Apple's new headset, the 'savior” of VR

In a few hours, Apple’s this year’s Developer Conference (WWDC23) will be held. Apple is expected to bring its first VR/AR head-mounted display device and a new generation of Mac Studio at this conference. , ultra-large screen MacBook Air, and updates to several operating systems, such as iOS 17, watchOS 10, etc.

Currently, Apple provides registration and badge collection services for developers present at its Infinite Loop campus. All attendees can receive a small gift, including a tote bag, badge, hat and water bottle. wait.

At 7 o'clock tonight, Apple's official website also entered maintenance status to prepare for the launch event in the early morning of tomorrow.

The following is a summary of all new Apple products at WWDC23:

1・Apple’s first head-mounted display

Whether it is augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) headsets, the sales of various manufacturers are not very good now.

According to data from the statistics agency IDC, the shipment growth rate of both VR and AR headsets this year fell sharply in the first quarter, with a year-on-year decline of 54.4%, of which VR headsets accounted for 96.2%.

Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers, said that neither Meta’s Quest series nor Sony’s PSVR 2 can save the current weakness in the consumer VR/AR market.

Now the entire VR industry is looking forward to Apple's new headset to lead the industry to "break the circle" and bring more attention and users. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call this new product "the savior of VR world".

Apple has also been planning for its first AR/VR headset for a long time. It is reported that as early as 2016, Apple had already started the project and design. After several years of preparation, Apple finally put all aspects of this headset into place. Finished.

The following are all the news about Apple’s first AR/VR headset:

Name

It is currently known that Apple’s first headset has three candidate names: Reality Pro, Reality One and XR Pro.

But Bloomberg Gurman believes that XR Pro may be confused with iPhone XR, so the probability of using this name is not high. Apple may choose between

Reality Pro and Reality One.

Material

The body of Apple’s first headset is made of glass, carbon fiber, fiber and aluminum materials. It looks like a pair of high-tech ski goggles, with a new magnetic charger and a curved front glass.

However, "The Information" reported that in order to make the device more beautiful, Apple designers equipped the front of the headset with a thin piece of curved glass to hide more than a dozen cameras and sensors. This

Curved glass is more likely to break than an iPhone screen, which may cause fragments of the headset to injure the user.

Performance

The headset uses an M2 chip, is equipped with

16GB of memory

, and requires an external battery pack to power it. Apple’s first headset has a power button above the left eye. A circular connector similar to the Apple Watch charger is attached to the left temple of the headset and connected via a wire to the

waist-worn

battery pack.

Screen

Analyst Ross Young previously said that Apple’s first headset will be equipped with two 1.4-inch screens made of Micro OLED (OLED on Silicon),

the brightness will exceed 5,000 nits

, and the pixel density With 4000 pixels per inch, the resolution of each screen has also reached 4K. With a brightness higher than 5000 nits, it can support

HDR content

that is not available in the mainstream head-mounted display market.

system

Apple will prepare a new operating system for its first head-mounted display. Previously, Apple used shell companies to register multiple trademarks for head-mounted display systems around the world, including "xrOS", "xrProOS", " realityproOS" and "realOS". The most likely name at present is xrOS.

"xrOS" will have an iOS-like interface, with a home screen of app icons that can be rearranged, and customizable widgets. Apple has prepared a number of first-party apps for its first headset, such as Maps and iMessage, which have been redesigned for AR/VR experiences.

Apple is also creating a software development kit so third-party apps can be optimized for the headset.

In addition, according to LeaksApplePro, xrOS can be adapted to run most existing iPad applications, which can ensure that when the first headset is launched, there will be enough apps for users to use.

operate

Users can control the headset using eyes, gestures, and Siri. This headset has speakers installed close to the user's temples. If users want a more immersive audio experience, they need to use it with AirPods.

Does not support wearing regular glasses

Apple’s first AR/VR headset is not thick and users cannot use it while wearing regular glasses. Apple provides glasses clips for this purpose.

price

Apple’s first headset may exceed US$3,000, currently about 20,785 yuan, but there is also news that Apple will launch an affordable version in the future, and the price will be lower.

In short, Apple’s headset is more like a product that is asking for answers. Even if it has the most advanced design and configuration in the industry, the high price is destined to be over the top. However, considering Apple’s strong marketing and brand appeal, It may make more people pay attention to the AR/VR market, and related competing products may make profits.

二・New Generation Mac Studio

Mark Gurman, a special correspondent for Bloomberg, said today that he can confirm that Apple will launch the new Mac Studio code-named "J475" at the WWDC23 Developers Conference.

Gurman said in the tweet that the current Mac Studio codename is "J375," indicating that the new machine is indeed the next-generation Mac Studio model. This new Mac Studio is expected to come with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips

M2 Max has been used in the high-end MacBook Pro laptop released earlier this year. The M2 Max chip has a 12-core CPU and a 30-core GPU, supporting up to 96GB of memory.

