See Apple's VR headset on your desk using augmented reality

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited July 2022
AppleInsider has developed an exclusive 3D model of Apple's rumored VR headset, and you can use your iPad or iPhone to see it on your desk.

View the rumored Apple VR headset using augmented reality
View the rumored Apple VR headset using augmented reality


The Apple VR headset is rumored to release sometime in 2023 for developers. Early leaks showed a VR goggle-like design and little details have been shed on the headset's potential design since.

Using the details provided by various leaks, we've generated a 3D model of the rumored headset to give readers an idea of what to expect.

Overall, the design resembles the Oculus Rift headset. Like phones, there are only a handful of designs that persist on the market, but Apple will have its own design twist.

Given the rumors, we expect the headset to borrow from a few Apple products. The bands may be interchangeable and made of fluoroelastomer like on Apple Watch, the eye coverings could be a similar padded cloth material to the AirPods Max earpads, and main body could be similar to the curved glass and metal used on iPhone.



Check out the full 3D model by clicking on the image above. On iPhone or iPad, use the "AR" mode to place the headset on a flat surface in the real world using augmented reality. On a Mac, clicking the image will download a USDZ file which can be viewed in Preview.

To learn more, check out what to expect from Apple's VR headset. It is expected to be announced at an Apple Event in 2023.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    My two cents.  For working on Macs and iPads, Apple will offer something more like Buddy Holly Glasses.  I don't see the average Mac user enjoying the 3D desktop and the Finder in Ventura, dressed up like Lloyd Bridges.  However, there will also be a headset for more immersive uses (or should that be submersive, lol)


    edited July 2022 foregoneconclusiondewmemichael franksMBearwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 17
    MacPro said:
    My two cents.  For working on Macs and iPads, Apple will offer something more like Buddy Holly Glasses.  I don't see the average Mac user enjoying the 3D desktop and the Finder in Ventura, dressed up like Lloyd Bridges.  However, there will also be a headset for more immersive uses (or should that be submersive, lol)


     It really does look like someone took an existing 3D model of a scuba mask and replaced the front with a reflective glass oval + chrome. 
    9secondkox2michael frankswatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 17
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    MacPro said:
    My two cents.  For working on Macs and iPads, Apple will offer something more like Buddy Holly Glasses.  I don't see the average Mac user enjoying the 3D desktop and the Finder in Ventura, dressed up like Lloyd Bridges.  However, there will also be a headset for more immersive uses (or should that be submersive, lol)


    Nailed it. That brings back some memories. It also reminds me that I need a VR facemask about as much as I need a scuba mask. Still searching for a reason to own one. But then again, I don’t have a swimming pool or an immediate need for the matching Apple Magic Flippers either. 
    michael franksbonobob9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 17
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    If you can't see your comments, re-read the commenting guidelines for the reasons why. No more warnings will be given.
    edited July 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 17
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    Kudos to AI on the render, coolest-looking headset I’ve seen. I’m a gamer and am not offended by it nor its specific use cases.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 17
    Yep I’m with the dive mask thing wow look out patient trolls on that design can’t really incision everyone lining up for that lack luster 
    Sony”s cooler design . 
    As long as they don’t update it year on year and make it obsolete by software updates as it’s gonna cost a fortune 
    williamlondon9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 17
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.
    This has been said about every new technology since home video.
    williamlondonStrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 17
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.
    This has been said about every new technology since home video.
    Way before home video.  Every art form that ever existed ... from painting through to early photography.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 17
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.

    I thank God every day that I was able to grow up without all these dubious "benefits." Developing minds are already being corrupted by commercial saturation inconceivable to my generation (OK, I'm a Boomer). Our house didn't even have a TV until I was 11. Our phone was a party line. Our entertainment came from books, magazines, and most importantly our friends, neighbors and schools. And fertile imaginations. Like my generational contemporary, Steve Jobs.

