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Kuo: Apple AR Headset Coming in Late 2022 With Mac-Level Computing Power

deckard666 said:
The use case for people to wear their glasses to see is pretty compelling and they don’t… never underestimate the vanity of humans.
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Exactly. And this brings it's own set of vanity-based problems. Like headphones, this will mess up your hair if worn for a long time. If you wear it outside, you're going to have a weird, uneven skin tan on your face. These seem minor but will be dealbreakers for a lot of people.
 
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Now this is a much more likely project for Apple to be secretly working on than a laughable & not-gonna-happen car project.

However, considering that there is almost zero demand and almost zero desire and almost zero use for a VR headset, I wonder what Apple’s angle is going to be for trying to push these onto consumers??
 
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Amacfa said:
Didn’t know you needed a phone to know your way around.

Are we done with this game?
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If you're admitting that looking at the world with your eyes is better than cramming 4k displays and cameras on your face, then sure.
 
If Apple Apple's this release what they will do is to create a unit that gives you a taste of the things to come. Over charge for it, get people hooked. Then release a much improved model that is slightly cheaper, get more hooked. This one will make the first unit obsolete. Then they can stop updating the low end very much at all and put out a pro version that costs the reported $3,000 we have heard about. That one gets all the bells and whistles. This is one of those first generation devices that will get old as soon as something way faster comes out like the iPhone, Watch, iPad, and first intel Macs. BUT, if its as good as M1 Macs are then it won't be so bad. Those other devices that got old quick had good software but slow chips that couldn't keep up with updates.
 
scotty321 said:
Now this is a much more likely project for Apple to be secretly working on than a laughable & not-gonna-happen car project.

However, considering that there is almost zero demand and almost zero desire and almost zero use for a VR headset, I wonder what Apple’s angle is going to be for trying to push these onto consumers??
Click to expand...
Yes, I’m very curious about that as well. The thing about the car is, well, it’s a car. We don’t know why Apple wants to make one, but we know what the function is. A VR headset seems much more like Apple’s wheelhouse in one sense, but raises the question of why?

Especially when you consider the use cases:
1. 3D/CAD- the Mac is sorely lacking in this department
2. Gaming- same as above, but much worse
3. Pornography- Apple is not going to go for that

The Mac’s VR support is pretty much non-existent since being dropped by SteamVR, and iOS’s VR support is actually nonexistent. It’s all AR. What’s the “killer app” for this thing? And it will have to be pretty damn good to convince people to put this thing on their face.

One thing that sort of makes sense, is that this device is a precursor to the real breakthrough, the AR glasses, a device that, like the Apple self-driving car, seems genuinely useful if not technically feasible. The VR headset would help developers get their apps ready for it. But has Apple ever made a purely developer device before launching a new product category (not talking about DTKs for transitions)? And I‘m skeptical that the iGlasses will be available in 2023? like Mr. Kuo said- like the Apple Car, it seems to be continually delayed and extremely technically challenging. Pretty sure at one point the launch date was 2020 or 2021.
 
Who asked for a thousand songs in your pocket?

A mobile phone with a glass keyboard that people will hate?

It (Apple's tablet) is just a giant iPhone.

Who needs a watch with a display for regular everyday use? And besides, for exercise, Apple will never compete with FitBit.

AirPods? $159? What a joke.

Yeah... Apple, again, knows nothing about the market and what they're getting into.
 
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citysnaps said:
Who asked for a thousand songs in your pocket?

A mobile phone with a glass keyboard that people will hate?

It (Apple's tablet) is just a giant iPhone.

Who needs a watch with a display for regular everyday use? And besides, for exercise, Apple will never compete with FitBit.

AirPods? $159? What a joke.

Yeah... Apple, again, knows nothing about the market and what they're getting into.
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I asked for a thousand songs in my pocket. Big difference here is that the proof of concept for ipod was already done by other companies and it was very desirable.

VR goggles and Ar glasses has already been done too and is not very desirable.
 
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topdrawer said:
I asked for a thousand songs in my pocket. Big difference here is that the proof of concept for ipod was already done by other companies and it was very desirable.

VR goggles and Ar glasses has already been done too and is not very desirable.
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AR Glasses haven’t really been done yet, the very first consumer AR glasses are just getting released in the US next week, NReal Light (though they have been for sale in South Korea, Japan, and Germany already). Though those are a bit on the low-end - less than 60 degrees horizontal FOV, sensors not as good as iPhone LIDAR, not much dedicated AR software due to how they handled their SDK and development program. And only works with a few high end Android phones, only purchasable in the US from Verizon.