The M2 Ultra chip that has not yet been launched will double the performance based on the M2 Max, with a 24-core CPU and a 60-core GPU, Supports memory up to 192GB. In addition, there may be a "full-blooded" version of the M2 Ultra chip with a 76-core GPU.

The M2 Ultra chip was originally designed for the Mac Pro, but because that model encountered some design difficulties, Apple decided to use the chip for the Mac Studio.

Mac Studio is a high-performance desktop computer launched by Apple for professional users. It is mainly built for high-intensity tasks such as video editing and 3D rendering.

Three-15-inch MacBook Air

Previously, many foreign media broke the news that Apple will also bring a 15-inch MacBook Air laptop to this year’s WWDC conference.

This 15-inch MacBook Air is expected to be upgraded only in screen size, while other configurations are likely to remain consistent with the previously released 13-inch MacBook Air.

This means that the 15-inch MacBook Air is equipped with the M2 chip, equipped with a more powerful 8-core CPU and up to 10-core GPU, supports 100GB/s unified memory bandwidth and supports up to 24GB of high-speed unified memory.

四・iOS 17

As usual, Apple will bring the new iOS 17 system at this WWDC23. However, since Apple has invested a large number of engineers in the research and development of the first headset, there will not be many updates in iOS 17 this time.

The following is the currently known iOS 17 breaking information:

Lock screen interface change

Apple’s upcoming iOS 17 will improve the lock screen interface and turn the iPhone into a “home smart screen.”

According to reports from Bloomberg, when the iPhone is placed horizontally, it can display information including calendar appointments, weather data, notifications, etc., serving as a data center for the family.

Apple plans to use dark backgrounds and light text to make information on the display easy to read. The idea is to make the iPhone more useful when placed on a table or bedside table.

It is reported that Apple is also developing a similar smart home interface for iPad, but it is not yet ready in iPadOS 17.

wallet

Previous whistleblower @analyst941 said that in the iOS 17 wallet application, there is a new navigation bar at the bottom, including Cards, Cash, Keys, Identity Authentication Documents (IDs) and Orders ( Orders) five options.

CarPlay

CarPlay, another important feature of the iOS system, will also undergo major changes this time.

At last year’s WWDC, Apple demonstrated a new CarPlay. The new version of CarPlay has deeper integration with the car, allowing CarPlay to call car functions such as volume and radio.

Apple also plans to add widgets to CarPlay and support simultaneous displays. Since the first cars with the new CarPlay integration will be available by the end of 2023, the new version of CarPlay is bound to be included in the iOS 17 update.

MAP

According to information provided by @analyst941, Apple will bring a new map lock screen navigation to iOS 17. The navigation adopts a half-screen display mode, displaying the date and time at the top of the screen and displaying the navigation map on the screen. the second half.

The number of unread notifications, shortcuts for the flashlight and camera applications will also be displayed below it. Users can swipe on the lock screen to expand the notification center and view all notifications.

Users can also shrink the map to the size of the music player widget on the lock screen and expand it again with a click. This full-screen display mode is very different from the current Apple Maps.

The map displayed on the lock screen is not interactive, but will be updated in real time based on the user's current location and navigation direction.

However, this new feature only applies to Apple Maps, not Google Maps and other third-party navigation applications.

Sideloading

Previously, Europe has legislated to require Apple to allow sideloading starting in 2024, and Apple plans to allow sideloading functionality from iOS 17.

The sideloading feature will be limited to customers in the European Union. Apple has secretly developed a new feature called "countryd" that has been quietly added to iOS 16.2, but it is not yet enabled.

"countryd" combines several data, including the current GPS location, the country code from the Wi-Fi router, and information obtained from the SIM card to determine the user's country. If the user is confirmed to be outside the EU, sideloading will not be enabled.

After the implementation of sideloading, it may have a huge impact on the development and software ecosystem of iOS 17, and third-party app stores may become popular.

五・iPadOS 17

Foreign whistleblower @analyst941 said that the main update points of Apple iPadOS 17 are external devices and interface UI:

• External monitor supports webcam

• Audio output source settings

• Support multiple audio/video source transmission when Stage Manager is enabled

• Adjustable size Dock (external monitor)

• iPad screen off display, external monitor always on

• Lock screen widget

• Default wallpaper template

• Color adjustment, filters and photo styles

• Wallpaper Depth Effect

• Clock style customization

• Wallpaper based on focus mode

• Wallpaper Library

六・watchOS 10

The Apple Watch smart watch has not had a major update for two years. It is just a patchwork on old devices and old systems. However, according to Bloomberg Gurman, watchOS 10 will be the first update of the Apple Watch since it was released in 2015. The biggest software update since the original operating system.

The UI interface of watchOS will undergo earth-shaking changes, the interactive experience will be closer to iOS, support for application folders will enhance ease of use, and widget support will also be added.

Seven・Other updates

macOS 14/tvOS 17 will also be released at this WWDC, but they are all routine updates, only bug fixes, and there will be no new features or new interface UI.

Apple WWDC23 will be held at 1:00 a.m. on June 6 (tomorrow), and the IT Home website & App will be broadcast live simultaneously, welcome to watch!

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