I don’t think this will ever be mainstream - a niche product for certain fields.

 

[DarthDon]

IPredator VR Max

 

[DarthDon]

Curious how they will demonstrate this - you can’t parlay the experience watching on monitors.

I don’t think this will ever be mainstream - a niche product for certain fields.

There is just one reason why: Battery-Time. Nobody wants to wear cables for that. There can't be enough space for a battery which supports two displays for a reasonable time.

 

[Dark-Signature]

@DarthDon

Is it getting good with this nonsense?

 

[Aeolius]

The whole point of being in a crowded cinema theater is social. It's about everyone feeding off the energy in the room and that can only be done in person. The energy is in the air. It's a place where strangers and friends come together to share the emotion on screen.

This is the problem with VR people. They think they are experts in everything and know what's better for us but everything they recommend goes against established knowledge and results in trying to make us isolated and anti social.

They're more reflective of the way modern American culture is so individualist and lonely, so imprisoned behind the steering wheel of their giant cars, that they no longer give a damn about society or the environment. Now they want everyone else to be like that.

You obviously never saw Hamilton with some idiot woman singing off-key in the next row.

 

[jhwalker]

The whole point of being in a crowded cinema theater is social. It's about everyone feeding off the energy in the room and that can only be done in person. The energy is in the air. It's a place where strangers and friends come together to share the emotion on screen.

This is the problem with VR people. They think they are experts in everything and know what's better for us but everything they recommend goes against established knowledge and results in trying to make us isolated and anti social.

They're more reflective of the way modern American culture is so individualist and lonely, so imprisoned behind the steering wheel of their giant cars, that they no longer give a damn about society or the environment. Now they want everyone else to be like that.

Yikes. I'll pass, as I have for at least the past decade.

My home theater looks and sounds better and I DON'T have to have "energy" (or whatever else) "in the air" 🤷‍♂️

The idea of VR movies sounds AWESOME to me.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Yikes. I'll pass, as I have for at least the past decade.

My home theater looks and sounds better and I DON'T have to have "energy" (or whatever else) "in the air" 🤷‍♂️

The idea of VR movies sounds AWESOME to me.

Been there and done that. It was naff.

Focusing on a movie while having part of your mind's focus on something strapped to your face isn't enjoyable. If anyone says they like that they are deluding themselves and trying to justify their investment.

It's even worse if you want to snack at the same time.

It's a loner's form of watching a movie, even if you are in a virtual room with others, and for real movie fans being a loner is antithetical to what the film experience is about. Isolation is terrible and people who become isolated become toxic.

So it's no surprise to see VR people behave toxic and pushy. They don't want to be alone. They insist you must join them in virtual land, but when you get there the toxicity is just like a cult.

Touch grass. Real grass.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The target market for this is Tim Cook. That’s why it will fail.

 

[Macalway]

I'll tell you one thing: in the end, it's exactly the people like you who then die of cancer because they've thought about too many things! But of course, there were people like you back then when FM was introduced. As for cell phones, there are already more devices than people in the world. Do you really still believe that "radiation" will kill you? What is your goal in this world? To remain immortal? LOL
If you knew how many chemicals you come into contact with every day that shorten your life, you wouldn't sleep well anymore!

Of course. But some people are very health conscious. They exercise, diet, practice abstention, pay taxes. Then they drop dead, while the next guy lives forever, who is a total glutton. Others are just lucky, so who GAF?

To each their own. I can't even begin to understand it.

 

[citysnaps]

It will be a hoot revisiting these comments when Apple releases their device!

They'll age about as well as first iPod/iPhone/iPad comments.

 

[JamesHolden]

Well, I'd say someone touched a nerve...

This isn't some speculation I'm making, and I'm only speaking for myself. My latest VR movie theater experience was more social than my latest real life movie theater experience. With the VR movie theater, we were MST3K-ing the movie. We could even throw virtual tomatoes at the screen. I wouldn't want people loudly commenting on a movie while it was playing if it were in real theater.

I'm not judging your MST3K movie experience with your friends. It sounds fun. And I get that VR enables an experience like that. But that's not what NEPOBABY was talking about. The movie theater experience is a great equalizer. It's a black box full of strangers in close physical proximity to each other. That's the magic. We all take an emotional journey together. And then we walk out of that dark room, see everyone in the light of the hallway and appreciate how different, yet similar, we are to one another. Maybe we meet some new people, have a drink, make a friend - because we shared the experience together.

Movie (theater) watching is not an experience that needs improving. People who want only to share the viewing experience with their chosen people in VR instead of being in a theater with strangers don't get what makes movies both special and important. Only watching movies with your friends in VR is just another way to isolate and self-segregate, which all of this "social" tech encourages.

