Report: Apple's rumored mixed reality headset to focus on gaming, content, and comms

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Apple Vr (Image credit: The Information)

What you need to know

  • Apple is rumored to have its mixed reality headset set for a 2022 launch.
  • A new report believes the headset will focus on gaming, content consumption, and communications.

As part of his weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that we should expect Apple's rumored mixed reality headset to focus on gaming and media. The headset is already rumored to be penciled in for a 2022 launch.

The so-called Apple Glass product is set to feature "extremely high-resolution displays" as well as its own App Store, says Gurman. The claim that the headset will also pack "multiple processors" as well as a fan should set expectations for how large this headset is likely to be, too — don't expect anything as svelte as some concepts have shown us. At least, not this time around.

Alongside gaming, Gurman also believes that Apple will work with third-party content providers to help make media consumption something we all do while wearing our headsets. The same goes for communications, with Animojis and a VR FaceTime-like experience set to become the norm.

Gurman previously said that Apple's headset would pack the hardware required to make mixed reality gaming a possibility.

Apple's first headset will be of the mixed reality variety. That means it will have both AR and VR capabilities. While gaming can be done in both environments, virtual reality is what you want for seriously high-performance games with top-tier graphics. For Apple's first headset, that's what it's shooting for: a mixed reality experience that can handle games in high-quality virtual reality with snappy chips and high-end displays.

While it's very likely that Apple Glass will be the best Mac VR headset around, it remains to be seen just how popular just a product could be — especially in terms of adoption among shoppers who might not normally be interested in such a thing. Apple has been able to take categories like smartphones and smartwatches and turn them into those that customers flock to. Could headsets be the next category to experience such a shift?

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.