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For years there have been rumours that Apple is developing a VR headset. Now the evidence is mounting up indicating that Apple is indeed gearing up to launch a VR headset - and it could arrive as soon as 2022.
There have been a range of VR-related hires, patents filed, acquisitions, and leaks from inside sources that suggest something is in the works at Apple. In this article we discuss all the latest Apple VR headset news, release date rumours and other info.
Alongside the VR headset that we are discussing in this article, there are also rumours that Apple is also working on an AR headset - possibly called Apple Glass. While we are looking at these two Apple projects separately, it seems that the first Apple headset to launch may well combine both AR and VR features in what could be referred to as a mixed reality headset.
If you're a VR fan, you might also be interested in taking a look at our roundup of the best VR apps and games for iPhone.
What is Apple's headset?
It seems that there is actually more than one type of headset in the works at Apple.
Apple is thought to be developing multiple products that will offer a combination of AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality).
The first such product to launch is expected to be a helmet-style mixed-reality headset, which will combine AR and VR features. This headset could launch in 2022, according to various reports.
Then Apple intends to launch smart glasses with AR features in 2025. By 2030 Apple hopes to be able to make AR contact lens, according to analyst Ming Chi Kuo
VR headsets are mounted on the head in a similar way to ski goggles, and completely block your view of the outside world. The VR headset tracks your head movement, and the 3D images displayed inside the headset move accordingly. This makes it appear as if you're wholly inside a 3D 'virtual' world.
AR, on the other hand, is where the glasses are see-through and you can still see the world around you, but an image is displayed in front of your eyes.
Apple VR headset release date
Rumours of an AR and VR headset from Apple have been circulating for a long time, but we may not have long to wait until the final product goes on sale.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicated in March 2021 that the Apple mixed reality headset, combining both AR and VR, could appear in 2022.
And a January 2021 report from Bloomberg (which also provides considerable detail about the project we will discuss later in this article) indicates that the headset is at an advanced stage and could be launched in 2022. This is despite the fact that Apple has faced development obstacles, such as issues with weight and size.
Apple's VR headset: Price
It's difficult to predict what a VR headset from Apple will cost, and even more so if this rumoured headset combines both AR and VR capabilities. However, you can pretty much guarantee that it will be priced near the top of the market, as Apple's not in the habit of making budget gadgets.
There is a lot of discrepancy between the various predictions being made though. Analyst Ming Chi Kuo indicates that this will be a high-end device starting at around $1,000.
However, other reports have suggested that the headset will cost around $3,000. The Information believes it will cost $3,000 and be aimed at a business audience, for training, design and sales work, although there may be gaming applications too.
Looking at the other VR headsets on the market might give us an idea of what to expect.
Apple's VR headset: Design
In a February 2021 report The Information claimed it has seen blueprints of the upcoming Apple headset, and that Apple's product is relatively small, with rounded displays nestled against a woven fabric that lies against the user's face.
The current prototype of the headset is said to weigh between 200g and 300g, but the goal is for the finished product to weigh less than 200g, according to that report.
This isn't the first such prototype VR product Apple has designed. A report from the Financial Times back in January 2016 claimed that Apple had successfully developed a virtual reality prototype, and was actively testing it behind closed doors.
Hopefully the design has come on since this patent was filed in 2007...
Apple's VR headset: Specs
There are a few rumours circulating that give an indication of what to expect from Apple's headset.
Processor
Reports suggest that the Apple headset will be powered by a chip that is related to Apple's M1 that made its debut in the 2020 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini.
This correlates with a CNET report back in April 2018 that suggested the headset wouldn't require a computer or smartphone to run.
CNET's source claimed that the headset would require a dedicated box powered by a custom Apple processor to which it will connect via a "high-speed, short-range wireless technology". The box will use the wireless technology 60GHz WiGig. While the 60GHz signal cannot typically penetrate walls it can propagate off reflections from walls, ceilings, floors and objects using beam-forming, which could be how the one box is able to determine your location in a room.