The local theater movie has moved to premium stadium seating where you can't even really see anybody else in the theater once the movie has started.

It's not about seeing - or interacting - with anyone. It's about being present and everyone holding that space together.

But I also enjoy the real movie theater experience, but it is different. I did say the virtual movie theater was better, but I was only referring to one aspect of it. Both real life and VR theaters can be social or isolated. Sometimes I like watching a movie by myself, and sometimes I like watching with others.

That's fair. They are very different experiences. VR takes film viewing in a very different direction. The more interactive a movie becomes, the less passive the experience. Being a passive viewer on a journey is a huge part of the movie watching experience. You're taking this journey with strangers. You're going to laugh and cry together, share an emotional experience. You don't need to see each other or interact with each other. You just need to be physically present and open.

I don't see any of that happening in VR. VR is about the tech and what the tech can do and how the tech can push boundaries. On some basic level, VR just feels like it gamifies life.

When AR fans get excited about glasses (maybe this Apple headset?) that will essentially transform my unique human perspective into a video game with direction arrows and live data about the shops I pass and advertisements popping up to lure me into a restaurant and a PIP window with a video call floating in the air above everyone's head and...well, I just get sad that people want to turn reality into a video game. That vision of the future sounds like hell to me on so many levels and I don't think it will ever resonate with the majority of human beings.

The problem with anti-VR people is that they want to police how I experience things. Hey, I really don't care much if you don't like VR. The only reason I somewhat care if other people use VR is because more people using it means faster innovation and more software for it.

I think you care more than you admit. You feel the need to defend VR in every headset thread and your responses often feel like they come from a more personal place, which isn't a bad thing. Passion is important in life. But be honest with yourself. I think you do care what "anti-VR people" think.

My VR gaming has been much more social, on average, than my non-VR video gaming.

I think just about everyone agrees that VR is well suited for gaming. That said, most people aren't gamers and VR isn't going to make them gamers.

And it's funny that people with hundreds of posts on a tech rumors site are lecturing me about being anti-social.

I don't see anyone lecturing you. It's a discussion forum. The fact that you feel lectured to tells me you're taking it way more personally than you should.

 

[JamesHolden]

Have you gone to a VR comedy show with dozens of others? Have you played poker with friends in VR? Have you played social deduction games in VR? Have you played 3D Pictionary?

I have no desire to do those things. I have no desire to strap goggles to my head, sit alone in a room, and connect with other people in some fake reality. There's zero appeal. I want to see my friends in real life and do real world things with them. No one I know wants to do any of those things either.

If I'm doing activities like that instead of browsing social media and arguing on forums, is that a loss?

Neither is a loss. Discussion is important, as is doing things we enjoy. You do whatever you want in VR and I'll stick to real-world human connections.

 

[JamesHolden]

It's a loner's form of watching a movie, even if you are in a virtual room with others, and for real movie fans being a loner is antithetical to what the film experience is about. Isolation is terrible and people who become isolated become toxic.

This x10000000. Perfectly said, again. All we need do is look at the past decade or so of social media and we can see the toxicity scale exponentially. Everyone in their little self-selected ego bubbles, isolated from others, disconnected from themselves, angry, bitter, complaining, entitled, toxic. If only we could all strap VR goggles to our faces and escape into a reality where everything is curated and we don't have to deal with anything, or anyone, we don't like.

 

[txscott]

I am open to being convinced there is a use case for me, but I haven’t found it yet. My work is spreadsheets and accounting software. Don’t see a use case there. I don’t game, I never have and don’t plan to start. No use case there. Don’t want to wear something in my head to watch movies, I like my home theater setup. Don’t want to interact with people via zoom or in VR in goggles. Nope and nope.

Nonetheless, I am open to the possibility that Apple can show me something I can’t live without. I just don’t see that now.

 

[aibloop]

No controllers in the box would be a bad sign. Without an easy way to port existing VR experiences (games), this thing will have a rough start.

TBH I wouldn`t mind the Logitechs and what nots doing the controller... Apple never managed to do a useable mouse you know! ...I dont have high hope they will manage to do the controller properly here either.

Allthough, they DID pioneer proper Smartphone UI/Touch interface...

 

[aibloop]

All in all... I think it is about time... The Apple platforms have gone a decade without ANY VR/AR solutions...

 

[iBreatheApple]

We usually complain about stuff and then get over it in two seconds, but I’m not sure how I feel about it be tethered to another device/battery at the waist. This feels dated even before launching. Though I understand you can only have so much side heavy weight on the head and neck without fatigue and discomfort. Guess we’ll have to wait and see….

