Report: Apple’s VR headset will be a pricey, high-end niche standalone

Any excuse to show former Ars UK reporter Seb Anthony excited about a VR headset is a good one. (credit: Sebastian Anthony)

The last time we heard any details about Apple's long-rumored plans in the virtual/augmented reality space, the company was implementing a two-year internal delay from a previously planned 2020 launch. Today, Bloomberg cites "people with knowledge of the matter" in reporting some new supposed details for the standalone Apple VR headset, which Bloomberg suggests could launch in 2022 as a precursor to a more mass-market AR headset.

From a tech design perspective, the most notable detail in the report is that Apple's latest VR prototypes have "removed the space VR gadgets usually reserve for users who need to wear eyeglasses." That could help avoid some of the "ski goggle" bulk usually associated with the "eyebox" on most current headsets. For users with poor eyesight, the prototype apparently utilizes "custom prescription lenses" in the headset itself, according to Bloomberg's unnamed sources.

Bloomberg also reports that the Apple headset prototype currently sports a fabric exterior to reduce weight (shades of Google's defunct Daydream VR there) and a fan to help cool internal processors that reportedly "beat the performance of Apple's M1 Mac processors." Some prototypes also reportedly including built-in hand-tracking and the ability to type on a virtual keyboard through a custom-built OS.

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments