The rumor: Apple’s entry into the virtual reality headset market will be a stark departure from their competition, according to Mark Gurman (87% accurate, via Power On).
- “I’ve been told pretty directly that the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to — like they can in Meta Platforms/Facebook’s vision of the future — is off limits from Apple. Executives today at the highest levels of the company, and in the past like Jony Ive, have pushed for the virtual reality headset to not be an all-day device, and instead one that can be used for bursts of gaming, communication and content consumption” Gurman says
- Apple’s AR/VR headset is rumored to launch later in 2022 and will be Apple’s first major product introduction since Apple Watch in 2015
Our take: I’ve been wondering what Apple’s initial goal of this headset was going to be, and know we know: the opposite of what Meta wants. And I think this is absolutely the right call for this first-generation product. Sure, we all might want to leave our regular lives and exist in the virtual world one day…but we’re nowhere near there now. So Apple targeting things like talking to each other, playing games and watching videos…that’s smart considering that most folks have never touched true virtual reality yet (myself included). Also, I’d like to note that this rumored approach just feels more human.