By using this technology, users won't need to install various base stations around a room to enable the headset to determine their location (as is the case with HTC Vive).
According to CNET, the box will feature a 5-nanometer processor. Apple is designing the chip in-house and the chip will be similar to the chips Apple is said to be developing for its Macs, with a switch from Intel planned for 2020.
Cameras
Apple's VR glasses are expected to feature at least 12 cameras that track the user's movements and capture a picture of the real world.
In fact, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested in March 2021 that the headset will be equipped with 15 camera modules, six of which will be used for biometric features (iris recognition).
The VR glasses will also have a LiDAR sensor, as featured in the iPhones and iPads. This should make the device's measurement of the surrounding environment more precise.
Display
A CNET report in April 2018 claimed that Apple's headset will use 8K displays for each eye. This might sound a bit over the top, but apparently the 8K displays will make the VR and AR images look more lifelike and will therefore avoid the nauseous feeling that can be the result of using such headsets.
Apple's VR headset: Features
We don't know a lot about Apple's VR headset. Analyst Ming Chi Kuo describes the headset as "transportable" rather than "mobile", indicating that it isn't designed to be used everywhere like a smartphone, but would probably work best in your home, so it may be limited to gaming and viewing other apps that work best when you aren't outside.
Here's what we know so far about the various features and technical capabilities of the new headset.
Eye control
According to a March 2021 investor note from Kuo the Apple VR headset could track the eye to determine where the user is looking. Kuo notes that this way of interacting with the headset would be less limiting than existing VR headsets that use handheld controllers.
This could create new possibilities for interaction, for example a wink could be recognized by sensors, or looking at an object for a long time could trigger additional information to be displayed.
Apple could also use knowledge of where the user is looking to reduce the amount of graphic calculations required as they won't need to render areas outside of the users gaze.
Iris recognition
This same iris recognition tech could also be able to identify the owner using biometrics. Iris recognition could also be used when users want to buy apps with their glasses or pay for products using Apple Pay.
Apple's VR headset: Software
The headset will use a new operating system, which Apple is referring to internally as rOS (r for reality). It is based on iOS, according to a 2017 Bloomberg report.
The 'rOS' software group is headed by Geoff Stahl, who was previously a software manager for games and graphics at Apple, suggesting that gaming will be a big feature of this headset.
Apple is apparently intending to give the headset its own version of the App Store, where users would be able to download content, according to Bloomberg.
Apple's VR headset: Evidence
Rumours about Apple developing a virtual reality headset have been circulating for years. In fact, rumours started way before news about Apple's AR glasses started doing the rounds.
Below we will examine the evidence that Apple's VR interests extend to developing hardware.
Apple hires
A February 2021 report from Bloomberg claimed that Apple's former hardware manager Dan Riccio has taken over responsibility for the company's augmented reality and virtual reality ventures.
Dan Riccio appears to now be heading up Apple's dedicated AR and VR team.
Apple has been building the team over the past few years. Way back in November 2014 Apple posted a job listing for app engineers experienced with 3D graphics, virtual reality and augmented reality. The job posting was quickly removed, but it specifically asked for developers to build "high-performance apps that integrate with Virtual Reality systems for prototyping and user testing."
Since then, Apple has made a number of relatively high-profile hires for its virtual reality project, including Microsoft's Nick Thompson, an engineer that worked on the HoloLens audio hardware for three years. Apple also hired Bennett Wilburn, another Microsoft employee, who focused on "machine learning technology for human activity recognition" with his previous experience including the likes of Lytro and Huawei.
Along with ex-Microsoft employees, Apple has also hired Doug Bowman, a man considered to be a leader in the field of 3D user interfaces. His previous experience includes working as a computer science professor at Virginia Tech, as well as being the head of the school's Center for Human-Computer Interaction. Lastly, we have Graham Myhre, a man that previously worked at Lytro developing specialised lenses and sensors, but is now "investigating new display and optical technologies for future generations of Apple products" - at least that's what his LinkedIn says anyway.