    Coupled with AI, these developments seem like a relentless march toward a lonely, dystopian future, where our replacement becomes inevitable.
    Yeah, bring it on. This is what I want
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 17
    anoyllaanoylla Posts: 39member
    It reminds me when I was wearing the blue diving mask with the snorkel tube and my mother on the seaside shouted me "Anoylla DON’T GO TO THE DEEP WATERS"
    :P
    Japheywatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 17
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,663member
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.

    I thank God every day that I was able to grow up without all these dubious "benefits." Developing minds are already being corrupted by commercial saturation inconceivable to my generation (OK, I'm a Boomer). Our house didn't even have a TV until I was 11. Our phone was a party line. Our entertainment came from books, magazines, and most importantly our friends, neighbors and schools. And fertile imaginations. Like my generational contemporary, Steve Jobs.

    Coupled with AI, these developments seem like a relentless march toward a lonely, dystopian future, where our replacement becomes inevitable.
    While many technologies have come along, frightened people for no reason, then become indispensable in daily life, VR just hasn’t hit that last note. AR though, is amazing no matter what device you use it with. It’s s perfect fit for some kind of glasses. 

    But VR has been around quite a while now. The modern style headsets have been here the better portion of a decade. It’s just not a big deal. It’s cool and fun in a niche way, but it isn’t the next big thing and you can argue that it’s played out already. Of course, as the tech gets cheaper to produce snd buy, more people will own VR systems, but it won’t be where they spend a ton of time. Kind of like an RC car I guess. A blast when you first get it. Then the novelty wears off and you don’t want to be stuck standing there with a controller, you want to be driving an actual car, dune buggy, or rising a bike. 

    If all Apple does is make another VR headset, but a cool looking one with better specs, better fit, etc. it won’t amount to much. It will be more niche than the Apple TV. 

    If they come out with something like a pair of glasses that does both AR and VR (somehow), then thee see t would be something. 

    It’s interesting. In the 90s, and early 2000s, this kind of tech would have been perfect for thr culture. People were looking for escapes and needing out was the rage. 

    But now that people are so undated with tech, it’s not only seen as normal, but even cumbersome and an affront to relationships. In todays culture and moving forward, there is so much discussion about how to reconnect in meaningful ways to people around us. Even the millenials snd Gen Z are huge on this. The cultural keyword being authenticity. 

    Nothing less attentive than a fake version of you interacting with a fake version of someone else. And that’s why Meta Seems a bit lost and confused. PlayStation at home tried that. Failed miserably. 

    Apple has always been about tech that enhances daily life. iPod for music on the go, iPhone for… everything, Mac, etc. 

    there are daily use cases for everything apple makes from work to entertainment to getting and/or staying healthy. 

    A nerd project where you strap on some scuba gear with a screen just doesn’t fit. 

    Glasses with AR TECH would be tremendously useful and informative. Who needs to take a photo of a dog and swipe it to learn what kind of dog it is? You can just have the info display automatically when you see the dog. Who needs to look up Mayo Clinic or web md when you can just look at a blemish and ask “hey Siri, what’s this spot on my arm?” And get some information right before Siri directs you to urgent care.
    and if Apple can make VR work, perhaps with a lens cover or lens darkening tech that darkens the opposite side of the screen in order to provide greater contrast and immersion for scenarios like medical procedures and training, and yes, even gaming, then that would be a game changer. 

    But this headset stuff… just isn’t it. 

    If Apple comes out with a headset, it will sell. But it will fizzle. It will be just like the other VR headsets that you buy and use a few times and forget about. 

    If they do something revolutionary like the glasses scenario, then they may have an actual “next big thing” in their hands.  
    edited July 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 17
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    JP234 said:
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.
    This has been said about every new technology since home video.
    And it's proven 100% true, hasn't it? Who were the first players to make money on the Internet? Each advance in entertainment tech has moved us a stop further away from FTF interaction.
    The bolded isn't accurate. It doesn't matter which industry will use a tech to make money the first, it has always been thus.

    If the predictions were true, then we'd have died out after books were introduced. Yet, here we are. There's no reason to assume that this technology, is, finally, the one that gets us.

