There have been countless reports that Apple is working on augmented reality technology. The company is actually believed to be developing a standalone AR headset. According to a new report, Apple is aiming to have its AR headset technology ready by 2019. This could put a potential release the very next year in 2020.
Bloomberg reports that Apple wants to have a breakthrough product to succeed the iPhone and it believes that the AR headset might be that product. It wants to get the technology ready by 2019 and might ship the product as early as 2020.
The report also mentions that Apple’s device is going to have its own display and run on a new chip. It’s even said to have a new operating system. The development timeline is said to be very aggressive but there’s still a potential for change.
Apple’s interest in augmented reality, which overlays images and data in the real world, is no secret. The company’s CEO Tim Cook has talked up the technology on multiple occasions. “Put simply, we believe AR is going to change the way we use technology forever,” Cook recently said.
The company is reportedly creating a new cheap in-house that’s similar in concept to the “system-on-a-package” component in the Apple Watch. This chip will house more components in a smaller area and will also increase power efficiency.
The new OS is said to be called “rOS” or “Reality Operating System.” It’s going to be based on iOS and will power Apple’s AR headset. It may even get its own App Store. Apple is said to be investigating multiple ways of controlling the headset which include voice activation via Siri, touch panels, and head gestures.
The report claims that Apple doesn’t have a fully operational AR headset right now so its engineers have started using HTC Vive headsets for tests. It’s not expected to have a headset out on the market before 2020 at the very least.
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