Apple ditches AR glasses, also working on a more “affordable” VR headset

According to a new article published by Bloomberg, Apple’s plans for the virtual reality area seem to be getting a lot of attention in recent months, with a large number of the company’s engineers busy with the project. However, this has consequences that may affect the company’s other divisions, and the first “victim” of VR devices are the very “twinned” AR devices. Apple’s glasses seem to have been abandoned for the time being.

Apple’s VR device will be very expensive, but the company is also working on a cheaper one

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a trusted source for Apple company information, says Apple is preparing to unveil its first virtual reality device this spring. But it will be a “premium” one, integrating high-performance hardware like the M2 processor and a host of special sensors and features not found on other competing devices. As a result, its price could reach US$3,000 at launch, double that of its direct competitor, the Meta Quest Pro.

To try to offer a more affordable device as well, Apple has apparently begun development on a less capable VR headset, which will likely hit the market next year. To develop this version, the company has chosen to forgo AR glasses, at least for the foreseeable future. Resources are now going into miniaturizing the technology and ditching elements that add cost to the top model.

Thus, compromises in screens are expected. The 2023 model will use two 4K screens, one for each eye, along with an active cooling system and lenses mounted on an automatic system that measures the distance between the eyes and positions the lenses automatically. The cheap version will have no such special features. However, even without these, the cheaper device will still be expensive, but probably closer to the Meta Quest Pro area. That model will have hardware closer to that of an iPhone than a MacBook.

AR glasses won’t be released anytime soon

In addition to limited manpower, Apple would have preferred to drop AR glasses for the time being due to technological limitations. It seems that Apple wants those glasses to somehow become the “next iPhone”, and that means they should revolutionize the wearables field, which is not currently possible with the technology available.

Source: Bloomberg