Tech giant, Apple is rumoured to be working on a brand new, mixed-reality headset which will utilise virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, and better yet, it's nearly here.
Apple fans are expecting to see the new product announced this year at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) which is mere months away in June.
Rumours have been circulating for some time that Apple has been working on some VR and AR products including glasses and a headset with a few alleged pictures and patent filings have been found online but nothing has been officially announced yet.
Virtual reality headsets completely cover your eyes and parts of your head to provide an incredibly immersive experience that can be so real they have been known to even trigger some people's fear of heights.
While Augmented reality works by mapping out the real world and overlaying virtual objects on top of it for example IKEA app IKEA Place lets you virtually place true-to-scale 3D models of their furniture in your home.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has yet to confirm any device but in an interview with the Independent talking about AR technology said "it might not be huge right now, but AR will go on to have the same “dramatic” climb to take over the world"
However, Apple employees have spoken to The New York Times expressing their concerns about such a risky device as it's such a departure from Apple's current lineup and could negatively impact the tech company.
Another issue is the price which is speculated to be an eye-watering $3000, the same price as some of the top-spec MacBook Pros currently available, and while Apple has never shied away from hefty prices tags, without a clear indication of what the headset could be used for it could just be seen as an expensive toy.
Headsets can turn out to be costly failures with one of the best known being Gaming Nintnedo's attempt back in 1995 called the Virtual boy.
Samsung also attempted to enter the VR space back in 2015 with the Gear VR, an attachment for their flagship phones of the time to become portable VR headsets, despite some success the attachment was discontinued in 2020.
Since then the Meta Quest 2 has hit the market as well as the Valve Index and even a PlayStation-compatible headset called the PSVR has just received an upgrade with the PSVR 2.
It is expected to be a stand-alone headset that will be integrated into the Apple ecosystems and so it will work with your iPhone and MacBook to possibly send and receive calls, emails etc but in exactly what capacity isn't yet known.
It will require a powerful chip like Apple's incredible M2 CPU used in its cutting-edge Macbook computers or the A16 chip used in the top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
A brand new VR device could be just what Apple needs as their latest gadgets have been more iterative than revolutionary which the company was once known for.
