Just how powerful will Apple’s upcoming VR/AR headset be? Once upon a time, reports suggested it would need a connected iPhone or Mac to function, but the latest report suggests that if it does, then it’s out of sheer bloody minded devotion to the Apple ecosystem rather than it being underpowered.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, the first Apple headset will deliver AR and VR experiences via the M2 chip that recently debuted with the new MacBook Air, backed by 16GB RAM.
That’s a lot of power. For comparison’s sake, Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 platform with 6GB RAM. Given that retails for NZ$699, it would be sensible to bet on Apple’s first headset being eye wateringly expensive — as if anybody ever went broke betting that an Apple product would be on the pricey side.
When will it become official, so we can stop calling it the Apple AR Headset? Well, because it doesn’t officially exist, we can’t say for sure, but evidence is mounting that it won’t be far away.
Last month it looked like Apple had sneakily acquired the RealityOS trademark, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reckons we could see it as early as January 2023. Although, given he also calls it “the most complicated product Apple has ever designed,” it wouldn’t be too surprising if that proved to be on the optimistic side.
You only have to take a cursory glance at the weird and wonderful stuff Apple has patented over the last couple of years to know that something is afoot, though. And just last week Tim Cook was telling China Daily that he “could not be more excited about the opportunities” which augmented and virtual reality provide.
“Stay tuned and you will see what we have to offer,” he added. Hopefully we only have to ‘stay tuned’ for another seven months.