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Trademark Filings Suggest Apple Possibly Gearing Up for AR/VR Headset Launch
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Totally agree.
AR/VR sees nowhere near the same mainstream use as activities like listening to music or making phone calls. Thus, I do not at all believe Apple’s HUD will see the same adoption rates as iPod or iPhone. ESPECIALLY not at $3k.
That said, I’ve dabbled a little bit in the Oculus space. And even then, the potential there is undeniable. I completely see a scenario where Apple could dip a toe in that world and open it up to a much larger audience than is currently present (yes, even at the $3k price point). And like other Apple offerings, there will eventually come cheaper, more entry-level options of their HUD, capturing even AR/VR-curious dollar possible. And that’s when more mainstream engagement that segment will likely accelerate. But v1 is specifically targeting the hard core Apple nerd with the bank account that facilitates early adoption.
I’m sorry but the iPhone costed 4 times what any decent phone would have costed. Nobody cared though because the device was revolutionary, there was nothing like it in the market. That’s what people expect of this device, to leapfrog the competition and revolutionize the market. Of course if it’s anything like the Apple Watch (overpriced with no advantages over the competition) then this will be a failure.
One thing I will give you though is that the iPhone was revolutionizing an stablished mainstream market while this device is actually going to start it.
The Apple Watch Series 7 is the best selling smartwatch. that's pretty good for a failure.
Sure, there are some people that are comfortable with that and there are others that look for excellence.
The OG iPhone pricing was in line with what cell phones cost if you didn't get them subsidized by a carrier (some argued that it was actually cheaper than outright buying some devices). The 100/200 (I think it was a while ago) price drop that happened a month or two after it came out wasn't great feeling either. Clearly it wasn't enough because they decided to participate in the subsidized phone model for the 3G.
i think the render is updated. same crappy design without even consideration for a nose (maybe our faces are wrong), but it looks shinier and crisp.
My favorite quote from that thread: "The Reality Distiortion Field is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off." 😌
"But v1 is specifically targeting the hard core Apple nerd with the bank account that facilitates early adoption."
I believe it will be more commercial/business markets and individuals. The market is ripe for a well-executed AR system. There are so many real-world applications where that can be used - in both commercial and individual spaces. Just takes a bit of imagination to realize where that can go.
For sure Apple will have a full sweet of apps available on launch day for both markets.
"ESPECIALLY not at $3k."
I wouldn't put too much stock in that rumor.
The VR market is very different from the headphones market. There are already a ton of headphones offerings at every price point, and limited potential for audio quality improvements that consumers will care about. The model of Sony headphones I use have been manufactured for almost 40 years now. The wireless headphones market is smaller, but few people care about the audio quality difference between a $200 and $400 set. A VR device is a whole new computer platform with tons of room for improvement, not just a single-purpose device in a mature market.
30 years ago, we couldn’t even render simple polygonal 3D scenes in real-time at a decent frame rate.
The iPod wasn’t a hit at its original price.
All VR will have AR features in the near future… it will scan your environment and you will be able to choose to view your real environment within the VR environment.
I don’t think AR with transparent lenses and a form factor that you could wear anywhere will happen any time in the near future, though.
Yeah, I’d like to see a render with a CG head wearing this concept. The geometry doesn’t see to fit with any face.
That just requires less than 5ms of latency. Apple GPUs are pretty good at low latency rendering.
There is room at the high end that nobody else is targeting. It will be popular with creators making VR or 3D content, enterprise applications / visualizations, and gamers with money to burn. It will be interesting to see if Apple came up with other applications for launch. This is certainly a long term play. The Reality Pro with a consumer model coming later. If you’re not an enthusiast, that product is still years away.
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Both ideally. Your eye refreshes every 5ms, so maximum frame rate is every 5ms that is behind reality no more then 5ms. 90 fps with no more then 5 ms lag and rendering with time-warp should be fine. Modern headsets already do a good job with this, I’d expect Apple’s headset will do better with the strength of their silicon. Eye tracking also helps to make sure IPD is correct.
Yeah but most people don’t spend 3k on a TV - you can get 4k 65” TVs for less than 1k and OLED TVs for not much more than 1k
And Apple aren’t in the niche market - if they bring a product out they want to sell volume. They couldn’t even get us to part with $350 for a HomePod (an amazing product) so they killed it.
If we all had $3,000 to buy A/VR headsets, HoloLens would be selling like hot cakes.
Nobody else targeting? HoloLens has been out since 2016 (V2 2019) and are popular in the enterprise space. And A/VR creators are dependent on A/VR consumers - if it is a long play at $3k it will be a very long play
They need a reasonably priced consumer unit at launch to interest developers to invest, so that Apple can make their 30% cut on all the content.
Low field-of-view with only additive light just doesn’t have much use in that form factor, even if it were as cheap as an Oculus Quest.
I’ve used my VR headset for gaming, watching movies in a virtual theater, fitness, 3D sculpting, socializing/chatting, and attending a standup comedy show. HoloLens wouldn’t be better for any of those than current under $1000 VR devices. Maybe for sculpting it could be interesting because I could use the real world as a reference, but even there, Apple’s headset and the Quest Pro will have enhanced video passthrough features that let you see a live view of the real world within your virtual environment.
100% agree. This is not going to be a consumer device initially. $3k is fine for business.