Tech giant Apple is said to be working in secret on smart glasses that should offer both virtual reality and augmented reality. We list all the leaked information about the gadget.
“I’m really excited about augmented reality,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement last year interview with youtuber iJustine. “I think it’s one of those technologies where we’ll wonder how we ever lived without it.”
Since 2016, Cook has been enthusiastic about augmented reality (AR), a technology where you can show virtual objects on top of the real world. iPhones and iPads can already use this via the camera app, but smart glasses should make AR really indispensable. Then you see arrows on the street when using a navigation app, or you look at a hologram of someone with whom you are video calling.
More and more tech companies are working on such smart glasses. Facebook parent company Meta bought the Oculus company years ago, which specializes in virtual reality (VR), which is now also working on an AR headset. At the same time, Microsoft, Google and Magic Leap have AR glasses especially for the business market, which can project 3D models on a table, for example.
In recent months, more and more rumors have emerged about Apple’s own glasses. The tech giant has not announced anything officially yet, but given Cook’s enthusiasm, the arrival of this seems an open secret. It seems only a matter of time until those Apple glasses arrive.
Apple glasses work with virtual reality and augmented reality
Tech giants are currently working on two types of glasses. You have the AR headsets, which show virtual objects on top of the real world, but also virtual reality glasses that completely shut you off from the world. In this you then play a game that takes up your entire field of view.
According to insiders, Apple’s glasses will work with both VR and AR. Presumably the glasses cover your eyes, but built-in cameras can then show the real world. According to the usually well-informed analyst Ming-chi Kuo, Apple uses no fewer than fifteen built-in cameras for this.
Looks like a big Apple Watch
No images leaked from Apple’s factories yet, but tech site sources The Information think they already know what the headset will look like. It’s basically a large Apple Watch: the front is a relatively compact, curved aluminum block with two screens inside that hangs from your head with a band that resembles an Apple Watch sports band.
Pressed against your face is a cloth cushion that resembles the cushions on Apple’s AirPods Max headphones.
Powerful chip and high-resolution screens
Sources think that the Apple glasses will get a powerful chip, with which he may be able to run games and apps independently. That would make it comparable to Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 glasses, which also work without the intervention of a smartphone. Perhaps Apple designs that chip itself: the company now does that with all its products.
The screens will have a high resolution, but it is unclear how high it will be exactly. At the moment, the highest resolution of virtual reality glasses is more than 2000 by 2000 pixels per eye.
Can cost up to $2000
The Apple glasses will not be a cheap gadget: the tech giant would not count on a hit like with the iPhone, but wants to make a more expensive niche product to invest in the future of VR and AR.
Analyst Ming-chi Kuo is counting on a price tag of around a thousand dollars, which in the Netherlands can come down to around a thousand euros. That is considerably more expensive than current market leader Meta, which sells its Quest 2 headset for 350 euros.
The price could be even higher: according to Bloomberg glasses are being tested that can be in the shops for even 2000 euros. It remains to be seen what exactly Apple will ultimately opt for.
Hopefully out in 2022, but maybe later
Apple is aiming to unveil its headset in 2022. It would be shown for the first time during the company’s major developer conference in June, so that app makers can already make their software for the gadget. It would then be sold a little later in the year.
Bloomberg noticed, however, that Apple may not meet this date. The unveiling could be delayed to late 2022 or even later, with sales starting in 2023 at the earliest.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
#Apple #Glasses #coming #Apples #smart #glasses