Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has published a detailed report detailing Apple’s VR/AR headsets. Let’s start with the name – it’s called the Apple Reality Pro, was announced at WWDC, and could hit the US later this year for $3,000.
With Reality Pro, Apple aims to culminate the work of a seven-year project and a technical development group of over 1,000 people. The project is Apple’s first new category since launching the Apple Watch in 2015, and the company is betting big financially on its success.
Reality Pro is made of aluminum, glass and cushions. Gurman calls Apple’s AirPods Max reminiscent. It has a curved screen on the front that reveals the wearer’s eyes. It has speakers on the sides and a headband to secure it to the user’s head. The Reality Pro uses a modified version of Apple’s M2 processor, uses a battery pack that connects to the headset via a cable, and is reportedly carried in the wearer’s pocket. The battery is the size of two stacked iPhone 14 Pro Max batteries and lasts up to two hours.
This headset differs from its competitors (like Meta’s Quest Pro) in a few key ways. Face and gaze tracking, a combination of VR (internal virtual environment) and AR (augmented reality world), own interface like iPhone or iPad, and act as a video consumption device (for watching movies or Mac as an external screen).
Reality Pro has multiple external cameras for tracking the user’s hands and internal sensors for tracking the user’s eyes. This means that the headset will recognize where the user is looking and allow him to interact with his iPhone-like 3D interface (internally called xrOS) by pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. increase. That means Apple’s Reality Pro doesn’t require you to use a physical hand controller like other headsets.
Reality Pro has a digital crown like the Apple Watch that lets you switch between VR and AR. When switching from VR to AR, Gurman said the fully floated environment fades back and becomes surrounded by the user’s real-world surroundings. Gurman reports that Apple expects this to be the highlight of Reality Pro.
FaceTime is next. Reality Pro can realistically render a person’s face and full body in a virtual environment. That way, he can have a conversation between the two in VR that feels more realistic than Meta’s cartoon representation. But with so much processing power, Reality Pro shows everyone as a Memoji when two or more people FaceTime him.
Users can use Reality Pro as an external monitor for their Mac. In this mode, the user can see the display in virtual reality, but still use the computer’s touchpad or mouse and physical keyboard.
Reality Pro can simulate watching a movie on a giant theater screen in fully simulated environments such as space and deserts. However, Reality Pro requires you to wear AirPods to get Spatial Audio.
Apple is said to be preparing an in-store environment for users to try Reality Pro at the Apple Store. Gurman said Apple is taking a long-term approach to Reality Pro, so he doesn’t expect to profit from the first-generation product.
Source (paywall)
