Apple Reaches New Stage in Development of AR Devices

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted key parts of Apple's business, but it hasn't derailed the company's plans to build what could be its next important technology platform -- augmented reality devices. From a report: The Information has learned that Apple is working with Taiwan's Foxconn Technology, Apple's largest contract manufacturer and the one responsible for building most iPhones, to develop semitransparent lenses for its AR devices. As of two months ago, the lenses -- considered one of the most essential elements of the head-worn devices -- had passed the prototype stage and entered trial production [the link may be paywalled; alternative source], a person familiar with the matter said. A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment. The lenses are at least one to two years away from mass production, and the same is likely true of the AR product they ultimately end up in, the person said. The product must still go through a lengthy process of ramping up production to the point where Apple can reliably manufacture millions of them. AR glasses and headsets allow people who wear them to view digital imagery overlaid on and intermingled with their physical surroundings. The technology could give people a new way to view everything from map directions to videoconference calls, and allow them to play games with characters and objects that hide around the corners of real buildings.

Bye Bye Oculus, Vive, and Sony

[backslashdot]

All signs point to the fact that Apple is the only company that cares about resolution. All the other companies have basically given up adn resorted to cost saving incrementalism. Guaranteed the Apple headset will be at over 60 pixels per degree (oculus us under 15) and 120 fps.

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[Puls4r]

I'm not quite sure the article gets it right. I don't want to take off my glasses to recharge them. I don't want them to way more than a normal pair of glasses - if they do you start getting all sorts of blisters etc. I think that perhaps the batter and processor are just as important as the 'lenses', and I don't think any of the three has progressed to the point where they are ready.

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[backslashdot]

I think 6K minimum for a first version. The central 50 degrees must be at 60 pixels-per-degree .. so they would use up 4K pixels for that and the outer 60 to 70 degrees can be regular HD at 15 ppd, which is still superior to anything from Vive or Oculus.

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[Solandri]

The problem isn't lack of desire to increase the resolution. The problem has been the lack of existence of portable hardware powerful enough to drive the pixels needed to achieve the desired resolution, and the lack of small screens capable of displaying such resolutions. @ 60 pixels per degree (actually you need 120 to match 20/20 vision), a 3840x2060 screen will give you 64x34 degrees of vision. Mobile GPUs are just now starting to get to the point where they can drive 4k+ screens at > 30 Hz. And 4k

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[DontBeAMoran]

Just like we don't need sub-pixel anti-aliasing beyond a certain resolution, maybe high-resolution displays at 120Hz with flat shading would be better than lower-resolution displays at 60Hz with all the modern GPU rendering capabilities.

Is an iPhone 11 GPU really incapable of 4K/5K at 60/120Hz if we're talking about something simple like flat shading?

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

there's that phrase again.

[sheramil]

As of two months ago, the lenses -- considered one of the most essential elements of the head-worn devices -- had passed the prototype stage and entered trial production, a person familiar with the matter said.

and

A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment.

"new stage"

[PopeRatzo]

Apple Reaches New Stage in Development of AR Devices

Yes, apparently they have now reached the press release stage.

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[ACForever]

More then far enough along for the pro-apple hoard to start beating their chests and claiming innovation and all other AR companies are doomed.

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[BrainJunkie]

This isn't a press release, it is one of the usual suspects trying to reverse engineer what Apple is up to based on a bit of information that maybe comes from a reliable source or maybe doesn't.

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[PopeRatzo]

This isn't a press release, it is one of the usual suspects trying to reverse engineer what Apple is up to based on a bit of information that maybe comes from a reliable source or maybe doesn't.

That's how Apple does press releases these days.

Yeah, but don't be a glasshole.

[BAReFO0t]

Unless that thing's recording capabilities are completely offline and hardware-guaranteed so, you're not walking down the street with them any time soon, buddy!.
Hell, in the EU, you'd quickly have the cops on your ass. (GDPR is enforced by the population through 1. shaming, 2. calling the cops.)

If it's truly offline, yet can seamlessly merge rendered stuff with the real world, it is of course an amazing device.
Though it stands to see, how they would have solved the lighting of the virtual objects. (Especial