Apple recently announced that its longtime hardware engineering chief Dan Riccio will be stepping down to focus on a “new project” within the company. While the company has not revealed what that project is, a new report claims that it is the company’s upcoming augmented reality, virtual reality, or mixed reality headset.
Currently, Mike Rockwell is overseeing the development of an AR headset at Apple but things don’t seem to be going well. With Dan Riccio into the mix, Rockwell will handle the day-to-day work on the project while Riccio will have oversight over the efforts.
Riccio has already handed over top-level management of the Apple iPhone to John Ternus, who will also be the new head of hardware engineering. It has also been confirmed that Johny Srouji will handle the development of a new camera and display technology. He is the same executive that headed the design and engineering of Apple Silicon.
As per the reports, Apple is working on an ultra-high-end 8K VR headset that could possibly cost around $3,000. This is surprising given that so far, the company’s work has been on AR and not VR. The company has been building ARKit, which is a developer API enabling the creation of AR experiences using cameras and sensors of iPhones and iPads.
Based on the information available so far, it seems that the upcoming AR/VR device from Apple will primarily be focusing on the developers or creators and not the mass adoption. We expect to know more about this product in the coming months.
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