AR Headset: Apple & Valve Together For 2020 Release

Apple’s work on virtual reality (VR) and related technologies

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

PROMISING PLANS FROM THE TEAM AT CUPERTINO

While Apple’s work on virtual reality (VR) and related technologies can possibly be traced back as far as the 1990s, the Cupertino company has stepped up its efforts in augmented reality (AR) in recent years. We’ve seen this with the launch of the AR platform ARKit in 2017, while code in iOS 13 suggests that Apple is currently testing an AR headset. More recently, Apple was reported to be partnering with Valve to develop AR headwear possibly penciled in for release next year.

Indeed, many recent reports and rumors have centralized around a 2020 release for Apple’s first AR headset. One report from the often less-than-reliable DigiTimes claims that Apple “has partnered with US game developer Valve to develop AR head-mounted display devices,” which “may be released in the second half of 2020 at the earliest.” Meanwhile, the much more consistently reliable TGI Securities analyst MingChi Kuo predicts a second-quarter launch for an Apple AR headset.

However, if an Apple-branded set of AR headwear does break cover soon, what can we expect it to be like? The failure of the Google Glass smart glasses – at least as a consumer product – still lingers in the memory, with 9to5Mac’s Ben Lovejoy suggesting in an opinion piece that Google ultimately introduced its AR glasses too early. That leaves Apple open to succeed where Google and other tech firms have failed, possibly paving the way to AR glasses reaching mainstream acceptance at last.

THE LATEST NEWS ON APPLE’S AR GLASSES