Apple’s long-awaited mixed reality headset is still deep under wraps, although a recent report from The Information has shed what appears to be new light on some of the features coming to the fruit company’s first AR/VR headset.
There’s a lot of new information here, and of course, we can’t substantiate it even if we tried. We’ve restructured the main takeaways, courtesy of MacRumors, into a sort of fantasy spec sheet:
Reported Apple MR Specs
- Resolution: Dual Micro OLED displays at 4K resolution (per eye)
- FOV: 120-degrees, similar to Valve Index
- Chipset: Two 5nm chips. Includes a main SoC (CPU, GPU, and memory) and a dedicated image signal processor (ISP). Chips communicate via a custom streaming codec to combat latency.
- Battery: Waist-mounted battery, connected via MagSafe-like power cable to the headset’s headband. Two-hour max battery life, although hotswappable for longer sessions.
- Passthrough: ISP chip contains custom high-bandwidth memory made by SK Hynix, providing low latency color passthrough
- Audio: H2 chip, providing ultra-low latency connection with the second-generation AirPods Pro and future AirPods models. No 3.5mm and possible no support for non-AirPod BT headphones.
- Controller: Apple is said to favor hand-tracking and voice recognition to control the headset, but it has tested a “wand” and a “finger thimble” as alternative control input methods.
- Prescription Lenses: Magnetically attachable custom prescription lenses for glasses-wearers.
- IPD Adjustment: Automatic, motorized adjustment to match the wearer’s interpupillary distance.
- Eye Tracking: At least one camera per-eye for things like avatar presence and foveated rendering
- Face & Body Tracking: More than a dozen cameras and sensors capture both facial expressions and body movements, including the user’s legs.
- Room Tracking: Both short- and long-range LiDAR scanners to map surfaces and distances in three dimensions.
- App Compatibility: Said to have the ability to run existing iOS apps in 2D.
Then there are some design rumors, which don’t fit so well into our fantasy spec sheet. The Information says it has reconfirmed these previously reported rumors.
Design Rumors
- Outer Shell: Aluminum, glass, and carbon fiber to reduce its size and weight. Cameras are largely concealed for aesthetic reasons.
- Presence Displays: Outward-facing display can show user’s facial expressions and also presumably eye movements. Said to be an always-on display similar in latency and power draw of Apple Watch or iPhone 14 Pro.
- Dedicated Passthrough Switch: Digital Crown-like dial on its right side to switch between VR and passthrough.
- Headstrap: Various available, including consumer-focused headstrap similar in material to Apple Watch sport bands with built-in speakers. Unspecified, but different headstrap targeted at developers.
Apple supplier Pegatron is said to have already assembled “thousands of prototype units of the headset” over the course of 2022 at its Shanghai-based facility.
According to four people with knowledge of the matter, The Information reports that Apple could price its MR headset around $3,000 or more depending on its configuration.
The report maintains the headset was initially supposed to launch in 2022, although by now it’s clear it’s obviously been delayed. A previous Bloomberg report alleged this was due to “overheating, cameras and software” having been stumbling blocks along the way to launch.
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