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Apple's maiden venture at a headset is designed to be costly and presumably a precursor to a more ambitious augmented reality product that will take even longer to develop, according to sources acquaint with the development.
It has to face numerous development hurdles and the company also has low sales expectations, clearly depicting how challenging it will be to bring this new consumer technology to the masses.
Like any virtual reality device, it will include an all-encompassing 3D digital environment for gaming, watching video, and communication. AR functionality, the ability to overlay images and information over a view of the real world, will be available but in limited capability. Apple is planning to launch the product as soon as 2022, going in direct competition with Facebook's Oculus, Sony's PlayStation VR and headsets from HTC, sources said.
Apple's typical market strategy is to take emerging consumer technology, such as music players, smartphones, tablets, smart watches, etc and making them more reliable and easy to use. Although this time they are not aiming for an iPhone-like hit for its first headset. But the company is laying the base for eventual, more mainstream AR glasses.
The plans shows that Apple's first headset will be far more expensive than those from rivals, with cost varying from about $300 (roughly Rs. 21,900) to $900 (roughly Rs. 65,650). Some insiders even believe that Apple will be able to sell only one headset per day per retail store. With Apple having roughly 500 stores, so this brings an annual sale of just over 1,80,000 units, excluding other sales channels. This would put it on par with other costly Apple products, like the $5,999 (roughly Rs. 4.3 lakhs) Mac Pro desktop computer. Apple however declined to comment.
Apple is planning to include some of its most advanced and powerful chips in the headset along with displays that are much higher-resolution than those in existing VR products, with some of the chips tested in the device beat the performance of Apple's M1 Mac processors. The headset will also come with a fan, which they always avoided on mobile products.
Codenamed N301, the headset at present is in a late prototype stage, and is yet to be finalised, so Apple might change its plans or scrap it completely. The AR glass, which is codenamed N421, is in an early stage known as “architecture,” which means Apple is still working on underlying technologies and is believed to be several years away. However, Apple has previously targeted it as early as 2023 for its unveiling.
With powerful processors and the inclusion of a fan made the device too large and heavy, with some concern about neck strain in early testing. Apple removed the space VR gadgets usually reserved for users who need to wear eyeglasses, which brought the headset closer to the face and helped shrink the size and to address consumers with poor eyesight, developed a system where custom prescription lenses can be inserted into the headset over the VR screens, sources said.
This has left Apple exposed to regulations governing the sale of products with prescriptions. Apple typically sells its devices in dozens of countries, many of which have different prescription rules and regulations. Apple is also in early discussion as to how it would implement prescriptions at the point of sale online as well as in retail stores.
Apple originally had plan to include less powerful processors and offload much of the work to a hub in a user's home that would wirelessly beam content to the headset, but the plan was rejected by Jony Ive, Apple's design chief at that time, last year. Designed to work as a standalone device, meaning the device can operate on a battery rather than be plugged into a wall or a Mac, a feature similar to Facebook's latest VR product, while Sony's still requires a PlayStation gaming console.
Apple is in plans to use a fabric exterior, to save on weight, which is a departure from the metal designs Apple products are famous for. Although it is also true that it has used plastic for devices like AirPods, that need to be light, and fabrics for the HomePod speaker to improve acoustics.
Some of the prototypes are about the size of an Oculus Quest and also include external cameras to enable certain AR features. Apple is also testing the cameras for hand-tracking and is working on a feature whereby an user can type virtually in the air to input text. However it remains speculative whether the feature will be ready for the first version of the device or if it will remain in the exploratory stage.
The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down some development with Apple hardware engineers only being able to work on certain days from the office. Also there has been delays conducting user testing and data collection which further slowed some decisions in the engineering process.
The company is also indecisive regarding the content and functionality it intends to ship with the device. Virtual reality is still a somewhat new technology, with content beyond games still relatively limited. Last year, Apple acquired a company called NextVR, which recorded events such as concerts and sports games in virtual reality and also discussed bundling an App Store with the device, which runs on an operating system dubbed “rOS” inside the company.
With Apple going ahead with the VR headset, it would be seen as a precursor to an eventual pair of AR glasses which is a far more mainstream product but equally more difficult to launch as per the company. At present Microsoft's HoloLens 2 retail for $3,500 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakhs), and Magic Leap's headset retail at $2,295 (roughly Rs. 1.6 lakhs). While HoloLens focuses mostly on work use cases but Magic Leap fell well short of the early hype and had to slash jobs last year.
Apple actually added AR to the iPhone in 2017, allowing newer mobile games and apps, as for example, those for virtually placing furniture in your living room before buying it. Both virtual and augmented reality have potential, however AR provides greater opportunity, believe Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.
AR glasses must have small, powerful and efficient electronics to overlay notifications, map directions, and other information while supporting internet connectivity and strong battery life which pose a huge technical challenge. For this very reason, even Oculus, which released its first all-in-one VR headset in 2019, doesn't include AR features in its first glasses.
It will take years of work on lenses, hardware, and software, component miniaturisation, production techniques, and content creation before getting most people to wear a computer on their face. That's the very reason Google's early attempt at consumer AR glasses several years ago could not takeoff.
By developing a less mainstream initial headset, Apple can invest in the underlying technologies, consumer education, content development and developer relations to give its eventual AR glasses the best opportunity to be successful, whenever they are ready. This is perhaps Apple's best bet although a risky one.
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