New Apple-Branded AR Headset May Launch In 2020

If you have been following tech news closely for the past few weeks, you may have already heard about Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 - an AR headset that looks too futuristic for most of us not to fancy. Despite the fact that it’s only open to corporates and at a staggering $3000 each unit, it’s still Microsoft’s show of force to the rest of the tech industry.

But the HoloLens 2 makes us wondered, though: What is the signal of the rest of the tech industry in AR?

Specifically, Apple? A company that’s long been famous for its commitment to being at the cutting edge? Surely something with the kind of potential such as AR wouldn’t be passed up. 

New AR Headset

And that is the truth. According to the top Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has something in store for us all. It is about to enter the new AR market with a brand-new AR headset and the device could be ready by as early as 2020.

However, this is not a new revelation. The company has been rumoured to be creating an AR headset from 2017 to now and with the push on the company part in integrating AR techs into its devices like the iPhones and the iPads, it’s not surprising.

According to Apple Insider, in a note to the company's investors, Kuo wrote that mass production of the new AR headset will start in the Quarter 04 of 2019. However, the schedule can stretch for a bit, possibly to the beginning of 2020. Kuo didn’t say anything specific about a launch date, he believed that the release of the device is "optimistic and relatively near term,”.

About the device itself, rumours have it that Apple has been hard at work creating a headset that’s capable of supporting both VR and AR technology. The thing that sets it apart from competitors is that each lens reportedly has 8K resolution. This is a spec that could put even the highest-quality TVs on the market to shame.

Apple AR glass is depicted as a product to change the world.

We don’t know much about the device just yet to be certain, but it would possibly operate dependently on smartphones and computers initially. Kuo mentioned that the AR headset's first generation will need the iPhone’s help to do most of the screen rendering, building a data connection as well as creating services based on locations. Eventually, however, it would be able to operate on its own.

Complete Secrecy

Of course, as always, Apple did not respond to any request for comment. Once again, this is hardly a surprise. After all, the company is infamous for its secrecy.

Only time will be able to tell what this new hardware’s going to be like.