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Apple

Apple's Mixed Reality Headset Could Cost $3,000 and Include 8K Displays (engadget.com) 73

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Rumors have swirled about potential VR or AR hardware from Apple for years now. But today, The Information has published perhaps the most extensive account of what the company is working on, and it paints an ambitious picture. Engadget: According to a source with direct knowledge of the device, Apple's mixed-reality headset will contain more than a dozen cameras for tracking movement and showing real-world video to the person wearing it. It is also said to include two 8K displays, giving it an effective resolution that would far outstrip anything currently on the market. [...] The Information believes that the device is in the later stages of development and could ship as soon as 2022. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple's first headset isn't targeted at a wide audience -- its price point is rumored to come in around $3,000. Given the hardware specs quoted in today's report, that's not unreasonable, but it's clear that this is less a device for consumers and more a competitor to Microsoft's $3,500 Hololens 2. That headset is focused on business customers more than something the average consumer would use.
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Apple's Mixed Reality Headset Could Cost $3,000 and Include 8K Displays More

Apple's Mixed Reality Headset Could Cost $3,000 and Include 8K Displays

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  • they need to come with their own magical graphic cards.

    Not even two 3090 in SLI would give 2x8k@60fps
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Keep in mind it won't be rendering an entire screen, just a few objects that overlay the real world. If they are simple objects without much in the way of special shading effects etc. then even Apple's own GPU could cope with it.

      They probably will be very simple because if you start making stuff photorealistic the user is going to get confused about what is real and what is not.

      • The human mind adapts after 15 minutes. I once had a psychology class that made us put on goggles that turned the entire world upside down. After 15min everything looked completely normal again. The whole process repeated upon removing those goggles.

        • The human mind adapts after 15 minutes. I once had a psychology class that made us put on goggles that turned the entire world upside down. After 15min everything looked completely normal again. The whole process repeated upon removing those goggles.

          I wish that would kick in when I'm shooting film on my view camera which inverts and reverses everything when trying to compose and focus on the Ground Glass back.

          Or even the left/right swap that looking at a waist level optical finder shows...takes forever to

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Because 8K will eliminate or significantly reduce the screendoor effect and/or blurryness. A crisp but non-photorealistic world is far better than a screen door or blurry looking world.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Because they are millimetres from your eyes and the high resolution edges help objects blend in with the real world better. It's also likely that this is just a misunderstanding of some kind, and in fact it will be 8k total resolution or something, or some marketing BS like "retina" screens where it's 8k in the centre but lower at the sides or something.

          Photorealistic is probably impossible anyway. Detecting and replicating real world lighting conditions is beyond what even offline special effects studios c

      • All I want is a cute virtual Waifu A.I. assistant that's always following me around, always there to cheer me up with her cute smile. Let's hope Apple are smart enough and have already signed up an exclusive agreement with Crypton Future Media, Inc.

    • Yeah, but they are much smaller panels so they would use less processing power.

      • Not sure if serious or just stupid...

        Sure, smaller displays require less power. But it still takes the same processing power to render at a given resolution, the size of the display itself is of no importance.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • The graphics card doesn't need to render two 8k displays .. there are other options:

      1. It only has to render one 8k and calculate the scene's stereo delta which isn't the same workload as rendering two separate displays.
      2. Until capable graphics cards are available, existing graphics cards that push out two 4K displays of data can be used and the headset itself can vectorize/upscale.

  • It is good that Apple is exploiting this market. It hasnâ(TM)t fully done so in the past.

  • $3000 is peanuts if the thing works right. Apple being not oranges, i assume they can pull it off and deliver a high-responsive device. Fascinating.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      So what is the killer app that would justify a $3000 price tag?

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • So what is the killer app that would justify a $3000 price tag?

        There are none yet, but they will be built. I work in the area, neuroscience/VR RnD, and in my opinion VR is going to be the 'next big thing'. The fact is that VR allows you to selectively edit weights/values stored in your brain in a way that way as well be a kind of neural net molecular surgery. If you look at the behavioural control systems that have been revealed in the brains of mice in the last few years (controlled by the olfactor [youtube.com]

      • So what is the killer app that would justify a $3000 price tag?

        There are a LOT of people out there with disposable income, that $3K is not much more than pocket change.

        As long as they have something with "cool" factor, folks will line up to buy them.

        Some for fun, others that still would view something like this as a status thing.

        I doubt they'll have problems with these gathering dust on shelves.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I guess they are like the Pro monitors, massively over-priced but people with money to burn buy them anyway. And then there is a tiny tiny niche of people who actually have some need for them.

      • My guess would be that you're paying 3000$USD to get a 1~2 years advance on developing something for their upcoming consumer version.

  • But whatever, the bauble hunters will buy, Buy, BUY !

  • Coming from Apple I would've expected another zero at the end of that price.
    • All of this is speculation. Apple may not be close to those specs because they never promised them. And if they do not release a set with 8K displays some people here would forget that fact and crucify them for it. No wireless, less space than an Oculus. Lame

  • I will buy it. If true, this ought to be the type of VR headset I have been waiting for. I really hated all the VR headsets that are currently out (including the bulky Pimax "8k".)

    1. I need a crisp display that doesn't have the screen door effect. Something I can watch movies in, and has deep blacks such that you can experience seeing a planet with stars in the background without a "skyglow".
    2. The frame rate should be 120fps or above ideally, but maybe 90 can work too.
    3. Hand tracking should be high enough

  • If it is to be adopted by the industry it needs safety certifications, especially the kind protection glasses provide as well as helmet integration.

  • It's an odd choice to call it mixed-reality when many people seem to be living in a mixed reality already without wearing any headsets.

  • Who the hell cares. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Cryptimus ( 243846 )

    It'll be an Apple product. Apple will spend 100 million on the design then deliver an overpriced product with inferior specifications and poor tech support that is chained to their ecosystem.

    • Apple makes a desktop holder for their new VR set at only $2000,00
    • Other VR makers come out with siimilar or better VR set for 1/4 the cost, but Apple fans buy the Apple crap because... ALIENS!???? Or they're stupid.
  • So, $3k. When taking inflation into account, about the same as an early era mobile phone.

    That means that within a few years the price will have dropped to one-tenth of that for the hardware. I wonder what extras Apple will insist on to monetise these the way they do with their phones? And what wireless bandwidth they will require?

    • I wonder what extras Apple will insist on to monetize these the way they do with their phones?

      Such as? I've had an iOS device since the first iPod touch and I've never had to pay Apple for anything other than the device itself.

  • For a moment I was worried that Apple would release a product that required them to actually support high end GPUs rather than simply giving the middle finger to NVIDIA like they've done.

    But who knows, maybe they also have a magic 8K GPU on the market powered by ARM.

  • Will need an $8K mac pro or $1.5-2K pc to get good FPS on it.

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