What to Expect From Apple in 2023: AR/VR Headset, iPhone 15 Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and More

[ponzicoinbro]

If the virtual screens are "retina", where is the eye strain?

LMAO.

Focus on virtual screen, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus.

And how do you type? On virtual keyboard? Is the software keyboard on your desk? Or is it in the air? Who the hell is going to tolerate how clumsy that is? We are touch typists and feel where keys are. We need physical keyboards and sometimes we need to look down at them.

No wonder existing VR users are fed up after a very short time.

Science fiction and reality aren't the same.

 

[JamesHolden]

Hmmmm ooooookay where does this exist in the year 2022-23 or are you watching The Matrix again?

It's just really astonishing how divorced VR fans and crypto fans are from reality. When they are asked to describe use cases and problem solving, all their answers come out of science fiction and don't reflect the real world at all.

I wouldn’t lump VR fans in with crypto fans. Crypto is an outright scam with absolutely no value to society whatsoever. It solves no problems and has a devastating environmental cost. Crypto fans are straight up delusional.

While I don’t see the appeal of most VR use cases being trotted out in this thread, there are some legit use cases. I don’t think any of them rise to the level of mass market product acceptance, but there are some niche markets that have and will continue to benefit from VR/AR.

 

[Lioness~]

I am looking forward to a 2023 when I don’t buy anything Apple at all. Nothing, nada, Zero!
I see nothing at all that would be tempting even.
We’ll see at the end of 2023, if they got me to buy something.
Hopefully not even a small cord. I had my cups filled of Apple stuff 2022. Great Apple year for me!
2023 I have my focus on other things.

Happy new year all 🎉🦄🌟

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I wouldn’t lump VR fans in with crypto fans. Crypto is an outright scam with absolutely no value to society whatsoever. It solves no problems and has a devastating environmental cost. Crypto fans are straight up delusional.

There is some cross over if you look closely. They want VR and the "metaverse" to be a way to onboard and recruit people into Ponzi schemes and ponzi games. Facebook famously tried to introduce their own crypto coin and every government said 'Oh no you're not going to do that, we know how dangerous that would be if you tried to do that.'

 

[JamesHolden]

There is some cross over if you look closely. They want VR and the "metaverse" to be a way to onboard and recruit people into Ponzi schemes and ponzi games. Facebook famously tried to introduce their own crypto coin and every government said 'Oh no you're not going to do that, we know how dangerous that would be if you tried to do that.'

No doubt there’s cross-over. But that doesn’t mean VR has no merits. Crypto had no merits. It’s a scam. It’s a Ponzi scheme. It’s environmentally devastating. Technology should solve a problem. Crypto solves no problems. VR, on the other hand, has some merit. There are use cases for VR and AR. They tend to be niche markets and very specialized, but they are legit. Crypto is anything but legit.

 

[JamesHolden]

I am looking forward to a 2023 when I don’t buy anything Apple at all. Nothing, nada, Zero!
I see nothing at all that would be tempting even.
We’ll see at the end of 2023, if they got me to buy something.
Hopefully not even a small cord. I had my cups filled of Apple stuff 2022. Great Apple year for me!
2023 I have my focus on other things.

Happy new year all 🎉🦄🌟

I feel the same. I’m loving my M1 MacBook. I see no reason to upgrade my iPhone 11 Pro. A $69 battery replacement was all I needed. Zero interest in a relaunch of the half-baked HomePod. Zero interest in an obscenely overpriced VR headset. I think my first generation 12” iPad Pro will hang in there for another yeah. Yeah, I see nothing I want to buy from Apple this coming year either!

 

[ponzicoinbro]

No doubt there’s cross-over. But that doesn’t mean VR has no merits. Crypto had no merits. It’s a scam. It’s a Ponzi scheme. It’s environmentally devastating. Technology should solve a problem. Crypto solves no problems. VR, on the other hand, has some merit. There are use cases for VR and AR. They tend to be niche markets and very specialized, but they are legit. Crypto is anything but legit.

