According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s weekly newsletter, Apple is finalizing its highly anticipated, long-rumored mixed reality headset and preparing to launch as early as next year.
Recent job listings posted by Apple suggest the company is looking to fill device content creation roles, assuming the underlying technology is set up enough that developers, producers, artists and the like can work with it with confidence. This is in contrast to the state of the product not too long ago, where differing opinions about the feature set, specs, and design of the product led to shifting goals that would be a headache for content creators.
Among these content creation roles is at least one that will focus on “developing a 3D mixed reality world”no different from Meta Horizon Worlds in some respects. But while the spaces of Horizon Worlds exist entirely in virtual reality, Apple’s job listing describes a “connected experience in a 3D mixed reality world,”suggesting that augmented reality could also play a role.
Gurman also summarized many things that have already been leaked or reported to The Information and other credible sources: the headset will have more than 10 cameras both inside and out; it would have “the highest resolution displays ever used in a mass market headset”; and it will run a new operating system called realOS, which will include mixed reality versions of Messages, Maps, FaceTime and other apps.
He also says it will be called “Reality Pro”or “Reality One”and will cost between $2,000 and $3,000 – much more than most consumer VR headsets. The newsletter didn’t give a more specific release window than “next year,”but analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the device could be announced as early as January, with a launch just in time for Apple’s June Developers Conference. DigiTimes previously reported that Apple could start production in March.