What you need to know
- Apple's Dan Riccio is now reportedly running the company's AR and VR projects.
Apple's former hardware engineering chief, Dan Riccio, is reportedly now the person in charge of the company's AR and VR headset projects. That's according to a new report by Bloomberg.
Riccio left his role as the head of hardware engineering recently, with Apple saying that the executive was moving on to head a new project of some sort. Speculation at the time had that project being related to Apple's rumored AR and VR headset. Now, Bloomberg suggests that's very much the case.
That new project is overseeing the team developing future Apple AR and VR headsets, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Apple has been working on getting a headset to market in recent years and rumors have been circulating more and more of late. Apple is so focused on getting the project into the hands of customers that more than 1,000 engineers are now involved.
Apple's work on its first headset, a high-end VR-focused device with some AR capabilities, has faced development challenges, and people within Apple believe Riccio's extra focus could help. While he has ultimate oversight of the project, it is led day-to-day by Mike Rockwell, an Apple vice president who has well over a thousand engineers working on the two devices.
In other news, Apple has also put a group working on displays and cameras under the stewardship of Johny Srouji.
Apple has also told staff it is moving the group working on in-house displays and camera technology to Johny Srouji, the executive in charge of processors and cellular modems. The move suggests the company is getting closer to shipping its first devices with fully custom displays, replacing those from outside suppliers. Apple has a facility near its Silicon Valley headquarters developing MicroLED screens.
