Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting that Apple’s Augmented Reality headset will launch in the second quarter of 2022. This is required to be an development tool and stepping stone toward Apple Glasses.
He made the prediction in an investment note seen by us …
The note is about a key Apple supplier, Genius, which makes iPhone lenses – and is relied upon to supply lenses for Apple’s AR headset, as well. Kuo alludes to the VR/AR device as a HMD, or head mounted display.
We predict that Apple will launch AR HMD devices in 2Q22. The device will provide a video see-through AR experience, so the lens is also needed, and Genius is also a key supplier.
We believe that Largan can’t currently design and produce lenses for HMD. If Largan wants to enter the lens market for HMD, it will be in 2023 at the earliest.
The headset is relied upon to offer both virtual and augmented reality experiences, and cameras will obviously be required for the last mentioned. However, Apple is likewise expected to utilize eye following to improve the experience, which would mean cameras within just as the outside. Kuo has recently proposed that there will be upwards of 15 cameras.
Why are so many cameras required? As well as collecting data from the outside word, Apple is expected to precisely track the user’s eye movements. This will allow them to increase apparent rendering fidelity by targeting only what the user is currently looking at, rather than the entire human field of view. This technique is called foveated rendering.
Apple has a patent for one way to deal with this.
The patent application is in relation to videoing the entire experience, namely the real-world environment over-layed with the AR content.
Rather than have a camera lens physically move to track your eye movements, the patent describes using multiple image sensors, and then using a mix of sensor-selection and digital zoom to capture what you’re looking at.
Kuo expects the headset should cost around 1,000 dollars, however Bloomberg has implied that the cost could be significantly higher.
They have some thought of what’s in store as far as form factor, because of renders dependent on a prototype seen by The Information. Creator Antonio De Rosa utilized these to make more definite renders like the one above.