Certainly. That's how this crypto stuff started. It is only for various forms of cyber criminals, scammers, off shore money laundering, raising dark money for political reasons and bribery. They try to shoehorn it into our lives by saying 'Here is a legal use case' but in every example you can do those things with Apple Pay or a debit card.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

LMAO.

Focus on virtual screen, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus, take off/disable virtual screen to drink coffee, enable virtual screen and refocus.

And how do you type? On virtual keyboard? Is the software keyboard on your desk? Or is it in the air? Who the hell is going to tolerate how clumsy that is? We are touch typists and feel where keys are. We need physical keyboards and sometimes we need to look down at them.

No wonder existing VR users are fed up after a very short time.

Science fiction and reality aren't the same.

I appreciate you are as resistant to anything positive about this concept and replying is practically a waste of time. But I'll answer anyway for others who may be interested in what is possible as opposed to only anything & everything negative that can be spun about this likely new product from Apple.

There are plenty of people who pop on headphones or simple noise mufflers in offices I frequent. So wearing something on people's heads to muffle or replace sound is nothing new at all. I've seen it for at least a decade+ in the variety of offices in which I work. When such people take a break or someone comes knocking to chat, they take them off and take the break/chat/meeting. Then they slip them back on again and continue with their work. It's easy. And they do it because it is apparently preferred to nothing on their head at all. It's no big job, nor time-consuming, etc... anymore than slipping on/off headphones, a hat or even reading glasses. On when they want. Off they don't want.

If me and if it works as I've imagined it, I would envision NOT taking a laptop, phone or tablet on all my travels. Instead, I've got goggles to cover all of those device's screens and speakers. I also take a bluetooth keyboard and track pad for a true tactile feel for input devices. Bag has goggles + real keyboard + trackpad or mouse.

I anticipate no clumsiness at all. The input devices are all REAL. The screen is virtual but I never touch the screen now. When I text, I generally text on a Mac, using a keyboard. When I take and make calls, I'm usually wearing buds and do my listening and talking through something on/in my ears.

When I need to look down at my keyboard, I look down at it. The rumor is this thing has cameras and AR too. If so, it shows the keyboard that is there and my own hands on it overlaid on the fake desktop it is presenting to me. Is that sci-fi delusion? Turn on video on your iPhone, prop it up in front of your keyboard and it will show you live video of your own hands on your keyboard on the screen. It's been able to do that since the first iPhones. Why can't a camera on this thing do the same?

I see many people out and about using their phone with buds so the screen can be out in front of them. I see many people using a tablet as a screen with a separate keyboard. This seems as obvious next step to those kinds of things as anything else. I fully agree with you that not everyone will go this way... but not everyone goes any way. Everyone does not even have the insanely popular iPhone. Not even close. This can scratch some itches for those who want to compute, game and whatever else in this way. Maybe that's a LOT of people or not a lot of people. We'll see. We don't even really know what Apple will roll out yet.

And I don't see a lick of sci fi here. Pieces and parts of what would make most of this work is already built into Apple devices and accessories we're already using. Put them together in a different way and it seems we end up with most of this product.

 

[JamesHolden]

Certainly. That's how this crypto stuff started. It is only for various forms of cyber criminals, scammers, off shore money laundering, raising dark money for political reasons and bribery. They try to shoehorn it into our lives by saying 'Here is a legal use case' but in every example you can do those things with Apple Pay or a debit card.

Agreed. The only person I know who actually uses crypto to pay for something buys ketamine on the dark web! 😵‍💫😂. It’s great for illegal stuff.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I appreciate you are as resistant to anything positive about this concept..........

If you have to paint someone has unimaginative or resistant to "anything positive" and then post gigantic paragraphs of word salad and science fiction, you should become a science fiction writer instead of wasting time trying to convince people they should live in virtual reality.

Happy New Year and I look forward to your first science fiction novel.