    The predictions are spearheaded by the pearl-clutchers, every time.
    StrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingammattinozwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 17
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.

    I thank God every day that I was able to grow up without all these dubious "benefits." Developing minds are already being corrupted by commercial saturation inconceivable to my generation (OK, I'm a Boomer). Our house didn't even have a TV until I was 11. Our phone was a party line. Our entertainment came from books, magazines, and most importantly our friends, neighbors and schools. And fertile imaginations. Like my generational contemporary, Steve Jobs.

    Coupled with AI, these developments seem like a relentless march toward a lonely, dystopian future, where our replacement becomes inevitable.
    Yeah that's rubbish. A fear-based, handwringing fantasy on your part. We have screens & speakers today, yet are not nothing but icons & photos to each other -- yep, we still have human connections and experience. Do you not visit your friends? Go out to eat? Make meals together with family? If not, that's on you. 

    Limited use case VR devices absolutely will not be changing human nature in the way you've described.

    Oh, you say you're a boomer. Got it.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 17
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    JP234 said:
    JP234 said:
    First it was iPods isolating people from the ambient sounds of life around them. Then came the iPhone, distracting peoples' eyes from their surroundings. Now comes the VR/AR headset, with the potential to totally isolate us from each other in real life. Users will become nothing but avatars to each other, and human interactions will become obsolete. Guaranteed: the first industry to monetize VR will be pornography. People won't even need each other for sex, or any intimacy, for that matter.
    This has been said about every new technology since home video.
    And it's proven 100% true, hasn't it? Who were the first players to make money on the Internet? Each advance in entertainment tech has moved us a stop further away from FTF interaction.
    Your suggestion that the existence of pornography (since the early days of rudimentary photography and film, mind you) moves us away from human interactions without our social circles of friends & family is bizarre, and unsubstantiated by any sort of facts.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 17
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    If they do something revolutionary like the glasses scenario, then they may have an actual “next big thing” in their hands.  
    I think these glasses already look really useful and they have a lot of clear design issues Apple can fix:



    These tether to a smartphone where the processing is done.

    Apple could either do a fast wireless transmission from a device or have an M3 chip on the glasses. The Macbook Air uses 10-15W of power. They can restrict the glasses to 5W or less and would still need a 5-15Wh battery somewhere for reasonable usage time.

    They allow for VR mode by covering up the outside of the glasses. These use a physical cover but Apple can do this switching electronically.

    Apple can source better quality displays for projection or use a different projection method like lasers.

    They will have a much better UI for navigating with and will likely have a LIDAR sensor on the front, which can be used for hand tracking, depth detection and more accurate environment tracking.

    This reviewer was able to watch Youtube, Netflix and streaming games for hours with these.

    The glasses provide a virtual screen over 100" in size so would be a good way for people in cramped apartments to get a good cinema experience that is also fully 3D capable. Having a movie with some 3D elements plus spatial audio on a big virtual screen should offer a nice viewing experience and the same experience can be had anywhere.

    Games like Pokemon Go will be much better with glasses, same with virtual pet games. People can have virtual cats/dogs that jump on the sofa next to them.

    Lots of people online say they can't think of a use case for glasses but while typing their message online, they are hunched over a computer screen where they are having to physically conform to the device they are using. Glasses let them do this from anywhere. No more squinting at a tiny phone screen or going to the computer at the office desk. Wherever you are, pop on the glasses and you can do whatever you do on a computer anywhere and with a 100"+ virtual display - write software, edit movies, use social media, watch a movie, play a game.

    Tim Cook said that when people get their hands on this, they'll wonder how they lived without it like with the iPhone. The iPhone put the computer and the full internet in people's pockets but the compromise it comes with is the display size is limited by the form factor. AR Glasses fix that limitation and give a 3D display.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 17
    SuperbSuperb Posts: 2member
    I’m receiving an error message that I need a newer version of iOS in order to run the VR. However, I’m running the newest developer beta of iOS 16. This doesn’t make any sense.
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