The rumors about apple mixed reality glasses They’ve been around for years, though no one really knows what we’ll find when they come along. In fact, its launch has been the subject of permanent speculation and the most recent thing we have known is that it would only be seen in 2023. However, some very interesting details of this initiative have been released with a recent report from Information.
The aforementioned medium published a detailed account of how this project came about and the various difficulties that arose over the years. The report exposes not only the technical snags the development team has faced, but also the apparent lack of stronger support from top executives in Cupertino.
According to journalist Wayne Ma, Apple’s plans to develop virtual reality and augmented reality glasses date back to 2016, at the earliest. By then, the Californian company already had some prototypes, although nothing too elegant or polished to reach the market in the short term. The idea of the team was to obtain more financing by trying to convince the “big fish” of the board; among them, Al Goreformer Vice President of the United States, and Bob Igerthen CEO of Disney.
The devices were not practical or aesthetically appealing. Apparently, some were developed based on the hardware of the HTC Vive, while others were more improvised and used Windows as the operating system. He even mentions the case of one being supported by a small crane because it was too heavy to carry on the head.
Having proven its claims, and establishing that technology was a fundamental part of Apple’s future, the company decided to explore the terrain further. However, the challenges were just beginning.
Jony Ive didn’t want a virtual reality headset
The discrepancies between Jony Ive, head of Apple’s design area until 2019, and Mike Rockwell, leader of the virtual reality and augmented reality team, are not new news. In 2020 the clash between the two over a crucial feature of the device had already come to light; We are talking about the inclusion of a hub independent that would be in charge of processing and transmitting the data wirelessly to the mixed reality helmet. Ive strongly opposed it and forced a change of direction.
Information it also touches on the differences between Ive and Rockwell, although it sets its sights on a different situation. The original idea was develop a headset virtual reality, but the design team disagreed. “They believed that virtual reality alienated users from other people by isolating them from the outside world, made users look old-fashioned, and had no practical uses,” the report states.
To address this concern, those in charge of the device proposed incorporating external cameras that could capture what was happening around each user. In this way, people could interact with a virtual reality mode and an augmented reality mode. But what would have really convinced Ive and company would have been the promise to incorporate an external screen that transmits in video the eyes and facial expressions of those who wear the glasses; thus, other individuals in the same room could see their reactions in real time.
Clearly, it is unknown how far Apple has advanced with the development of this feature. It does mention that a very small group of engineers on the mixed reality team were aware of the existence of such a screen.
Uprooting and low priority
Another situation that affected the mixed reality glasses development group was your relocation away from Apple’s headquarters. From mid-2017, the engineers would carry out their activities in an office building far from the facilities in Cupertino.
The company’s intention would have been to “preserve the team’s invisibility” from the rest of Apple, but this would have ended up causing a feeling of exile magnified by the apparent little relevance that the company gave to this development. As Wayne Ma explains, this was revealed on multiple occasions, even when trying to establish contributions with other teams within the same company.
Thus, for example, in 2018 one of the developers of the mixed reality glasses would have contacted the Apple camera hardware engineering group to request that they add a function through firmware. It would allow optimizing the speed with which the helmet cameras could capture images to project them on the internal screen. But the answer would have been that, as the project was not a prioritythey would have to wait until after the launch of the iPhone XS.
This would have been a blow, as the intention was apparently to include such a feature for a demo in front of Apple’s top 100 employees.
But the report does not stop there. It also indicates that, although the group considers that it has the support of Tim Cook, the company’s CEO has not been actively involved in the development of the project, as Steve Jobs did with the first iPhone or other revolutionary products of the company.
“The lack of a leader of Cook’s caliber to defend the glasses […] has made it sometimes more difficult to compete with other products like Macs and the iPhone in terms of staff and engineering resources,” he says.
Apple’s mixed reality glasses would only appear in 2023
As we said at the beginning, the certainties about Apple’s mixed reality glasses are few despite the many rumors in circulation. It is said that the device would include two processors and that would boast a performance similar to that of the M1 Pro processorwhich was introduced with the most recent update to the MacBook Pro. However, the Californian firm has not yet resolved some very important drawbacks, especially on the thermal side.
It is speculated that the headset of Apple could debut only at the end of 2023 priced over $2,000. Meanwhile, some analysts are excited about the possibility of seeing software-related news at the next WWDC.