Apple upcoming AR/VR headset is expected to launch in 2022, and will only work with an iPhone or a Mac. To unlock its full functionality, you need to have one of the company’s other products. While this is a surprise to no one – Apple are notorious for their closed ecosystem – there were hopes that it would be able to function as a standalone product.
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Apple’s first foray into a new product segment in some time is expected to launch with two 8K displays is the headset, aiming to solve some of the issues other such product have faced with nauseousness. It will also have advanced eye-tracking technology, which will bolster the AR features.
New reports have brought to light that the device will work like the first-generation Apple Watch, which launched only with Wi-Fi connectivity and required an iPhone to work.
Apple has completed work on its new 5nm chipset that will be used in the headset, with the report adding that the chip “isn’t as powerful as the ones made for iPhones.” It doesn’t include the machine learning and AI capabilities now standard in most high-end smartphone chips. There are also two further chips that will be used alongside the main CPU chip of the headset, all of which are being manufactured by their long-time chipset partner TSMC.
The one chip is thought to be for the headset’s image sensor. It is reportedly “unusually large” as it is “meant to capture high-resolution image data from a user’s surroundings for AR. TSMC has struggled to produce the chip without defects and has faced low yields during trial production.”
While the headset will be unveiled in 2022, it is believed that it will only start shipping in 2023 because of various production delays of the hardware.
Are you looking forward to Apple’s AR/VR headset? What are your expectations from it? Let us know in the comments below.
