We’ve been waiting for the glasses, Apple’s mixed reality headset, for a long time. Those in Cupertino haven’t even officially announced the device, but there have been plenty of rumors about it floating around the net for a good handful of months now. While analysts had claimed that the product would be introduced in early 2023 (March-April), a recent report suggests that Apple has decided to postpone its announcement until WWDC 2023 in June.
Although Apple has been working on its new headphones for years, the company has had to face last minute technical problems with the new product. It’s only natural, after all, this is the first time that Apple has built a device specifically for AR/VR.
And not only that, rumors suggest that the hardware will be quite advanced and complex compared to the rest of the virtual reality glasses that exist in the current market. Apple headphones should have dual 4K micro-LED displays, high-resolution cameras, advanced sensors for motion and gesture detection, and the M2 chip. Without a doubt, putting all this into a “portable” accessory (although I wouldn’t know if I should include it in this category) isn’t easy, and of course, it won’t be cheap either.
According to the latest reports, Apple’s AR/VR headset will cost around $3,000 or Euros. To convince people to buy a product (even though it looks like early versions will come more developer-focused than consumer-focused) so expensive, Apple has also developed exclusive features. For example, users will be able to chat with others in a virtual universe via FaceTime. The device would also work as an external display for the Mac in much the same way we’ve seen in some video renders on the net.
But all that glitters is not gold the latest rumors suggest that the prototypes of these Apple Realities are still far from offering a good user experience. For the device not to be so heavy, Apple would have chosen to use two external batteries the size of an iPhone each. However, the glasses should not work for more than two hours unplugged. Some sources close to the project also said they weren’t exactly comfortable to wear.
However, it seems that the dates are closing and that, finally, we’ll unveil the final product in a One More Thing at WWDC in June 2023. Wait, the curves are coming.
