What you need to know
- A new rumor says Apple wants to release its AR/VR headset "in the next several months".
- Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple would prefer this to be at an in-person event, not online.
A new report says Apple may announce its Apple VR in the "next several months", but that it would like this to be at an in-person event.
From Bloomberg:
Sometime in the next several months, the company is poised to announce a mixed reality headset, its first major new device since 2015. If possible, Apple won't want to make such a critical announcement at an online event. It wants employees, the media, its partners and developers in the room.
The snippet was given in the context of Apple's upcoming all-online WWDC conference in June, announced earlier this week. Gurman says that Apple hopes this will be the last such event:
But I believe that internally, Apple hopes that WWDC 2021 will be its last developer conference in a purely digital format—and that the return to in-person media events will begin by early next year. The company makes hardware: It wants attendees, as well as more of its employees, back in-person to use, test and develop those products.
Apple announced WWDC 2021 on Tuesday. From that report:
Apple has just announced that WWDC 2021 will take place on June 7-11 in an all-online format.In a press release the company stated:Apple today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 7 through 11, in an all-online format. Free for all developers, WWDC21 will offer unique insight into the future of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Building on the record-breaking participation and learnings from last year's online conference, WWDC21 is an opportunity for developers to learn about the new technologies, tools, and frameworks they rely on to build innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games. Apple also announced that this year's Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for young developers to demonstrate their coding skills by creating a Swift playground, is now accepting submissions.
Apple's AR/VR headset is rumored to be a lightweight device that could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3000. According to The Information, it could come with two 8K displays and multiple cameras for monitoring user activity and their surroundings.