That said, I really don’t see a use for this personally. Maybe Apple will change my mind.

 

[Jensend]

I'm not judging your MST3K movie experience with your friends. It sounds fun. And I get that VR enables an experience like that. But that's not what NEPOBABY was talking about. The movie theater experience is a great equalizer. It's a black box full of strangers in close physical proximity to each other. That's the magic. We all take an emotional journey together. And then we walk out of that dark room, see everyone in the light of the hallway and appreciate how different, yet similar, we are to one another. Maybe we meet some new people, have a drink, make a friend - because we shared the experience together.

Movie (theater) watching is not an experience that needs improving. People who want only to share the viewing experience with their chosen people in VR instead of being in a theater with strangers don't get what makes movies both special and important. Only watching movies with your friends in VR is just another way to isolate and self-segregate, which all of this "social" tech encourages.

You can watch movies with strangers in VR. And again, please don’t gatekeep how I watch movies. You are telling me I am watching them the wrong way.

I don't see any of that happening in VR. VR is about the tech and what the tech can do and how the tech can push boundaries. On some basic level, VR just feels like it gamifies life.

Dude, I’m just watching and enjoying a movie with friends who don’t live near me. All movies require advanced tech for display. You might as well complain that all movies are about tech, and that I should only watch live theater, because only when the actors are live in front of the viewer do they make true connections or some other mumbo jumbo like that.

When AR fans get excited about glasses (maybe this Apple headset?) that will essentially transform my unique human perspective into a video game with direction arrows and live data about the shops I pass and advertisements popping up to lure me into a restaurant and a PIP window with a video call floating in the air above everyone's head and...well, I just get sad that people want to turn reality into a video game. That vision of the future sounds like hell to me on so many levels and I don't think it will ever resonate with the majority of human beings.

I think many of the use cases people spout are silly. Like adding a name tag floating above people. That tech for getting that to work sounds like a privacy nightmare. I’m not actually an advocate of wear-everywhere AR glasses.

I think you care more than you admit. You feel the need to defend VR in every headset thread and your responses often feel like they come from a more personal place, which isn't a bad thing. Passion is important in life. But be honest with yourself. I think you do care what "anti-VR people" think.

Yes, I prefer that people believe factually true things. I’ve also corrected VR advocates that make outlandish claims.
But can you see anywhere that I claim that people are wrong for not enjoying using VR?

I don't see anyone lecturing you. It's a discussion forum. The fact that you feel lectured to tells me you're taking it way more personally than you should.

NEPOBABY is claiming that I am a liar:

Focusing on a movie while having part of your mind's focus on something strapped to your face isn't enjoyable. If anyone says they like that they are deluding themselves and trying to justify their investment.

You do whatever you want in VR and I'll stick to real-world human connections.

How is posting on an internet forum a “real-world human connection” ?

This x10000000. Perfectly said, again. All we need do is look at the past decade or so of social media and we can see the toxicity scale exponentially. Everyone in their little self-selected ego bubbles, isolated from others, disconnected from themselves, angry, bitter, complaining, entitled, toxic. If only we could all strap VR goggles to our faces and escape into a reality where everything is curated and we don't have to deal with anything, or anyone, we don't like.

I don’t see how VR tech is different than other computer form factors in this regard.

 

[citysnaps]

We usually complain about stuff and then get over it in two seconds, but I’m not sure how I feel about it be tethered to another device/battery at the waist. This feels dated even before launching. Though I understand you can only have so much side heavy weight on the head and neck without fatigue and discomfort. Guess we’ll have to wait and see….

That said, I really don’t see a use for this personally. Maybe Apple will change my mind.

Wouldn't worry about that. I don't think it'll be powered in that manner.

 

[BrightDarkSky]

Without a killer app this is nothing more than an experiment with a very low chance of succeeding. Apple only cares about businesses that can bring in billions. This is such uncharted territory that it's hard to comment on it at all.

I'm a 20-year Mac user however I do not invest in Apple services because diversity as in life is really important. If my Apple ID screws up, I can't be locked out of extra hardware ETC. And it's easier to discard third party companies if they are services are failing you.

 

[redbeard331]

Re-read and nope, because... the point I disagree with is where you mentioned that it would be useless unless made into glasses. As far as what the AR/VR Goggles look like? Well, we don't know yet, so I can't comment until I see something better than an "artist impression". Personally, I don't care if a person is walking around wearing goggles, glasses, or anything else tbh. The world changes and I don't judge what people look like. 7 billion people on this earth and everyone has their own story.

