Apple’s long rumoured major product successor to the iPhone, an augment reality (AR) headset scheduled to launch sometime in late 2024, will require an active iPhone connection at first to utilise all its features, a new report claims.
The concept wouldn't be all too unnatural, and most likely work exactly the same as the way a non-cellular edition of an Apple Watch does - leave it in your pocket and you’re fine, walk out the door without it, and you’ll definitely be hampered in what you can do.
That isn't to say Apple won't ever launch a cellular compatible AR headset, but just like the original Apple Watch release, jettisoning the iPhone will probably be a few upgrades away.
It's becoming increasingly clear how invested Apple has become in AR, with the company's CEO Tim Cook even proclaiming how he views AR as the more critically important technology over VR, despite the fact VR products outweigh the popularity of AR headsets by over ten to one.
Apple has spent billions on slowly bringing augmented reality into our lives and accustomed onto our devices. The iPhone 12 Pro released last year was the second Apple device to launch with a built-in LiDAR sensor, following its initial introduction on the iPad Pro revision in early 2020.
LiDAR scanners help accurately map out the depth of the area your camera can see more accurately than a traditional live video scan could. This increased depth accuracy helps augment virtual objects more convincingly than a device without a proper LiDAR sensor.
Basically, it’s a given that the Apple AR headset will have at least one robust LiDAR unit projecting outwards - Apple is just getting us used to the technology with the current iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro implementations.
In a conversation with veteran journalist Kara Swisher, Cook said,
You and I are having a great conversation right now. Arguably, it could even be better if we were able to augment our discussion with charts or other things to appear
Just days ago, a report came out that Cook wanted to oversee one more major product category launch under his watch before stepping down as Apple’s CEO. Will AR be the one?