 

[Naraxus]

It's gonna replace our desktops.

No it won't

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Can someone explain to me how a VAR/AR headset is actually gonna sell?

Because I can't think of a single use for it other than gaming.

Folks who can't think of a single use for it other than gaming simply lack imagination. I can think of lots of uses of AR, from building design/retrofit to industrial processes to construction and more.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Yeah, that's what I am trying to say.

Me and 80% of humanity have no use for it

And it will flop

You and 80% of humanity leaves 1.6 billion humans, quite a large market.

 

[nwcs]

AR - adding ads to the real world anywhere you look. VR - replacing the real world with a simulated real world with ads everywhere you can look. Especially valuable ads given eye tracking and attention measurements. A whole new amazing revenue source waiting to be exploited from those who take part...

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If you have to paint someone has unimaginative or resistant to "anything positive" and then post gigantic paragraphs of word salad and science fiction, you should become a science fiction writer instead of wasting time trying to convince people they should live in virtual reality.

Happy New Year and I look forward to your first science fiction novel.

Have you said ANYTHING positive about the potential of the product 6+ years in development by Apple? I have not read one thing but perhaps I missed it somewhere. Please point me to the post number.

Instead, you seem to be taking anger toward Facebook, Meta, etc out on the concept of a new Apple product completely removed from all of that.

And again, where is the science fiction in that example?

We'll see sooner or later when Apple rolls these out. Perhaps it will be Oculus + that only plays a few brick-splitting games purchased exclusively with Crypto. This is Apple though- not Meta/FB/Zuckerberg. I look forward to seeing whatever it is and hope it won't be only Oculus + with an Apple logo.

 

[SnappleRumors]

This will be the first new product category Apple has gotten into since the 2015 launch of the Apple Watch, and it will be Apple's second wearable.

The AR/VR headset would be Apple’s second wearable? Is that correct? Aren’t the Watch, Airpods, and AirPods Max wearables?

 

[JamesHolden]

Folks who can't think of a single use for it other than gaming simply lack imagination. I can think of lots of uses of AR, from building design/retrofit to industrial processes to construction and more.

Niche markets that will require custom apps. Microsoft is years ahead of Apple with HoloLens in those kinds of markets. Apple is a consumer electronics company that aims to sell millions of whatever product it releases with apps that can be monetized on the App Store. Niche markets won’t cut it. I agree that VR and AR have a lot of niche market use cases. But what’s the use case for millions of consumers to drop several grand on a VR headset. I don’t see that happening, ever.

 

[macfacts]

I have a feeling we will have AR/VR hardware to support the headset 100%. But when it comes to the software and content creators it’s going to lack big time. It will definitely be available with limitations and that alone does not make it compelling to pay $3000 for a product.

4 year life cycle sounds reasonable, that's monthly payments of about 60/month.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

You and 80% of humanity leaves 1.6 billion humans, quite a large market.

Might be a surprise to learn this, but a big chunk of humanity doesn't use a computer. Some perspective for you.

There's only around 200 million Mac users in the world. Tim Cook says over 100 million but I think he is only counting systems after 2010. Lots of old systems are still in use.

Windows has about 2 billion users. This operating system has been around for about the same time.

These are actual working useful comfortable desktop environments. They are irreplaceable.

So if anyone thinks uncomfortable awkward VR is going to become a desktop environment with these numbers they are deluding themselves.

Oculus has sold about 10-15 million headsets and nearly all of them have fallen out of use, ended up on second hand markets, sitting in a closet collecting dust, and sales numbers fell a lot this year.

If gamers got tired of this then let's not imagine science fiction visions of computing. It's really delusional and unrealistic. People who believe these things have been drinking Zuckerberg Kool Aid and they don't appear to understand good interface design or software engineering for a variety of professional users.

You sometimes hear them say 'But what about architecture and engineering??'.