I don't know if you wear glasses or not, but they are a very rudimentary 'fix' that doesn't work well for many people. Goggles could absolutely make a huge difference for people. Can you imagine a screen for a person with peripheral vision loss, and having it concentrated in an area of vision? Something glasses cannot do. I just paid $1000 for "progressive lenses" that have the least amount of optic variations available and they still only do a mediocre job for the money. AR Glasses could absolutely solve this, without considering the fashion, to which I don't care, they could be a game changer in health and in the ability to 'see' things others cannot see.

What I mean is that with these goggles with a 4k screen an inch from your eyeball you cannot see in front of you and they aren’t meant to be used while walking around. With glasses at least you could have some sort of terminator-like vision where info is overlayed onto the world around you, which is what it seems like you envision as well.

The goal is to not look like this.


And instead look like this.


So we can see like this.


In full color of course, not just the red movie effect.

 

[aibloop]

I have used and tried alot of VR solutions. Being wireless and having desktop level M2 processors will likely be super snappy.

If the rumoured ability to pull up your iPad and Mac are true... I would hope for Apps to visualize and organize your files in new ways show up.

An art-workshop App to do painting and sculpture/3d together with people would be VERY cool.

Honestly, just a way to emulate touch sensitivity/pressure feedback in a way that approaches the Ipad with a stylus OR just using an iPad with a stylus to achieve sculpting/drawing in AR/VR, hot damn that would be cool, I think precise pressure feedback is super important to be able to do sculpting in AR/VR on par with zBrush/Nomad/Forger/Blender with a stylus. You get this pressure feedback automatically when you press a stylus against a screen.

I am not sure Apple will be releasing a precise force-feedback solution, infact I am not sure they should. BUT if they have a SDK for it so that Logitech or Wacom can make a solution that will satisfy precision and features for art, I would be all in to the tune of 300$ to max 500$ for something that can make it feel like I am working with clay/painting/drawing with a tool. OR easiest, just integrate the Ipad as a pressure sensitive tool, honestly probably would work very well and sells more ipads...


I AM hoping there is a recording function for VR video and that the quality is good enough to use professionally on par with the iPhone Pro. WITH a Final Cut update to support editing. AND a motion FX update for VFX. AND Blender integration------ boom. I am in.



I really do not care if Apple gets a new iPhone level success with this tech out of the gate... I care about having VR&AR ON the Apple platform... I care about it being available for Media professionals and artists and students. I care about being able to figure new ways to do art and 3d design and it not being a hyped up crypto bro Ai thing... You cannot innovate if you do not participate... And that has been Apple for a long while on VR/AR...

I think Tim Cook is correct in assuming that they need to jump in at some point, and that point is likely quite perfectly now. Meta has shown itself to be unable to kick off widespread usage of VR. Samsung, Valve, Sony have all thrown their solutions in and its not a cohesive attractive solution. And ofcourse it isnt. The steps for it to become a widespread display technology are going to be small. Simply because the barrier of entry is too big with huge goggles that shut you out of the world. However, the biggish goggles and awkward battery pack is gonna be a step on the way to what is possible in 2025/2026 with Metalens tech. (Not related to facebook at all)

Metalenses are going to replace bulky camera lenses and allow for ultrathin AR/VR displays/goggles, and the tech is definitely coming with a release window of 2025/2026. Think invisible nano lenses (Youtube has info on em, Metalens) The tech is nano sized lenses that will make it possible to put a display inside regular sized glasses and have invisible high quality cameras. This is what will enable the Apple Glasses solution that the Apple Engineers were opting to wait for. The engineers obviously AND correctly assume that this is the product that will actually reach mainstream...

But... IF AR/VR and Facebook Meta faceplant the whole concept and bury it in the trash-heap of defunct tech along with Google glass and 3D TVs... HOW big a climb does Apple have to launch "Apple Glasses" In 2026/2027? Almost impossible I would wager. Much better to release now and have a go at showing the world the tech CAN be good and useful. And even more importantly, actively develop a product by iteration and experience. Imho, Tim Cook is right and sly as a fox... The 800 pound gorilla needs to throw themselves into the ring and see if this is actually worth pursuing.

I think personally that the tech is viable, only other option is holographic projection, and that is probably coming too, however I think the road to anything like that goes along AR/VR glasses first. And probably people will still use AR/VR glasses for private work and communication.

 

[Surf Monkey]

It will be a hoot revisiting these comments when Apple releases their device!

They'll age about as well as first iPod/iPhone/iPad comments.

Doubtful. This product has zero chance of reaching ubiquity. Therefore it can never be compared to iPod, iPhone and iPad.