Apple’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset may not be making an appearance at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), as mass production has been delayed yet again, according to prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a tweet, Kuo explained that Apple is not optimistic about the headset’s potential to create an “iPhone moment,” which has led to a further delay in its mass production schedule until the end of Q3 2023. This has created uncertainty as to whether the device will appear at WWDC 2023, as was previously anticipated.

Kuo believes that this delay has been caused by concerns over poor market feedback, given the economic downturn, hardware specification compromises, the weight of the device, and the readiness of the headset’s ecosystem and applications. These issues, combined with the high selling price of the headset, which Kuo predicts could be between $3,000 to $4,000, or even higher, have resulted in a reduction of shipment forecasts for 2023. Previously, half a million units were expected to ship this year, but this has now been reduced to just 200,000 to 300,000 units.

These concerns echo a recent report from The New York Times, which stated that Apple employees had serious doubts about the headset’s prospects, describing it as “a solution in search of a problem.” Apple’s decision to delay the headset’s production may indicate that the company is taking these concerns seriously and is working to address them.

Despite the setbacks, Apple’s mixed-reality headset remains one of the most highly anticipated products in the tech industry. It is expected to offer a range of innovative features, including high-resolution displays, advanced sensors, and the ability to seamlessly integrate with other Apple devices. If Apple can overcome the challenges associated with the headset’s development, it could pave the way for a new era of mixed-reality technology and further cement Apple’s position as a leader in the tech industry.

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HTC has just announced a new mixed reality headset from its Vive series. The company’s new Vive XR Elite AR/VR headset is now available for pre-orders but with a hefty price tag. So let’s have a look.

The company’s new XR Elite headset costs more than 1,000 US Dollars and was built to compete with Meta’s Quest series of headsets and the upcoming mixed reality headset that Apple is currently working on. The new XR Elite supports a number of games and software that offered HTC already offered on its previous generation VR headsets. Furthermore, the mixed reality experience aspect of this device also allows for full color passthrough video.

In other words, the Vive XR Elite is not just for gaming, but is also built for passive media and productivity tool in a relatively lighter package. the latest Vive headset weighs just 625 grams, which makes it heavier than the Meta Quest 2, but slightly lighter than the Quest Pro, which weighs 722 grams. It features mixed reality functionality with color cameras and a depth sensor for improved situational awareness. Meta had also originally planned to offer this on the Quest Pro as well.

The XR Elite features a 2K pixels per eye, a 110 degree diagonal field of view, a 90Hz refresh rate, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 SoC. Notably, the headset offers a “glasses mode” that basically makes the headset even lighter. This basically lets you take off the strap and battery and replace them with a pair of plastic pieces that rest over your ears, which reduces the weight by around 240 grams. The new headset is priced at 1,099 US Dollars and offers the headset, one battery, and two motion controllers, with shipments set to begin in late February 2023.

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As per an official listing on CNIPA, the Chinese tech giant was just granted a patent with the publication number being CN110264320B. The patent description can also be seen, which is for an “Information Display Method, Device and Storage Medium Based on Augmented Reality Equipment.” In simpler terms, the patent is for a new technology that is capable of displaying information based on augmented reality devices.

According to the patent, Xiaomi describes an AR device that displays evaluation based information of the targeted item in its field of view. This would let the device inform users of the supposed “pros and cons” of the items. If Xiaomi is actually working on such a system, it would expand the possible applications of augmented reality. While finer details aren’t specified, the patent does mention the basics of how this system will work.

The AR device will capture a targeted item through its camera module, after which, it will begin mapping the product and offer the users information based on the appearance of the item. So, we can expect this technology to be supplemented by object mapping systems that offer item identification capabilities to the device. Unfortunately, it is currently unknown if the company is actually working on such a system or covering all bases.

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A recent Bloomberg report has revealed that US tech giant, Apple could launch a  tech-loaded VR-AR headset within a year. The report says that the virtual reality and augmented reality headset may actually be the precursor of more applications using AR glasses.

Apple has been a leader in research and development relating to AR and VR technology for several years, even CEO, Tim Cook had stated that augmented reality was promising.  

The headset, which is expected to be quite expensive, could usher in a new way of producing smartphones using augmented reality glasses.  2022 is the expected year of release of the headset by Apple and it will square up against other VR headsets like Facebook’s Oculus and PlayStation VR, from Sony. 

The VR-AR headset is a culmination of active research and development in the area by Apple for several years, as the company deployed components of VR and AR devices and software. Last year the LiDAR technology was deployed in the sensor of the iPhone 12 Pro, making the device to be more versatile and in performing augmented reality activities.

The technology used for the VR headset could be scaled up and adjusted so that Apple could indeed come up with thinner and premium looking smart glasses touted to replace the iPhone within the decade. 

The new VR-AR headset is primarily a virtual reality gadget, with a remarkable 3D digital environment on display, which enables the user to carry out any task from watching a video to playing his favorite game, as well as a number of other tasks. However, the VR=AR headset may have much limited AR capability, as this is an area of continuing research, as they inch towards firming up the technology for more revolutionary applications.

The headset, like the existing stuff of this nature, will have a battery that powers its operations and does not require a console, unlike Sony’s PlayStation equivalent headset, PSVR.  However, it is projected that the price of the VR-AR headset from Apple will be much higher than that of its current competitors.

From the Bloomberg report, there could be single sales of the device daily at its various retail locations, as a strategy to ramp up the cost and demand of the flagship product from Apple. It is also seen in some quarters as a gamble by Apple into the uncharted territory of augmented reality, an area that is still in development. The design of the headset may after all, just be a prototype of a more enduring device or gadget using smart AR glass technology.

The risk of such release of seemingly revolutionary products is the possibility of it turning to a flop. A clear case is the Google glass product, launched in 2013 but collapsed two years later.

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