Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) kicks of Monday. And everybody expect the company to use this as the coming out party for the mixed reality headset Apple has been working for years. We’ll also probably hear some news about new Macs, iPhones, iPads, and software updates, but Apple’s first truly new product category in years will likely steal the show.
Whether it will steal our hearts as well remains to be seen. But the hardware has been leaked so widely that I imagine Monday’s event will be more about marketing and showing why you’d actually want the headset and what it can do than it is about showing off the hardware.
It’s not like VR/AR headsets are a new thing: they’ve been around for years, and they haven’t really taken off in a game-changing way like personal computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or even wearables.
So will the Apple headset be the start of something big? Maybe. Apple does have a track record of shaking up markets not by introducing something we haven’t seen before, but by offering a better or more attractive version (see the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch).
But with an expected $3,000 price tag, Apple’s first headset might be a product only a truly hard-core enthusiast could love. Apple is clearly hoping that it’ll be at least popular enough to help give the company a reason to make a cheaper model aimed at mainstream users in the future. For now Meta’s Quest headsets, which typically sell for $500 and under, are likely to continue to dominate the market.
But there are signs that both Meta and Apple could be wasting their money: the Metaverse might not really be the next big thing: it could be a fad that fizzles out like 3D TV, or maybe it’s just not mature enough yet for people to jump in.
Anyway, Bloomberg has a new article out that tells you just about everything you could want to know about the hardware, and an awful lot about the software. I guess we’ll find out soon enough whether the appeal of putting Facetime calls on your actual face is enough to make mixed-reality a real market.
Everything Apple Plans to Show at WWDC: XR Headset, iOS 17 and More [Bloomberg]
At this point Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has spilled most of the beans on the Apple Reality Pro or XR Pro headset’s hardware and much of its software. All that’s left for Apple to do is make the case that you should actually spend $3K on it. Expect it to have an Apple M2 processor, 16GB of RAM and an external battery pack that will help keep the headset light, but kind of unwieldy with a cable running from your head to your pocket.
ASRock’s DeskSlim and DeskMeet Compact PCs Get Ryzen 7000 and PCIe Gen5 SSDs [Tom’s Hardware
ASRock brings Ryzen 7000 series chips (up to 65W) and PCIe 5.0 x4 to its DeskMeet and DeskSlim line of compact desktop computers. the company is showing off models with Ryzen 5 7600 chips, discrete graphics, and DDR5-5600 memory.
Adata Demos Next-Gen Memory: CAMM, CXL, and MR-DIMM Modules [Tom’s Hardware]
ADATA is showing off next-gen memory modules at Computex, including its version of CAMM for ultrathin laptops (first introduced by DELL, but soon to be adopted by JEDEC as a standard) and new server-class solutions.
Major Updates for System76 Open Firmware! [System76]
System76 Open Firmware update disables Intel Management Engine on most of the company’s Linux laptops. There’s also now an option to enable/disable Secure Boot and TPM2 on models with 13th-gen Intel chips and other changes.
About AYANEO AIR speaker upgrade announcement [AYA]
After releasing the AYA Neo Air handheld gaming PC, AYA received feedback about the speaker audio quality. So they found ways to improve the hardware, and are now offering speaker upgrade kits free for existing customers.
Keep up on the latest headlines by following @[email protected] on Mastodon. You can also follow Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook, and keep up with the latest open source mobile news by following LinuxSmartphones on Twitter and Facebook.
Part of Bidet-Bama build black better plan putting Americans back to work as only fans.only question left is does the Bama model vibrate
Why does this new Apple logo look like a splooge stain?
Maybe Apsplooge plans to invest heavily in VR shrimp servers located in the Bahamas?
I think it’s a screenshot from a video where they didn’t show the entire logo at any one time.
I want to believe the new koomstain logo is a sign sent down to us from Saint Steve himself.
WWDC: where they have peddling all the expensive locked down Crapple products to the ignorant religious fanatics who will lap it all up believing anything out the backside of Jobs is pure gold.
…You do know Steve Jobs hasn’t been at Apple throughout the entire development cycle of this thing, right?
lil’ Stevie is probably too busy playing with his virtual pet Koombah
Blasphemy! The ghost of Steve Jobs is alive and well to all TRUE Believers, so gather around the giant statue of his bent over form at WWDC to await all the goodness that will spew forth from his rear end from now until time eternal.
“What do expect when you’re expecting Apple’s XR headset”
You must have been rushed today LOL! What a terrible headline.
I don’t typically comment, but this one irritated me.
If the editorial quality is not up to your standards, then either don’t read them, or else write your own elsewhere.
We enjoy these articles every day for free. And generally speaking, they’re accurate, informative, and entertaining.
As my mother would say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Not the OP, but take a chill. They aren’t harming any one. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. If you don’t like it, why waste everybody’s time by having to trudge through the thread to get to the good stuff with your crap posting upon another. Toughen up a little.
I’m still waiting on the day MacBook Meat Grinder becomes affordable. Looking forward to using it in the kitchen.
In typical Apple fashion, I’m expecting their headset to be FAR superior in technical ability and build quality to most other options on the market. But at the same time, I’m expecting it to be very disappointing to existing VR/AR enthusiasts who will probably say that it’s too locked down to their own ecosystem.
The $3,000 price mark is a hard sell, though there will still be people that will buy it. I don’t know if it’s out of brand loyalty or because they actually believe in the product. I think time will tell.
Do you think Apple is taking a risk by releasing this product? There is a chance it could be a flop and all for naught, or it could be wildly successful and breath new life into the VR corpse that never really took off in the first place. What’s your opinion on that Grant?
I for one am watching with curiousity to see how it goes. I agree that the build quality will probably be superior. But atleast for me, $3,000 is really a hard sell. I hope they have a metaverse of their own up their sleeve.
I actually would like to see this product succeed. It might convince others to come to the market which could only increase it’s popularity. Apple is known for setting trends, so I wouldn’t be surprised. I await this with anticipation. 🙂
I really can’t imagine a VR/AR experience that’s worth $3000.
They will sell easily. Anything Apple prices that high will attract rich bandwagoners, and scalpers.
That’s possible. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if VR takes off just because it’s Apple it’s backing it, though. Either way, I’ll be keeping an eye on it. But yeah, I think $3,000 is a hard sell, too.
I’m not worried about the quality of the hardware Apple may showcase, while everybody is talking endlessly about what specs and what hardware marvels this thing may (or may not) have, the real issue is apps and engagement – AR/VR fails to convince the masses because it’s (so far) completely pointless and brings no enhancement to life/work, just gimmicks fueled by marketing.
Not saying Apple cannot out-do the others on this side of things, but that’s the real challenge – not hardware or price.
Supposedly it’ll run ipadOS applications.
I’m not sure how exactly they intend to emulate touch, but if they did, and the result ACTUALLY had access to EVERYTHING the ipad does, it might arguably be more open than most VR headsets, which as far as I know are all “it runs what’s in the particular headset’s app store and nothing else” unless it can be a peripheral for a PC.
Still not macOS applications, because they don’t want to eat into mac sales.
One piece of software I can think of that would actually guarantee a use case would be a VR editor for spherical video, if it’s got features comparable to final cut pro, plus whatever they could think of that someone might conceivably need for spherical video. But that begs the question, is it even worth producing a spherical video, because how many people are going to even watch it.