Apple works on powerful wireless VR and AR glasses
The glasses, which could include technology for virtual reality such as the augmented one and use Apple’s own chips, are planned for 2020. It is the biggest sign of Apple’s interest in VR.
Apple CEO Tim Cook can not but praise augmented reality: he said technology has the potential to be as important as the iPhone. And it seems that Cook has big plans for virtual reality too.
The company is working on a system capable of running both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology, according to a source familiar with Apple’s plans. The plans so far indicate that there will be an 8K screen for each eye, that is, it would have a higher resolution than the best televisions of today. The system would not be tied to a computer or a telephone, according to the source.
The project, which is code-named T288, is still in the early stages but is planned to launch in 2020. Apple can still change or discard these plans altogether.
Apple refused to comment for this article.
It is remarkable that Apple is working on a system of glasses that combines both AR and VR considering its great focus in the past year on driving augmented reality on their iPhone and iPad. Cook has said that he sees better possibilities for AR than for VR, due in part to the fact that augmented reality allows you to be more present. Either way, it is vital for Apple to expand beyond its iPhone, its main source of revenue, and the mobile phone market that is slowing down.
The giant of Cupertino has ventured into small projects of VR, but these glasses would mark a great investment in virtual reality from Apple. This technology transports you to a different world, created digitally once you wear glasses. Once considered the next large segment of technology, virtual reality has not resonated with consumers despite large investments from companies such as Oculus from Facebook, Google and Samsung.
And the industry has taken the side of Cook when it comes to its favoring augmented reality, which superimposes digital images on the real world through special glasses or through your phone. Some examples of AR’s ability to reach masses is Pokémon Go or the filters that overlap in the photos that are posted on Instagram or Snapchat.
The Apple glasses would be connected to a dedicated box using low-speed, high-speed wireless technology, according to the source familiar with the company’s plans. The box, which would be powered by an Apple processor more powerful than anything currently available, would serve as the brain for the AR / VR glasses. In its current state, the box looks like a PC tower, but it would not be a Mac computer.
And, unlike the HTC Vive, users would not have to install special cameras in the room to detect their location. Everything would be integrated in the glasses and Apple box, said the source.
AR / VR: Apple’s potential
It is expected that VR and AR, even if they are nascent markets today, will explode in the coming years. Companies like Magic Leap have been investing millions — if not billions — of dollars in the development of this technology with the promise that these formats will change the way we see the world. Facebook believes that AR and VR glasses are the future of computing and communication.
Consumers are expected to buy 22 million VR and AR glasses this year, according to a report from CCS Insight. In 2022, this figure would rise to 120 million units, according to the analysis firm, which stresses that the market could have a value of US $ 10,000 million by then.
Last year he witnessed Apple’s first efforts in AR and VR. During its developer conference last June, Apple introduced ARKit to allow developers to create augmented reality apps for iPhone and iPad. The company also said it is working with Valve to bring the Stream VR platform to its Mac computers. VR systems did not work previously on Apple computers.
When it comes to AR and VR hardware, however, Apple has remained on the margins as its competition has been released several devices. Samsung has partnered with Oculus — the manufacturer of virtual reality glasses that was acquired by Facebook for more than US $ 2 billion — to launch VR systems that use Samsung phones. Microsoft has been working on HoloLens augmented reality glasses and Windows 10 mixed reality glasses. Google launched its Google Cardboard, which makes this technology more affordable for consumers, and two years ago added Daydream View glasses to its repertoire . And Magic Leap’s augmented reality system coming out, which promises Star Wars-style holograms integrated into the user’s real-world field of vision, has captured the attention of technology companies as well as celebrities.
Although Apple has not done much publicly with AR or VR, the company has been working behind the scenes. He has hired executives and startups, has applied for patents related to both technologies. A patent application wants to use virtual reality to relieve motion sickness, and boredom for passengers in a vehicle.
In November, Bloomberg reported that Apple wanted to have technology ready for augmented reality glasses by 2019 and start shipping the units by 2020. The device would have its own screen and run a new chip and operating system, according to the report.
Goodbye to the cables
One of the current problems of virtual reality is the issue of how long it takes to connect the system. The Samsung Gear VRs require a Galaxy phone to work, while the most powerful systems of Sony, HTC, Oculus and others have to be connected to a high-end PC or a video game console.
In the future, virtual reality is expected to pass from the cables — and Apple wants to integrate the simplicity by which it is known to that process. The box would use a wireless technology called 60GHz WiGig, according to the person familiar with Apple’s plans. That should boost speeds and increase the range to make the technology more attractive to use with high-end virtual reality glasses that are not connected to a computer. The final version of WiGig 2.0, also known as 802.11a, would not arrive until 2019
The box that will power up Apple’s virtual and augmented reality glasses will use a 5-nanometer processor, which is the metric the industry uses to describe how many transistors are inside a space. How small is that? According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, a nail grows at a rate of one nanometer — one billionth of a meter — per second.
In comparison, the iPhone X has a 10-nanometer processor. When it comes to chips, the smaller the number the faster and more efficient they are.
Owners of their destiny
Apple has been expanding into the component market as it tries to control all the hardware and software within its devices. He currently designs all the application processors that function as the brains of his devices, a Bluetooth chip that quickly connects his AirPods to an iPhone, and security processors to protect the personal data and your biometric information from hackers.
By making its own Apple chips you can better control the functions it launches, as well as the launch times of its new devices.
The company has been working on processors to replace the Intel chips in their Mac computers by 2020. The processors within the Macs of the future will be similar to the ones that Apple will use in the T288 augmented and virtual reality project, according to the familiar person with the plans of the company. The 8K screens in the new Apple glasses, meanwhile, would help make the virtual and augmented reality experience more realistic. The smallest and most powerful chips, combined with super high quality video, will be essential to create experiences that do not give you nausea if the images or you move a lot.
This year, during the electronics fair CES, LG and Samsung showed 8K televisions, but have not yet reached the market. No one has released virtual reality glasses with 8K resolution. Pimax, a Chinese company, has requested mass financing to create an 8K virtual reality glasses. In the case of that device, it would have a 4K screen for each eye. Apple’s goal is to achieve even higher resolutions, with an 8K screen for each eye.
