Just once you thought the times of smartphone-driven VR or AR headsets were over, Apple might come along and make it trendy again. Granted, the likes of Google Daydream and Samsung Gear VR failed because they strapped smartphones to your head to try to do everything. Apple, on the other hand, could be doing things a touch differently. Consistent with sources conversant in matters, Apple will be taking a mixed approach to its mixed reality headset, which will still require an iPhone to be nearby to try to do its magic.
VR and AR headsets, sometimes collectively called MR or mixed reality headsets, have traditionally been tethered to powerful PCs to do the heavy processing work. That didn’t do much for earlier headset designs that remained heavy and uncomfortable to wear anyway. That said, that also put the figurative and literal load on people’s heads, which Apple seems to avoid at the least cost. Still, the industry has mostly moved on to standalone headsets, just like the Oculus Questline.
The Information’s report points to a setup where Apple will split responsibilities between the headset and a “host” device. The corporate has reportedly finished the designs for systems-on-chip or SoCs for the headset as imaging sensors and display drivers. While most of the graphics and basic processing will be handled by the headset itself, it’s believed to be less powerful than the processors found in today’s iPhones and iPads.
In particular, it’ll lack the Neural Engine machine learning processor that Apple employs for its augmented reality technologies. The thought is to offload the brunt of the work to an iPhone while the headset performs tasks that might be inefficient to hold over a wireless connection, like power management. This means that while the AR headset could work nominally without a tethered device, it’ll still have to wireless communicate with an iPhone to be fully functional.
Apple’s mixed reality headset is predicted to seem next year as a developer-centric kit with a more fashionable pair of AR glasses debuting in 2023. Other AR platforms have already got an identical arrangement, though their glasses are more barebones, and that they hook up with a smartphone with a cable. On the other hand, Apple’s version puts an important emphasis on comfort while still giving the headset some muscle of its own.
