KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 ― We’ve all heard of the metaverse by now, a “network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection” as defined by trusted website Wikipedia dot com. It’s a buzzword that was popularised by Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta. Even though it’s now making a big wave in the tech industry, Apple will probably not take part in the trend anytime soon.

In a newsletter from Mark Gurman from Bloomberg (also an Apple analyst), he says that “the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to” is “off limits from Apple”. For their upcoming VR and AR “Apple Reality” headsets, the company’s executives “have pushed for the virtual reality headset to be not an all-day device”. Instead, the headset will be one used for “bursts of gaming, communication and content consumption”.

 

From the report, it looks like the headset will support both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The VR feature will not be something to use 24/7, but will instead be used for short recreational things like games or videos. The AR part will be Apple’s “real priority” since it can be worn all day, but won’t be a true virtual metaverse experience.

It will be interesting to see what Apple does with their AR technology. Would they do what Niantic is doing and make a Bitcoin AR game? Who knows? We’ll have to wait to find out more about the ‘Apple Reality’ headset.

Thanks to a report by The Information and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, we do know some things about the headset. It will include two 8K displays and more than 12 cameras for hand tracking. It will also run on multiple processors including the M1 chip and could support Wi-Fi 6E.

Below are some concept renders by Antonio De Rosa based on a sketch provided by The Information, which has reportedly seen pictures of a “late-stage prototype” in late 2020.

It is reported that Apple will release their headset in 2022 for US$3,000 (RM12,585), which is extremely expensive for VR headsets. The Oculus Quest 2 goes for US$299 (RM1,254), which is less than a tenth of Apple’s reported price. ― SoyaCincau