Apple’s revolutionary new Imaginative and prescient Professional mixed-reality headset gained’t even hit retailer cabinets till January on the soonest, however Apple’s engineering and product improvement groups are already engaged on a second-generation mannequin as a follow-up.
Additional, whereas some analysts have instructed Apple could have shelved its plans for a lower-cost model of its headset, it appears that evidently is probably not the ultimate phrase, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealing that Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Merchandise Group isn’t ruling something out but for the longer term route of the brand new mixed-reality headset or what instructions it might spin off in.
In his newest Energy On publication, Gurman notes that early work on the subsequent Imaginative and prescient Professional has begun — a headset that may presumably be a direct successor to the mannequin that may debut in early 2024. Nonetheless, Apple can be stated to be “contemplating a number of choices, together with a lower-end mannequin and a extra highly effective model.”
This jibes with a number of studies we noticed earlier this 12 months that Apple had at the least two variations of its headset within the works for a 2025 launch. Though Gurman’s sources say that Apple’s workforce is just engaged on a single successor proper now, that doesn’t imply it couldn’t spin that off right into a pared-down and extra reasonably priced model that might probably be the “Imaginative and prescient” to the “Imaginative and prescient Professional.”
At this level, the “Imaginative and prescient Professional 2” seems to solely be on the drafting board, with no indication that Apple is prototyping a brand new headset but. Nonetheless, Gurman notes that Apple’s workforce is specializing in methods to make the gadget lighter and smaller than the unique in hopes of accelerating its enchantment to a broader vary of shoppers.
Lots of those that have been lucky sufficient to take the Imaginative and prescient Professional for a spin got here away saying that it’s a quite heavy beast, weighing in at round a pound. Apple had an over-the-head strap obtainable for members of the press who tried it out after the Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) Keynote in June, and the strap additionally seems in a few of its promotional movies, however there’s no official phrase on its existence.
Shortly after the headset debuted, Gurman reported that the secondary strap was a last-minute addition to compensate for the headset’s weight, which can understandably be an issue for some folks. Nonetheless, Gurman added on the time that the design had “but to be finalized,” and on this week’s report heads solely that “Apple is contemplating addressing this on the primary mannequin with an over-the-head strap,” which means that it might nonetheless be in limbo.
Nonetheless, decreasing the load of the headset total is the higher answer in the long term, and it’s potential that it might be one of the vital upgrades to the next-generation Imaginative and prescient Professional.
Gurman provides that Apple has additionally struggled to create a seamless expertise for folks carrying glasses. Opting to associate with Zeiss to promote {custom} prescription lenses was a technique of slimming down the Imaginative and prescient Professional and decreasing its weight, nevertheless it’s additionally created a logistical nightmare as Apple now has to cope with “providing 1000’s of various lens mixtures.”
Gurman’s sources recommend that a technique Apple could resolve this with the “Imaginative and prescient Professional 2” is to ship custom-built headsets straight from the manufacturing unit, with the suitable prescription lenses preinstalled. Nonetheless, that might have the draw back of constructing your Imaginative and prescient Professional a way more private gadget that you just wouldn’t be capable of share with family and friends members. Whereas that tends to be Apple’s method to most of its merchandise — the iPad nonetheless inscrutably lacks a number of person profiles — it’s a fairly critical tradeoff for a $3,500 headset.
In fact, the holy grail of augmented actuality is true AR spectacles — the ethereal and elusive Apple Glasses that we’ve heard a lot about over time. Apple has reportedly been engaged on these for years, however creating true AR glasses — common on a regular basis spectacles that may present data and mission photos earlier than your eyes — requires a degree of expertise that merely doesn’t exist outdoors of futuristic sci-fi and fantasy motion pictures.
In any case, take into account how giant and heavy the Imaginative and prescient Professional is — and that’s with an exterior battery pack. It took years of analysis, improvement, and engineering to pack all that expertise into the Imaginative and prescient Professional, which is huge in comparison with a typical set of eyeglasses. By all studies, Apple hit a wall final 12 months and has put “Apple Glass” on the again burner till the expertise catches up with Tim Prepare dinner’s ambitions. Whereas some pundits assume we would see an actual product as quickly as 2026, that appears ridiculously optimistic — and in contrast, one of many actually far-out rumors of 2020 sounds much more laughably quaint.
For now, the Imaginative and prescient Professional represents the peak of technological prowess in augmented and digital actuality, and that’s a $3,500 headset that’s going to have a distinct segment market till Apple figures out the way to make it lighter and cheaper. Happily, it’s onerous at work on these significantly extra achievable objectives.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]