The answer comes from architects and engineers, not from science fiction fans. Architects and engineers at most would use VR for a few minutes of walkthrough or visualization. The actual design stuff is done on a normal desktop computer.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

What would really impress me in the future is if Apple can make teleportation via your phone. You say where you want to go and the phone will beam you there, kinda like Star Trek. Of course it would kill the Apple Car and I don't expect it for like 20 years, but we need Teleportation technology, especially if we are worried about what we are doing to the planet.

 

[PilotWoo]

So one new product and a bunch of updates.

 

[richinaus]

Might be a surprise to learn this, but a big chunk of humanity doesn't use a computer. Some perspective for you.

There's only around 200 million Mac users in the world. Tim Cook says over 100 million but I think he is only counting systems after 2010. Lots of old systems are still in use.

Windows has about 2 billion users. This operating system has been around for about the same time.

These are actual working useful comfortable desktop environments. They are irreplaceable.

So if anyone thinks uncomfortable awkward VR is going to become a desktop environment with these numbers they are deluding themselves.

Oculus has sold about 10-15 million headsets and nearly all of them have fallen out of use, ended up on second hand markets, sitting in a closet collecting dust, and sales numbers fell a lot this year.

If gamers got tired of this then let's not imagine science fiction visions of computing. It's really delusional and unrealistic. People who believe these things have been drinking Zuckerberg Kool Aid and they don't appear to understand good interface design or software engineering for a variety of professional users.

You sometimes hear them say 'But what about architecture and engineering??'.

The answer comes from architects and engineers, not from science fiction fans. Architects and engineers at most would use VR for a few minutes of walkthrough or visualization. The actual design stuff is done on a normal desktop computer.

I think you missed the word 'now' at the end of your last sentence.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I think you missed the word 'now' at the end of your last sentence.

No I didn't.

Unlike science fiction fantasists, I have done design for years and studied architecture when I was younger. Even if I hadn't these things should be very obvious...

An engineer uses keyboards, plotting devices, Wacom tablets. None of these can be effectively virtualized without becoming cumbersome and annoying. Engineers, architects, designers, etc drink a lot of coffee, they eat snacks at their desks. They aren't going to do this with their eyesight blocked with headsets. It's just silly friction. A waste of time, energy and money.

None of these VR things solve a problem for them except when they want to do a walkthrough after a draft is completed or to show a client. VR walkthroughs already existed in the 90s in more low res forms.

 

[Jensend]

I can't imagine strapping some VR headset to my face for several hours to watch a movie. That doesn't sound enjoyable at all. I don't see this as a selling point for most people.

I do that about once a year with online friends. It’s fun, but the headset becomes uncomfortable. But if a future headset can be as comfortable as a nice pair of headphones, I think it will be a great use case for VR.

I am not watching a movie on it, I spent close to a grand for a large TV.

And then it begs the question of Accessibility....will Apple design it so that BLIND people can use it? Really? VR/AR for the Blind? Virtually simulate something they can't see?

Uh, you could ask the same question about your big TV.
For any complaint you can make about accessibility with VR, I think it has potential upsides as well. For people who aren’t completely blind, but have impaired vision, you could simulate a huge curved wraparound screen.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I do that about once a year with online friends. It’s fun, but the headset becomes uncomfortable. But if a future headset can be as comfortable as a nice pair of headphones, I think it will be a great use case for VR.



Uh, you could ask the same question about your big TV.
For any complaint you can make about accessibility with VR, I think it has potential upsides as well. For people who aren’t completely blind, but have impaired vision, you could simulate a huge curved wraparound screen.

I don't know why the person you replied to thinks blind people could use VR. They are blind. They cannot see a display far away or one stuck on their face.

If you have impaired vision you have to wear prescription glasses.

If you are using VR for too long the eye fatigue is worsened as there is usually more eye movement involved than when using a monitor directly in front of you. Eyes are controlled by muscles and muscles grow tired with overuse. As much as possible stare ahead when you work and ensure your display size isn't too large.

Otherwise the glasses you will be wearing when you are very old will be very very thick.