EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT APPLE’S VR AND AR AMBITIONS
Is Apple building a virtual reality headset? Or perhaps a pair of augmented reality smart glasses? Whatever your theories on Apple VR or AR, we’ve rounded up the latest news and rumours to sate your appetite.
There’s no shortage of speculation about Apple’s supposed ambitions in the best VR headset for iPhone 7 and AR space. Even Apple has admitted that the sector is “interesting” and that it’s investing heavily in such technology.
The bad news is Apple hasn’t actually confirmed what its long-term plans are for these two emerging technologies. While rivals like Google (Cardboard), Microsoft (HoloLens), Samsung (Gear VR), Facebook (Oculus Rift), Sony (PSVR), LG (360 VR), and HTC (Vive) steam ahead with their VR/AR products, Apple appears to be twiddling its thumbs – publicly, anyway.
That said, we’re convinced that Apple is working on something pretty big; we just don’t know what it is yet. Read on for all the latest news about whatever Apple is cooking up over in Cupertino, California.
APPLE VR AND AR NEWS: ALL THE LATEST LEAKS AND RUMOURS
Here’s a timeline of the main news in chronological order:
Small team exploring AR
On March 18, 2015, Piper Jaffray analyst (and Apple expert) Gene Munster issued a note that suggested Apple had a small team exploring augmented reality technology:
“While it is limited, we believe Apple has a small team of engineers exploring augmented reality applications. We believe that at the core, the group is likely trying to understand a wearable interface that design would ultimately make fashionable/socially acceptable. At this point, we believe it is difficult to determine if or when these experiments might yield a product.”
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Secret research unit at Apple
On January 29, 2016, the Financial Times published a report describing how Apple had built a large team that was experimenting with a virtual reality headset.
This “secret research unit” was reportedly exploring both AR and VR, and had even created prototype headsets that are said to have been inspired by the Oculus Rift.
VR coming to iOS
On February 8, 2016, AppleInsider published details of a note written by analyst Gene Munster (who we mentioned earlier), who believes that Apple “plans to pivot on iOS in a bid for the mixed reality space within the next two years”.
Munster’s searches on LinkedIn reportedly revealed “at least 141 Apple employees with a background in AR”. For perspective, that’s compared to 425 people with similar experience at Microsoft, and 267 at Google. Both of those Apple rivals are already well invested in the AR space.
Carl Zeiss Partnership?
On January 9, 2017, blogger Robert Scoble claimed that Apple had teamed up with Germany’s Carl Zeiss AG to create a pair of augmented reality smart glasses.
Sociable says that a Carl Zeiss employee revealed the news to him during a conversation at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
Importantly, Scoble seems to be under the impression that the product will launch in 2017, although it’s impossible to verify whether he’s right or not just yet.
Stepping up AR efforts
On March 28, 2017, the Financial Times reported that Apple is stepping up its AR eyewear game, citing “people with knowledge of its efforts”. According to the sources, any launch “is still at least a year away, perhaps much longer”, and that there’s a dedicated team for the project.
Related: Best VR Games 2017
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APPLE VR AND AR: WHAT’S THE OFFICIAL WORD FROM APPLE?
Unlike many of Apple’s secret projects, the company hasn’t been shy about AR and VR. We’ve seen Apple CEO Tim Cook speak publicly about his thoughts on both augmented reality and virtual reality a number of times.
Here’s what Apple has had to say about both technologies to date, in chronological order:
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – Q1 2015 (via earnings call):
“It’s really cool. And it has some interesting applications.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – July 2016 (via earnings call):
“AR can be really great. We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We’re high on AR in the long run and we think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. The number one thing is to make sure that our products work well with other developer’s products like Pokémon, and that’s why you see so many iPhones in the wild chasing Pokemans.”
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Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – September 2016:
“There’s virtual reality and there’s augmented reality – both of these are incredibly interesting. But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far, because this gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things – visually – for both of us to see. Maybe it’s something we’re talking about, maybe it’s someone else here who’s not present but who can be made to appear present.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – October 2016 (via Buzzfeed News):
“Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it’s profound. We might…have a more productive conversation if both of us have an AR experience standing here, right? And so I think that things like these are better when they’re incorporated without becoming a barrier to our talking…you want the technology to amplify it, not to be a barrier.”
“There’s no substitute for human contact, and so you want the technology to encourage that.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – February 2017 (via The Independent):
“I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining.
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“I view AR like I view the silicon here in my iPhone. It’s not a product per se, it’s a core technology. But there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream. I do think there can be a lot of things that really help people out in daily life, real-life things, that’s why I get so excited about it.”
Related: Oculus Rift vs HTC Vive
APPLE VR AND AR PATENTS: WHAT WORK HAS APPLE DONE SO FAR?
One of the surest ways to learn what Apple’s vision for the future looks like is by examining the company’s patent filings.
When Apple files a patent application, it means it wants to own that innovation for the future. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll ever see the technology released, but it’s a guarantee that someone, somewhere at Apple thought something was a good enough idea to try to prevent rival firms from doing it too.
Head-mounted display
In February 2015, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple a patent titled “Head-Mounted Display Apparatus for Retaining a Portable Electronic Device with Display”.
The accompanying images depict what looks like a standard phone-docking VR headset that you’d see today – think Samsung’s Gear VR or Google Cardboard.
But what’s interesting is that Apple first filed for the patent way back in September 2008, suggesting that Cupertino has had its eye on VR for quite some time.
VR Headsets 