Apple Glass has been a rumored name for a long time, and despite Apple CEO Tim Cook previously admitting that the company sees augmented reality (AR) as a critical field in the future, no real glimpse of the rumored mixed reality (MR) headset has emerged. All of that appears to be about to change, with two highly credible reports, one from Bloomberg and the other from Ming-Chi Kuo, claiming that Apple Glass could be available as early as the first half of 2022. In other words, Apple’s biggest new hardware launch could happen within the next calendar year, revealing how the company plans to diversify its offerings in the future.
According to reports, the Apple MR headset will be a first-generation product with plenty of room for improvement in the future. In essence, it will provide a glimpse into Apple’s vision of making MR glasses look as natural as possible. Until then, the Apple Glass MR headset, which is expected in 2022, appears to be a bit bulky – according to Bloomberg, the headset could weigh up to 200 grammes. This will be up to 50% smaller than the current working Apple Glass prototype in the company’s research laboratories, but it will still be bulky.
The Apple MR headset is expected to have over a dozen cameras, according to reports. The headset, according to Kuo, will have 15 cameras, including eight for augmented reality visuals and juxtapositions, six for gesture and motion recognition as well as biometrics, and one for environmental detection. Eye tracking is expected to be a key feature of the headset, thanks to specialised Fresnel lenses.
Other rumours include a $1,000 price tag, which isn’t out of the ordinary for Apple. More importantly, Apple’s launch schedule appears to be even more intriguing – some reports claim that the product will be unveiled this year, with official availability and a commercial launch following later. This would imply that Apple would introduce the hardware to developers by the end of the year, allowing the company to build an ecosystem of actually usable apps before making it officially available. This would also be consistent with Apple’s usual approach of ensuring that a product has real-world applications before presenting it to users.
