Apple said to partner with Valve to make AR headset
A report claims that Apple is working with game distributor Valve for the development of an Augmented Reality head-mounted display, which may be released in the second half of 2020.
Next year we may be able to do this without holding up an iPad to our faces.
Citing supply chain reports, Digitimes claims that Apple has partnered with the game developer, Valve, in order to produce an Augmented Reality headset. As well as developing the headset with Steam, Apple is said to be using familiar suppliers Pegatron and Quanta Computer to assemble the device. It's not expected to be released before the second half of 2020 at the earliest.
Valve wouldn't be providing VR or AR experiences itself, but could use the Steam distribution system to distribute them. Back in 2017, Valve leveraged Apple's macOS High Sierra's eGPU and virtual reality support to bring a beta version of its SteamVR to the Mac.
Then for macOS Mojave, Apple worked with both Valve and HTC to support their HTC Vive Pro headset for VR.
This timescale reported by Digitimes is later than previously predicted by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Last month, he reported that production of an AR headset would begin before the end of this year, with a launch in the second quarter of 2020.
Digitimes does not have the greatest reliability in its Apple reporting. Most significantly, it claimed in July that Apple had abandoned its AR Glasses project entirely. This new report admits that wasn't correct, but attributes it to Apple purportedly closing its internal project in favor of this collaboration with Valve.
Next year we may be able to do this without holding up an iPad to our faces.
Citing supply chain reports, Digitimes claims that Apple has partnered with the game developer, Valve, in order to produce an Augmented Reality headset. As well as developing the headset with Steam, Apple is said to be using familiar suppliers Pegatron and Quanta Computer to assemble the device. It's not expected to be released before the second half of 2020 at the earliest.
Valve wouldn't be providing VR or AR experiences itself, but could use the Steam distribution system to distribute them. Back in 2017, Valve leveraged Apple's macOS High Sierra's eGPU and virtual reality support to bring a beta version of its SteamVR to the Mac.
Then for macOS Mojave, Apple worked with both Valve and HTC to support their HTC Vive Pro headset for VR.
This timescale reported by Digitimes is later than previously predicted by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Last month, he reported that production of an AR headset would begin before the end of this year, with a launch in the second quarter of 2020.
Digitimes does not have the greatest reliability in its Apple reporting. Most significantly, it claimed in July that Apple had abandoned its AR Glasses project entirely. This new report admits that wasn't correct, but attributes it to Apple purportedly closing its internal project in favor of this collaboration with Valve.
Comments
I remember Mr Cook not all that long ago arguing that augmented reality is preferable to virtual reality. Partnering with a gaming company on the development seems at odds with that.
from multiplayer, to board games, to interactive stories, alt reality tie ins (such as marvel or star wars), next level or virtualised existing sports, first person shooting - AR is going to be better, healthier, more engaging and self promoting.
not so much for vehicle simulators
... or put it in proper context. As written, the article is incorrectly implying a VR relationship, not an AR retationship. That's what @gatorguy is trying to convey. This new relationship has nothing to do with VR experiences or delivering them through Steam. Valve is there to collab on the AR device. It's an AR relationship that's better defined in MacRumors article: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/11/04/apple-has-partnered-with-valve-ar-headset/ Relevant quote:
Digitimes has a suspect track record regarding accuracy but the AI article should at least accurately reflect what Digitimes is claiming. AR not VR
The benefit of leading development efforts with AR, is that the proportion of virtual elements that your AR headset/viewer provides are in line with your available computational capabilities.
Seems obvious to me that Apple is approaching the ability to provide 100% of the virtual elements, while still retaining the capability of a real world imaging of AR for fully mixed reality extended reality.
EDIT: I don't think Tim Cook was against gaming. I think he was interested in the capacity for VR/AR to create new social experiences. That is certainly possible in games and on an AR device built around VR tech.
It's also extremely unimmersive today because the field of view is so narrow. VR will always be lightyears ahead in immersion, that's for sure. Overall, AR is just too limited for gaming.
Not to mention that every example you mention is better in VR aside from maybe board games. Interactive stories in your own house will get old fast. FPS games will be mostly just about target practice and so on.
I'm sure you have some kind of personal investment in AR which is making you say these things, but they're simply not true.
Apple becoming the Nintendo Nintendo couldn't be. Valve wanted to work with Nintendo in the past but Nintendo was too busy being cocky.
A bunch of opinions. At least the OP had a fact thrown in there.
VR beats AR in only one category, which i noted, vehicle assisted movement. this is a large category to be sure.
outside that, VR has much greater issues to deal with over AR. Which needs to improve FOV, but then so does VR. VR has to solve stuff as basic as walking.
you provide a very narrow scenario, which amounts to a small room or a couch (old thinking) and with that VR is going to need to take over the nervous system “full dive” to solve its issues; or require in the early days those large treadmills, until the game wants you to climb and then what?
immersion is constantly being broken in VR. Yet you make out as if VR puts you in the experience, which is only true with vehicles. Basically, when you are sitting on your ass.
i would bank on AR solving FOV before VR solves movement.
I am not personally invested except to say I have done 25yrs research into both as an entertainment/teaching/communications platform - and both have their pluses and negatives.
in the case of gaming, trust me, i would love to be roaming around FFXV or HzD in VR; but given both examples break in seconds of gameplay, immersion in VR gaming (non vehicle) is whole fields of science away from us yet.
Until then AR wins, because it will provide a more diverse range of entertainment with immersion that is harder to break; and easier shared experiences within place based story telling.
real time object recognition, real time image mapping, real time image processing, merged occlusion/shadows/reflections, physics, depth mapping, live hand, gesture and facial expression detection are all possible now and being put literally into our hands.
AR will use all that in the next 1-3 years to create immersive experiences in that time scale.
please tell me where are we up to with paralysing the human body and replacing the motor and sensory systems input and output from the brain; so i can do anything more than walk on a flat surface for a few metres? sure that surface could appear as anywhere we can imagine and that looks great, can give you vertigo - but beyond those few flat metres it all dies on the ass
unless of course in a vehicle sim which is amazing, really amazing.
don’t you want to get off your couch?