It looks like we’re getting closer to see the long-rumored AR-headset from Apple. A new report has indicated that the big tech company will announce the said device as early as the beginning of 2023. Even more interesting, the second generation is also planned to be released within the year after.
This could indicate that the report is referring the “first generation” as some form of development kit. We’ve seen this before with “next big thing” launches and major transitions such as the Development Transition Kit for the Mac’s transition to Apple Silicon. Development preview hardware is essential for developers to test out their software so that the new product could be ready to launch with a wider software support. This is important for new products so that future software updates could be further optimized to take advantage of the new hardware. That way, customers could get even excited to try the product out for the first time. After all, the report claims that the first generation will “focus on gaming and testing”, so it is probable that Apple could have many developers focus more on developing and testing games on the said product.
In terms of hardware, the headset could get an “OLEDoS” display. This display technology allows the display to be lighter and thinner. Based on previous reports, the headset could come with 15 different camera modules, and an “M-class” chip. With that said, don’t expect this device to come cheap. Expect the starting price to be around $3,000 for a device capable of virtual- or mixed-reality features.
There were rumors that Apple would preview this device during WWDC 2022, but that conference obviously came and went. However, other reports indicated that the headset is in its “advanced” stage of development with a potential release early next year.
