Apple AR headset could cost consumers over $2,000

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware
Apple's long-rumored mixed-reality headset could cost consumers over $2,000 when it eventually ships, with a report claiming the expensive development and components justifies the potential price.




The lengthly development process of the Apple VR headset has resulted in a long wait for its release, with a possibility of a launch in late 2022 or delayed into 2023. While it is anticipated to be a premium device, with pricing rumors between $1,000 and $3,000, Apple may be planning to go closer to the middle of that range.

Apple has internally discussed price points for the headset "above $2,000," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his "Power On" newsletter. Though Apple usually does charge a premium for its hardware over its rivals, the company is apparently doing so because of "some of its internal technologies."

Gurman recounts some of the rumors about the headset so far, including its use of two processors on par with the M1 Pro, the use of 8K-resolution display panels, prescription lens options, and "advanced audio technology."

The costs of these elements, as well as the seven years of internal development expenses, are thought to justify the high price tag.

The chip is thought to be like the M1 Pro due to the need for advanced graphics, with the M1 using an eight-core GPU while the Pro is equipped with 14 or 16 GPU cores.

As for the focus of the headset, Gurman believes Apple will aim at gaming, with it to be positioned as a "dream for game developers." For media consumption, Apple could potentially work with media partners to create content viewable from a VR device.

Communications will also be a strong hook for the headset, with expectations of Animojis and a "VR FaceTime-like experience."

As for what to call it, Gurman reckons it could be called the "Apple Vision," with "Apple Reality," "Apple Sight/iSight," "Apple Lens," and "Apple Googles" also in the running.


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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Doesn’t surprise me one bit. There will be people who will buy it. 
    caladanian
  • Reply 2 of 32
    MK67MK67 Posts: 4member
    You mean Apple Goggles not Apple Googles 😂
    williamlondonravnorodom
  • Reply 3 of 32
    At that price point, it better be mining BitCoins when I’m not wearing it.
    It has the processing power.
    MK67williamlondonviclauyyc
  • Reply 4 of 32
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member
    rob53 said:
    Doesn’t surprise me one bit. There will be people who will buy it. 
    But…many? That price would surprise me, but I guess I don’t know enough about that potential market. Are there existing significant business applications, or would this be purely a niche entertainment device upon release? I know the article says the focus would be gaming. Presumably the price would come down significantly within a year or two, as the current generation of processors becomes much cheaper, and the thinking is that early-adopters will pay a high premium while quantities are limited?
    edited January 2022
  • Reply 5 of 32
    Apple AR headset could cost consumers over $2,000
    Not this consumer….
    williamlondondutchlordfred1darkvader
  • Reply 6 of 32
    jwdawsojwdawso Posts: 389member
    At $2000, the price is less than a nicely spec’d iMac or MacBook Pro, and is even similar to a high spec MacBook Air.  What’s more important is the software. If it’s got appealing software, they will sell. 
    ravnorodom
  • Reply 7 of 32
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    rob53 said:
    Doesn’t surprise me one bit. There will be people who will buy it. 
    But…many? That price would surprise me, but I guess I don’t know enough about that potential market. Are there existing significant business applications, or would this be purely a niche entertainment device upon release? I know the article says the focus would be gaming. Presumably the price would come down significantly within a year or two, as the current generation of processors becomes much cheaper, and the thinking is that early-adopters will pay a high premium while quantities are limited?
    Apple just released new MBPs starting at this price. The VR headset might use two chipsets on par with the M1 Pro along with a miniature 8K display. This isn’t a toy you let your kids use. If you’re into VR thus looks like the ultimate headset. It appears to be a head-held supercomputer. Processors won’t go down in price, they might stay the same but will go up in power. We’ve already seen this. 

