PROMISING PLANS FROM
THE TEAM AT CUPERTINO
While Apple’s work on virtual reality (VR) and
related technologies can possibly be traced back
as far as the 1990s, the Cupertino company
has stepped up its efforts in augmented reality
(AR) in recent years. We’ve seen this with the
launch of the AR platform ARKit in 2017, while
code in iOS 13 suggests that Apple is currently
testing an AR headset. More recently, Apple
was reported to be partnering with Valve to
develop AR headwear possibly penciled in for
release next year.
Indeed, many recent reports and rumors have
centralized around a 2020 release for Apple’s
first AR headset. One report from the often
less-than-reliable DigiTimes claims that Apple
“has partnered with US game developer Valve
to develop AR head-mounted display devices,”
which “may be released in the second half of
2020 at the earliest.” Meanwhile, the much more
consistently reliable TGI Securities analyst Ming-
Chi Kuo predicts a second-quarter launch for
an Apple AR headset.
However, if an Apple-branded set of AR
headwear does break cover soon, what can
we expect it to be like? The failure of the
Google Glass smart glasses – at least as a
consumer product – still lingers in the memory,
with 9to5Mac’s Ben Lovejoy suggesting
in an opinion piece that Google ultimately
introduced its AR glasses too early. That leaves
Apple open to succeed where Google and
other tech firms have failed, possibly paving
the way to AR glasses reaching mainstream
acceptance at last.