There have been smart glasses out, but those have basically been smart watches in the corner of your eye with built-in cameras, not AR glasses with the ability to place 3D objects in the world with you.
 
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boss.king said:
I genuinely wonder what they believe the killer feature or use is for this.
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I can see a lot of use cases like eg remote diagnostics and such, but those are all business type applications. Apple being a consumer devices company, what, besides gaming, is the killer app for consumers?That I don’t see…
 
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boss.king said:
I’m not talking about general uses, I was asking about killer features, the thing that will make the average person go “yeah, I’ll strap a computer to my face in order to do X”. The fact that you’d write ~50 words to tell me they’re easy to find rather just just listing one or two leads me to believe that there isn’t one yet.
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There are no consumer level killer features, except gaming and probably porn…
I see plenty business use cases but those folks will not go into the Apple world, nor will Apple target them
 
Here’s what I hope to be the killer feature (disclaimer: because I’m making it)

 
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topdrawer said:
I asked for a thousand songs in my pocket. Big difference here is that the proof of concept for ipod was already done by other companies and it was very desirable.

VR goggles and Ar glasses has already been done too and is not very desirable.
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You’re not getting the point.

That phrase was the retort by many, and therefore iPod would fail as a product.
 
krazzix said:
I can think of one:

There is a processor in there as powerful as an M1. That means you potentially could conjure up a screen, as large as you like, at any location and run MacOS on it.
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Yeah, gaming seems to be the closest thing I can find to a killer use. But it would require Apple to seriously step up gaming compatibility and developer relations, because if you’re buying a $2k+ gaming games headset, it better run more than Apple Arcade games.
 
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boss.king said:
I genuinely wonder what they believe the killer feature or use is for this.
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Education and commercial applications ate potentially huge if they price this well (less than hololens) and get better developer support than MS. For non-commercial use the price needs to be something people can afford, and gaming and home renno stuff would be the sweet spot. It would also be really cool if you could emulate your macs monitor. We use hollow lens for training in the operating room and it’s pretty cool but I imagine Apple can do a lot better than Microsoft has with their awful user experience.
 
terminator-jq said:
This is my exact thinking every time I see one of these AR headset articles come up. I don’t doubt the existence of the product but I definitely wonder how Apple will market it.

With a rumored $2000+ price tag, this thing will be priced much higher than comparable headsets from Oculus, Valve and Sony.

The price and specs definitely point to this being a “Pro” device and not just a VR toy. The question is what Pro market? Will this be a new content creation tool (3D modeling in VR would be awesome)?
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If they can develop tools that make development for this easy that’s going to be a huge win for them. Iran allied health programs and the used case for this technology is great but the software available sucks in developing for it’s not easy. hollow lens is 3500 bucks. 2000 would actually be a really great price for this if it doesn’t need to be tethered. I almost want to call BS on this because I can’t imagine it won’t be powered by an iPhone. Or maybe they’ll be2 models. A consumer version that tethers to your phone and a pro version that runs more like described in the rumor. Apple would be foolish not to try to go after both markets when hardware is really what distinguishes the two types of devices needed
 
MacAddict1978 said:
Education and commercial applications ate potentially huge if they price this well (less than hololens) and get better developer support than MS. For non-commercial use the price needs to be something people can afford, and gaming and home renno stuff would be the sweet spot. It would also be really cool if you could emulate your macs monitor. We use hollow lens for training in the operating room and it’s pretty cool but I imagine Apple can do a lot better than Microsoft has with their awful user experience.
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“Apple” and “priced well” rarely go in the same sentence. I doubt they’ll undercut the HoloLens, especially in the first couple of generations - it’s just not how they operate.
 
scotty321 said:
Now this is a much more likely project for Apple to be secretly working on than a laughable & not-gonna-happen car project.

However, considering that there is almost zero demand and almost zero desire and almost zero use for a VR headset, I wonder what Apple’s angle is going to be for trying to push these onto consumers??
Click to expand...
Poeple want the experience just not in its current form factor. Thats 100% of the challenge… vr today has gotten very good but its still clunky and limited by battery and cables and processing power. Lack of adoption also has lack of software development which also needs to be made easier.
 
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