Apple’s board of directors recently previewed its mixed-reality headgear which indicates that the company’s next significant new product category could debut shortly, according to Bloomberg.
The debut of a new product category for Apple might open up new markets and potentially re-create the world-changing iPhone launch of 2007. However, if the headgear is a flop, it may reignite doubts about the company’s product strategy and execution.
Industry observers predict the ultimate augmented reality device will have transparent lenses and be lighter than a pair of glasses, but the underlying technology isn’t quite there yet.
There are still unanswered questions concerning the headset’s price and functionality. According to some sources, its retail price could be approximately $3,000, which would be more than twice as much as a new iPhone model and potentially limit sales.
Furthermore, Apple intends to develop augmented reality versions of its iPhone apps for the headset.
To conclude, Apple has never stated that it is working on a headset, but it has hired thousands of people to work on virtual reality and augmented reality technology in a division dubbed Technology Design Group.
As of now, Apple has made ARkit software available for iPhones, which allows developers to overlay digital images using the iPhone’s camera.
Apple isn’t the only tech behemoth working on a mixed-reality headset. In the week ending May 21, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off “Project Cambria,” a virtual reality headset with pass-through augmented reality.
Meta is also selling the Quest virtual reality headset for $300. Last week, Google showed off a prototype of smart glasses that can translate different languages in real-time.