It is reported that Apple is developing a completely new "AR headset"

ByRoger Luo

Apple plans to develop its own technology to make the AR (augmented reality) headset appear in the near future Bloomberg reports.

Apple Is Ramping Up Work on AR Headset to Succeed iPhone - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-08/apple-is-said-to-ramp-up-work-on-augmented-reality-headset

Based on information from internal stakeholders Bloomberg reports that Apple plans to introduce AR headset with the new OS 'rOS' on the market in 2020. Many of the AR headset and VR headset adopt a mechanism using smart phones, but Apple does not use such a method, but newly develops original hardware including a chipset and completely new device It is reported that development is proceeding with the policy to make it.

Within Apple already there are hundreds of development teams organized, with code name "T 288"Engineers are busy coming back and forth between the development bases of Cupertino California and Sunnyvale under the name" rOS seems to be an OS dedicated to iOS based AR headset just as with "watchOS" for Apple Watch and "tvOS" for Apple TV.

This team has been standing up a few years ago, and this team also develops the AR technology framework "ARKit" announced in June 2017. ARKit is a technology that can synthesize a virtual reality scene to images of iPhone or iPad cameras, and has already been available on many terminals from iOS 11. If you actually experience it, you think that you already have a glimpse of its abilities, but it will be a useful tool like the following article, or it will be possible to express such that the boundary between reality and fantasy disappears , The possibility of AR seems to be very profound.

What can we do with Apple's AR platform "ARKit" - GIGAZINE


It is unknown what form Apple's AR headset will be, but at this stage it is information that research and development using HTC's VR headset "Vive" and iPhone is being advanced. In the end, however, it is said that it is a policy to complete an AR headset by using proprietary hardware instead of other suppliers' ready-made products. The same is true for chip sets that handle information processing, and it seems that we are aiming to realize devices that operate for a long time even with limited battery capacity by developing compact, energy-saving chips. This seems to be the same situation that Apple Watch was developed from a state of zero at all.

Also, if you are going to be a sunglass-type device, how the operation method will become an important point. Although there are many unknown parts about this point, it is also seen that it is now possible to start and instruct applications by touching the touch sensor or talking to the voice assistant "Siri".

Apple refused to comment on Bloomberg's interview. However, CEO Tim Cook seems to be highly appreciating the future of AR technology, and in the performance announcement meeting, "We are already looking for new things to make people work, enjoy, connect and learn Briefly, I believe that AR will make the way we use technology is totally different from what we have ever had. "

About the development schedule of the new AR headset, inside Apple, "a fairly aggressive plan" is set up. It is planned that we will complete the actual machine in 2019 and aim for 2020 marketing, but it seems that it is too short to develop new products, and at the same time we are still working on specifications that Apple needs It seems there are circumstances in which technological development to realize has not kept up. It seems that the days when Apple's AR headset that seems to be influenced by peripheral development in the future really appears as planned, expectations from society as a whole, as well as Apple fans, will come.

Regarding the AR headset, it is remembered that Google was letting "Google Glass" appear in the early 2010s. But since the progress of the development and spread was not much so, sales in 2015 will have to stop. Later, in 2017 Google announced its policy to develop Google Glass as a device for corporate demand.

The first update in 3 years suddenly appeared on Google Glass that should have been dead, what is Google's intention? - GIGAZINE


In addition, Microsoft is developing Hololens which realizes MR (synthetic reality)Developer's KitIt is possible to obtain such as. Although it is a field that is still being developed, the potential of the ability to display information by adding information to the real landscape seems to be immeasurable.

Summary of apps that show you how amazing is the Augmented reality headset "Microsoft HoloLens" - GIGAZINE