Apple’s virtual insanity

Since its founding in 1976, Apple products have always been at the forefront of culture-defining technology: the personal computer, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and now... virtual reality?

Well, not exactly. According to an NYT report published yesterday, Apple's highly anticipated virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headset, expected to launch in June, is facing internal skepticism.

🥽 A deeper dive… Unlike the iPod, which made our music collection portable, or the iPhone, which gave us a personal swiss army knife of technology in our pockets, the VR/AR headset is, according to eight anonymous current and former employees who spoke with the NYT, “a solution in search of a problem.”

• Plus, the technology needed to make the headset work doesn’t exactly… exist yet. Meaning Apple has to build new chips and wearable displays from scratch – rather than the iPhone, for example, which was built largely on existing tech.

As a result, the rumored-to-cost $3,000 headset sounds like something made by the dad from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids – i.e., carbon fiber-framed ski goggles with a hip battery pack, outward cameras to capture reality, and two 4K displays to watch anything from live sports to your Instagram feed. (Also reportedly included is a “reality dial,” which users can turn to increase or decrease how much of the real world they’re able to see.)

​​🎮 Metaversus: One thing is certain, however – the VR/AR headset will give users access to the metaverse, which, according to a 2022 McKinsey report, could be a $5 trillion industry by 2030.