Apple’s VR-is the giant conquering the virtual reality industry?

More recently, we wrote about the impact of Big Tech on the VR market. Today, I can supplement this information with news related to Apple’s interest in the virtual reality industry. 

As of today, it is not known that the Cupertino-based company is interested in XR and AR technologies, so it is not surprising that they want to push this interactive vision further. We’ve been hearing rumors about Apple VR prototypes for some time, so the very information about the planned release shouldn’t surprise anyone. However, the functions of these glasses, as well as their capabilities, are still a mystery to many. What can we expect from the new product of this market giant?

VR Exclusives from Apple

To begin with, the first teaser announcing Apple’s work on VRequipment was the acquisition of a startup working under the name NextVR. In particular, one of their applications that allows you to m.in stream sports events with virtual reality glasses. The first appearance of the capabilities of this application appeared on the Oculus platform-probably, Apple quickly saw this as a big money opportunity. Not surprising. After all, because of the coronavirus pandemic the opportunity to participate in live sporting events has become even more desirable. Thanks to this solution, 360 cameras (which can record 360 videos)installed in the stands made it possible to watch the event live. By making a single seat in the stadium accessible to many people, hundreds or even thousands of tickets could be sold, allowing the audience to watch a particular spectacle.

It seems to me that this will be one of the exclusive features of the future product of the famous apple. I admit that the idea itself is brilliant and would sell well even without any restrictions related to the pandemic. Difficulties related to travel expenses, staying in a given city, or border or language barriers… thanks to this solution, they completely lose their meaning.

The new glasses should also be compatible with platforms such as Apple Arcade and Apple TV+. We can also expect the next steps to configure current devices with future software of the new product category-as is the case with the augmented reality code portion added in the iOS 14 update.;

Thanks to this compatibility with already available app libraries, Apple will be able to retain the rights to specific names, and some of them (watching the manufacturer’s momentum) may become particularly popular with consumers.

What can we expect from Apple in the VR context?

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed the secrecy surrounding the new glasses. The new VR hardware will also include AR integration. This can be confirmed by the latest release of ARKit. An update to the AR App Developer tool was recently released Recently, IOS has gained a lot of popularity. This is particularly evidenced by the growing number of AR apps appearing in the AppStore. With the ever-growing AR app base, you can count on the next generation of hardware to have its own store-as is the case with macOS, iPadOS, iOS, or AppleWatchOS. I deeply hope that this hype for augmented reality will make Apple lean toward new solutions for eye-tracking technology as well.

Apple’s current problem when it comes to VR is that the glasses don’t sync with the manufacturer’s other devices. This is a big drawback. At the moment, Macintoshes are not designed to connect these types of devices, and solutions to these problems are mostly distributed by third-party companies. 

You definitely see shortcomings in this area on the part of Apple. However, this should be changed, because Apple’s first VR glasses should work together with other headsets that have macOS. After that, we can conclude that the glasses will not be completely autonomous, but work is underway to make them more mobile – for example, thanks to the ability to alternatively connect them via IOS – using the iPhone.

But let’s go back to 2018, when CNET released the first rumors about the display quality of its new glasses. Then we talked about the 8k display, for a separate eye. I admit that a display of this quality, for AR and VR applications, seems like an interesting prediction, and also the most likely one.

The introduction of new quality hardware and special software designed exclusively for a specific platform, combined with ensuring compatibility, seems to indicate a huge commitment from the developer.

When can we expect official announcements of Apple’s new VR headsets and launch?

In January 2021, Taiwan’s electronics and technology magazine DigiTimes published an article confirming that Apple is entering the second phase of new product development. Therefore, we can expect to see the first official announcements in the near future.

From Kuo’s messages, it can be concluded that the premiere will not take place until the end of 2022. It’s still quite a long time coming, but one piece of news about it should cause a boil among the rest of the VR hardware developers. Especially considering the rumors about the possibilities of new Apple hardware. On the other hand, the product offered by Apple is more likely to be an exclusive product, so it won’t hit competitors in the same way as hardware with a similar price point. The price of the new Apple product is expected to be around $ 3,000. On the one hand, you could expect a high price from a product coming out of this brand, on the other hand, the new glasses may turn out to be really good, and the price may be commensurate with the offer offered by Apple. Of course, you may also find that the price won’t be as high, but at the moment, speculation is pointing to that. Will this product really cost that much money? Will the $ 3,000 price tag become an official price tag? We will find out about this only in 2022.

Maciej Fiałkowski, EpicVR