    I won’t be getting one because I don’t have a need for one but I’m sure they will sell once Apple releases one and developers write apps for them. I could see these being used instead of low light headsets, using a variety of no-light sensors to make the user invisible. Military? Of course. 
  • Reply 8 of 32
    I never paid any attention to VR until I bought an Oculus Quest 2 on impulse last month. I've enjoyed it almost daily since then. It was my first experience with VR, but I immediately noticed room for improvement and thought to myself, "I can't wait until Apple makes a better version of this thing". I'd definitely pay $1,000 for it and I might pay $2,000. For $3,000, though, I'll tolerate the OQ2's limitations.
    patchythepirate
  • Reply 9 of 32
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Bring it on!
    iOS_Guy80
  • Reply 10 of 32
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    At that price point, it better be mining BitCoins when I’m not wearing it.
    It has the processing power.
    If it was really this spec, it would be able to replace a laptop entirely for some but it sounds like a lot of guesswork. If Apple had the ability to fit an M1 Pro into a compact headset, they could have made the MBPs thinner and lighter too. The 14" M1 Pro components on the right, including battery would all have to get inside the headset:



    It also wouldn't have as much space as in the mockup as there has to be space for the nose at the bottom:



    The Oculus Quest 2 on-board chip is around 1TFLOPs:

    https://uploadvr.com/oculus-quest-2-benchmarks/

    The test there puts it at around 1/6th of an Nvidia 1060. This is around Nintendo Switch level on-board. The Switch aims for 30FPS but VR is ideally 90FPS.

    Oculus Quest 2 has a link system (both wired and wireless) to display from a console or PC. That is much more usable for VR performance-wise.

    The fanless M1 or A15 makes way more sense in a headset. Strapping an iPhone to a head is much easier than a Macbook Pro and would keep it's price below $1k. It can also have a link system to allow more powerful Macs to stream content but iPhone hardware would be enough to handle video streaming, mobile games and social media.

    These wildly varying reports suggest that leakers have pretty much zero credible information on this product and are playing guessing games like everybody else.

    I think internally, it will have similar hardware to an iPhone. Here is an example phone AR system that teaches the piano in a way similar to games like Guitar Hero:



    Phone hardware is easily capable of rendering this and also physically based materials for realistic 3D objects. For anything heavier they can have a wireless connection to a Mac or a special adaptor that plugs into any video output for streaming using direct wifi.
    edited January 2022 williamlondonihatescreennamesroundaboutnowtommikeleviclauyycravnorodompatchythepirate
  • Reply 11 of 32
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Going to need a killer app or two to justify that price.  I wonder what Apple have cooking in software; the hardware is the least interesting thing imo.
  • Reply 12 of 32
    cpsro said:
    Bring it on!
    When can I pre-order?
  • Reply 13 of 32
    rob53 said:
    Doesn’t surprise me one bit. There will be people who will buy it. 
    Lots and lots of people will.
  • Reply 14 of 32

    Perhaps you should wait for Apple to debut the product.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 32
    Another device that will continue to add space between what's in your head and reality. I prefer reality.

    It will be cool, but no thanks. 
    williamlondondarkvader
  • Reply 16 of 32
    Porn industry want to know Apple HQ address.
    zroger73williamlondon
  • Reply 17 of 32
    Fred257Fred257 Posts: 236member
    This will be a game changer ((literally)
  • Reply 18 of 32
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    I like the sound of Apple Vision, it’s just a cool name. And I really hope they don’t settle for Apple Goggles, which sounds too much like Google, as the authors spell check proved above. 
  • Reply 19 of 32
    robabarobaba Posts: 228member
    Absolutely no usecase at 2,000$
    williamlondondarkvader
  • Reply 20 of 32
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    robaba said:
    Absolutely no usecase at 2,000$
    That’s a weird thing to say. You can go out right now and buy a $300 laptop, yet no one would ever say a $2000 MacBook Pro has no use case. We don’t even know what these are going to do, or how much they’re going to cost. So far, all we have are speculations disguised as “insider knowledge”.  
    StrangeDayspatchythepirate
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