As first reported by Business Insider, Apple has also hired Zeyu Li, who previously worked at Magic Leap the AR startup. Yury Petrov was also hired, a man who had previously worked on Oculus.
Apple has since made another high-level hire for its AR/VR venture - this time from the company that provided the graphics processor for the iPhone 7. Apple confirmed back in March 2016 that it was interested in buying Imagination Technology, but that never panned out - and it looks like it didn't really matter, as the company appears to have got what it wanted.
The company has hired several senior employees from the company, with the most notable being ex-Imagination Technology COO John Metcalfe. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has been working at Apple since July 2016, leaving IT after almost 20 years. It's speculated that Metcalfe and others are working on a new GPU to power the AR/VR experience that Apple is planning, although there's no new information beyond that.
Apparently, Apple now has a team of several hundred engineers lead by Mike Rockwell, who previously ran engineering at Dolby Labs. According to Bloomberg sources, the team is working on several hardware and software projects under the umbrella codename of T288. The same team worked on ARKit, a tool that lets software developers build AR apps for iPhone and iPad.
Apple's interest in VR has also been signposted by its numerous acquisitions of companies from that sector.
One of Apple's biggest and most popular acquisitions was back in 2013 when the company bought PrimeSense, the company that developed the original Xbox Kinect, for a whopping $345 million. That's a huge amount of money to buy a company if you don't plan to make its technology a big part of your future.
While many assumed that it'd tie in with the Apple TV, and some of the technology ended up being used in the iPhone X for the facial scanning technology that makes Face ID possible, it's a technology well suited to a VR/AR headset.
Apple acquired Faceshift in November 2015, the company that created the motion-capture technology that was used in Star Wars films. The firm is known for developing software that allows CGI-animated 3D characters to 'copy' the facial expressions of the actor. While this probably helped Apple with the Animoji feature of the iPhone X, it could also be linked to a virtual/augmented reality headset.
In August 2017 Apple acquired SensoMotoric Instruments. While it may not be a household name, the German company specialises in eye-tracking technology - in fact, the company was at CES 2017 in Las Vegas showcasing modified HTC Vive and Gear VR headsets equipped with eye-tracking technology. As usual, Apple has confirmed the purchase but didn't disclose its intentions for its assets, but it speaks volumes about its upcoming VR plans.
Then in November 2017, according to TechCrunch, Apple bought a VR headset startup named Vrvana for roughly $30m. Vrvana makes a headset called Totem which it describes as 'extended reality', by which it means a combination of VR and AR.
Most recently, Apple made two VR-related acquisitions in 2020: it bought NextVR (which focuses on broadcasting events in VR) in May 2020, and bought Spaces (which describes its technology as "a bridge between a VR world and Zoom, Skype, Hangouts and more") in August 2020. Apple hasn't disclosed the price of either purchase, but experts believe NextVR will have cost around $100m.
VR in macOS
Apple has also been paying a lot of attention to VR via its Mac hardware and software. The company put a focus on VR at WWDC 2017 - promoting the ability for developers to develop Metal 2-based VR games (an engine exclusive to Mac, iPhone and iPad) with macOS High Sierra.
At the developer conference, Apple announced that it would be offering support for VR content creation in High Sierra (which launched that September), enabling developers to create immersive gaming, 3D and VR content on the Mac. Fully-fledged VR games for iOS can't be too far behind right?
Mac developers can use peripherals like the HTC Vive VR headset and apps like Final Cut Pro X, SteamVR, Epic Unreal 4 Editor and Unity Editor to create immersive new worlds.
Steam has also optimising their SteamVR platform for macOS and enabled connection of the HTC Vive headset. During the WWDC 2017 keynote a representative from Valve went on stage to demonstrate the Star Wars virtual reality demo running on a Mac and using an HTC Vive headset.
What better way for Apple to showcase its range of Metal 2-based VR games than with its own VR headset...
