Those who were looking forward to Apple returning to their on-and-off Augmented Reality (AR) headset project have cause for excitement as it was reported that the company is currently back on the project, and have teamed up with video game publisher Valve to produce the headset.
According to DigiTimes, Apple will be working with Valve on “AR head-mounted display devices”, and for the assembly, Apple will be working with Quanta Computer and Pegatron to put the units together. Unfortunately, it did not go into detail on how the headsets will work as well as how it will look like.
That said, this rumour came from anonymous industry sources so do take them with a pinch of salt.
It is not entirely clear in what capacity will Valve be assisting the project but it seems like Apple is hoping to release the headsets as an iPhone accessory. DigiTimes has also reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook seems optimistic about the future of AR and has said that AR could be “as popular as smartphones with consumers”.
The move to prioritise AR over VR does seem to make sense as the VR market is currently oversaturated and not really known for having a proven track record of success. Meanwhile, AR games like Pokémon Go have proven to be massive hits.
Though there have been hints of Apple working on an AR project, DigiTimes reported that development on the project has since ceased. Though it seems that the team has not disbanded, they have only changed the focus of their project to the collaborative one with Valve instead.
Apple and Valve are reportedly aiming for the AR headset to be released in the second half of 2020.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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