My predication based on nothing but speculation and a familiarity with the leaks in this space is. It’s unremarkable and fairly obvious stuff, but oh well.
Apple will release 2 AR/VR products at 2023 WWDC
“Reality One” or “Reality Pro” headset. An AR/VR headset that will be quite nifty since it will be similar to Varjo XR-3 on passthrough video quality. The AR capabilities will be on par with what is already available on iPhone phones and iPads, except they will be consumed in an immersive HMD. Virtual reality spaces and games will be decent, but limited because of the relatively timid GPU capability onboard the headset.
“Reality Processor” An optional base station that connects to the aforementioned Reality headset wirelessly and provides a breathtaking graphical upgrade. Photorealistic avatars and VR spaces etc.. This will pitched to businesses and deep-pocketed power-users and maybe (indirectly) serious VR gamers.
In the unlikely event you are interested in how I came to this revelation, I’ve pasted some unedited and poorly worded ramblings below:
Most recent predictions of the forthcoming Apple headset depict it as a stand-alone AR/VR device, looking like a pair of high-fashion Ski-googles, weighing about 400 grams, with a pocket sized external battery pack connected via a wire.
Last week it was reported that someone who has tried the headset and was lukewarm on earlier iterations, now believes it to be “breathtaking.” The veracity of that single leak aside, it is difficult to image Apple releasing an HMD without superior visual performance. But it is also difficult to square “breathtaking” visuals with the technology that can be included in a sleek, lightweight, self-contained headset in 2023. With that in mind I believe Apple will release 2 products when it announces the product category in June. A impressive, but limited device, “Reality Pro or Reality One” headset, that can also connect to an optional wireless base station to enable massive graphical capabilities, “Reality Processor.” To speculate further, perhaps each unit will sell for around $1500 to aline to often repeated $3000 pice point.
Roughly speaking, Apple is aiming to have in its forthcoming headset commensurate with mixed reality capabilities present in existing headset, the Varjo XR-3.
Apple will release 2 AR/VR products at 2023 WWDC
“Reality One” or “Reality Pro” headset. An AR/VR headset that will be quite nifty since it will be similar to Varjo XR-3 on passthrough video quality. The AR capabilities will be on par with what is already available on iPhone phones and iPads, except they will be consumed in an immersive HMD. Virtual reality spaces and games will be decent, but limited because of the relatively timid GPU capability onboard the headset.
“Reality Processor” An optional base station that connects to the aforementioned Reality headset wirelessly and provides a breathtaking graphical upgrade. Photorealistic avatars and VR spaces etc.. This will pitched to businesses and deep-pocketed power-users and maybe (indirectly) serious VR gamers.
In the unlikely event you are interested in how I came to this revelation, I’ve pasted some unedited and poorly worded ramblings below:
Most recent predictions of the forthcoming Apple headset depict it as a stand-alone AR/VR device, looking like a pair of high-fashion Ski-googles, weighing about 400 grams, with a pocket sized external battery pack connected via a wire.
Last week it was reported that someone who has tried the headset and was lukewarm on earlier iterations, now believes it to be “breathtaking.” The veracity of that single leak aside, it is difficult to image Apple releasing an HMD without superior visual performance. But it is also difficult to square “breathtaking” visuals with the technology that can be included in a sleek, lightweight, self-contained headset in 2023. With that in mind I believe Apple will release 2 products when it announces the product category in June. A impressive, but limited device, “Reality Pro or Reality One” headset, that can also connect to an optional wireless base station to enable massive graphical capabilities, “Reality Processor.” To speculate further, perhaps each unit will sell for around $1500 to aline to often repeated $3000 pice point.
Roughly speaking, Apple is aiming to have in its forthcoming headset commensurate with mixed reality capabilities present in existing headset, the Varjo XR-3.
- The XR3, a somewhat bulky and quite expensive business-oriented headset that is almost universally acclaimed to be best in class for both mixed and virtual reality graphics. (4k passthrough, etc)
- Varjo is a small boutique-ish business with a somewhat niche product. Given time and resources, Apple’s engineering prowess and supply chain acumen could likely create a sleeker, and perhaps somewhat cheaper HMD on par with the XR-3’s visuals experience. (With Apple’s requisite panache and full ecosystem encapsulation.)
