We’ve been hearing about Apple’s upcoming AR/VR mixed reality headset for quite a while now. A report last year detailed that the mixed reality headset from Apple will have 15 camera modules, a micro-LED display, and will cost around $1,000. In the new edition of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman has detailed more about the upcoming headset from Apple.
He says that Apple’s 2022 mixed reality headset will be able to play “high-quality” VR games despite having two high-resolution displays, thanks to high-performance chipsets. He says that gaming will be able to be done in “both environments” or AR and in VR. Gurman says that “virtual reality is what you want for seriously high-performance games with top-tier graphics.” He says that the device could come “as early as next year.”
In addition, Gurman says that “Years down the road, you’ll see a true AR-only headset” from Apple. Apple is reportedly testing the displays of the device which are said to support a massive pixel density of 3,000 dots per inch (dpi). Even though games won’t be able to run at 8K resolution, it would hint at the serious processing power the device could boast.
In another report, popular Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo says that the product will feature Wi-Fi 6E support “for higher bandwidth and low latency.” Kuo says that the limitation of current-gen VR headsets is that they require connection via wire due to high amounts of data movement. But with Wi-Fi 6E support, Apple plans to solve that problem. For comparison, Facebook’s, or rather Meta’s, Oculus Quest already supports Wi-Fi 6 that streams up to 120Hz. Kuo says that Apple will likely match that speed in its headset, and will integrate 5G mmWave on top to “further enhance the wireless experience and reduce the need for a computer or other device.”