Apple's Tim Cook on VR
While people have been speculating that Apple will be making a virtual reality headset for some time, it wasn't until 2016 that the company officially acknowledged its interest in the VR market. During Apple's quarterly earnings conference call in January 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook fielded a question regarding virtual reality. His response? "In terms of VR, I don't think it's a niche. It's really cool and has some interesting applications."
Okay, so it's not quite confirmation that the company is actively developing a virtual reality headset, but let's look at the past. Back in 2014, before the announcement of the updated Apple TV, Tim Cook was quoted saying that TV was an area that Apple had a "great interest in" - a year later, we had a completely new Apple TV boasting its own App Store and gaming capabilities.
Cook also called the idea of smartwatches "interesting" back in 2013, way before the launch of the Apple Watch. So as we said, it's not confirmation, but it gives us a good idea of what to expect in the (possibly near) future.
Apple employees visit specialist VR lab
If Apple isn't developing a virtual reality headset, then why has it sent employees to Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab several times over the course of three months? As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Director Jeremy Bailenson made the remark regarding Apple visiting the centre during a Wall Street Journal conference in California.
The Virtual Human Interaction Lab based at Stanford University is the first place that businesses will go before developing a virtual reality headset - Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook even went along shortly before it acquired Oculus.
Speaking at the event, Bailenson remarked: "Apple hasn't come to my lab in 13 years - except they've come three times in the last three months. They come and they don't say a word, but there's a data point for you."
As ever, Apple is keeping tight-lipped on the subject but this, along with comments made by Tim Cook claiming that VR isn't a niche and that it has interesting applications suggests that an Apple-branded VR headset is in the works, although it could still be a way away.
The most recent VR related patent, discovered in March 2018, is for an 'IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL DISPLAY'. It shows a person using a combination of VR headsets, controllers and projectors while in a car in order to alleviate motion sickness.
The filing suggests that Apple's VR system could "provide immersive VR experiences by replacing the view of the real world with virtual environments."
This VR system will react to motion and use the data to enhance the VR experience, apparently, we assume it means you could be traveling in a car but see scenes that were adapting to the speed of travel, for example.
The patent appears to suggest the technology could be used to alleviate motion sickness - rather than cause it!
This particular patent appears to be linked to Apple's plans for a self-driving car (a project codenamed Titan) as a way to entertain passengers during long trips. Should the car stop at traffic lights, for example, that would be incorporated into the game (hopefully the zombies won't catch you).
But Apple's been filing VR related patents for many years. One such patent dates back to 2007 and suggests that a VR headset could look like ski goggles (as per the picture shown above). "The goggle system may resemble ski or motorcycle goggles. To enhance the user's comfort, the goggle system may include breathable components, including for example breathable foam that rests against the user's face, and may allow the user to move the display generation components for alignment with the user's eyes. In some embodiments, the goggle system may include data processing circuitry operative to adjust left and right images generated by the optical components to display 3-D media or account for a user's eyesight limitations."
Back in December 2013, Apple Patent (USPTO 8,605,008) surfaced. This patent described a head-mounted display. The abstract talks about "A goggle system for providing a personal media viewing experience to a user is provided. The goggle system may include an outer cover, a mid-frame, optical components for generating the media display, and a lens on which the generated media displayed is provided to the user."
"A head-mounted device that is worn on a user's head and configured to integrate with a cellular telephone that is removable, the head-mounted device comprising: a frame that is configured to physically receive and carry the cellular telephone, wherein the frame places a display screen of the cellular telephone in front of the user's eyes; and an optical subassembly configured to receive at least one image frame from the display screen of the cellular telephone, wherein the optical subassembly is interposed between the display screen and the user's eyes."
It's interesting to note the likeliness between Apple's VR headset and a standard pair of glasses, as most VR headsets resemble a ski mask and block out all vision from the sides of your eyes for a more immersive experience. Of course, it's only a patent and the design is likely to change again before it's released - whenever that may be.