- According to SadlyItsBradley, Apple was purportedly purchasing large number of Varjo headsets over the last several years and suddenly stopped about 18 months ago.
- This 18 month timeline roughly corresponds to leaks from the information that indicated Apple required that engineers working on the headset must begin using apple prototypes for all future development work. (Note: The information did not indicate what 3rd party headsets were being used; HTC is often mentioned stories as well.
- The widely rumored Sony Micro Oled panels would have similar capability to the XR-3’s display especially with rumored foveated rendering capabilities.
- If we remain in the mindset that the Apple headset is roughly vying for Varjo XR3 level visuals, keep in mind that XR-3 offloads much of it’s overlay/VR processing to a PC or a proprietary cloud service.
- The Apple headset must transform data from two hi-res front facing cameras to remedy visual perception errors on the display. This is a requirement for all passthrough mixed reality headsets.
- Leaks point to a numerous SOCs and other dedicated chipsets that process multitude of passthrough cameras, camera sensors, front-facing ,low-refresh display, and lidar (Space mapping, eye-tracking, body tracking etc.)
- Considering apple’s engineering talent and capabilities in existing iPhones and iPads , it is plausible to envision something in the ballpark of a ‘graphically superior Quest 2’ with high definition AR capabilities coming in to form.
- Apple is purportedly using 3p pancakes lenses according to Ming-Chi Kuo. (FWIW meta Quest pro used 2p pancake lenses in the Quest pro)
- Since the P level refers to the amount of light absorbed, (higher more light) apple’s headset will certainly need the display to push out the nits. More nits or brightness means more heat on both the display and the lens.
- Apple has a number of patents related to cooling of HMD’s but cooling the display and lenses presents a big hurdle on its own without introducing a GPU
- Adding a GPU that can handle the purported breathtaking visuals would not seem feasible without cooling fan noise becoming a distraction to the user. Not to mention the additional power drain and keeping keeping a small form factor.
- My hunch is that apple will stick with onboard chips that for for the most part can be passively cooled. (A series and M2 is passively cooled on the Mac Air iteration, but would that be enough silicon for mind-blowing graphics?)
- Wirelessly connecting to a base station with a powerful GPU frees up these concerns when advanced graphics are desired while still leaving impressive stand-alone features powered by passively cooled silicon.
- According to the Information, Jony Ive nixed the wireless processing base station years ago. This was highly disappointing to the core HMD team since it obviously ushered in great challenges to incorporate the same level of graphics inside the HMD and nullified past work the base station.
- Ive ended his association with Apple in 2019. Perhaps a sort of compromised emerged after his departure that combined the work towards the base station with superior performance and the decision to pursue a standalone unit. Perhaps that would also comport with Apple’s longstanding position to have a Pro offering for most products?
- Also, Within The Information articles there is a reference to thinking that the Apple board did not understanding that the impressive capabilities demoed to them were not available without the wireless base station. Maybe that came back in to the fold absent Ive’s influence
- According to his past and recent tweets, Robert Scoble (who has presumably has seen an early prototype of the Apple Headset and appears acquainted with at least 1 engineer in Apple’s HMD project) predicted that Apple will release a mesh network appliance for home users that, while he does not mention a base station specifically, is integral to Apple’s HMD functioning.
- SadlyItsBradley has speculated that in addition to a wire connected battery pack, GPU processing for the Apple headset could be performed in the waist mounted unit as well, such as the Magic Leap 2. While a hip mounted GPU is a possibility, heat dissipation and size (recent Mark Gurman leaks indicate the battery is about the size of an existing Mag Safe battery) still seem to argue for wireless base station. The salient point embedded in SadlyItsBradley’s statement: Think of the HMD as a monitor and the graphics processor as separate tech that could be upgraded in the future with better capability without getting a new HMD. Seems to be a reasonably palatable concept for both seller and consumer considering such an expensive device.
