Apple first ‘RealityPro’ headset won’t be a smash hit, but an important first step

Within Apple, some of the top managers in charge of launching its new “RealityPro” mixed-reality headset believe the category could ultimately supplant the iPhone as the company’s biggest product, Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg News.
Apple VR/AR headset concept by Antonio DeRosa
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

Internally, Apple has outlined a vision where a headset can eventually be worn all day and everywhere. It would replace the need to tap away on a laptop or even carry a phone. And despite the high price point of Apple’s initial headset — about $3,000 — some within the company believe that the first model will offer consumers a taste of that tantalizing vision…
Apple’s first mixed-reality device, likely to be dubbed the Reality Pro, will launch this year with an immense amount of new technology, ranging from dual 4K displays to a flexible OLED screen on the front that shows a user’s eyes. It will have more than a dozen cameras that can analyze the wearer’s body, eye movements and the external environment.
It will undoubtedly be a marvel and far more advanced than anything else on the market. But it will also be impractical and too expensive for most consumers… I don’t believe Apple has identified a truly “killer app” for the device yet. The company is hoping that immersive video watching, tight integration with other Apple products and advanced VR-based FaceTime calls will reel in consumers, but I’m skeptical that the approach will be enough…
If Apple can ever release true AR glasses — with the price, features and battery life of an iPhone — that will probably change the technology landscape in the same way its previous breakthroughs did.

MacDailyNews Take: First Apple’s mixed-reality (AR + VR) smartgoggles, focused on developers, then the smartglasses revolution will follow!
“Apple Glasses” concept designed by Martin Hajek for iDrop News
Apple has the custom silicon. Apple has the installed base. Apple has the ecosystem. Apple has the services. Apple will have the profitable portion of the mixed-reality headset market. And then, a few years later, Apple will take the profitable portion of the smartglasses (AR) market, too.
And some people will slap their foreheads and lament, “I could’ve bought Apple shares under $140!” – MacDailyNews, May 24, 2022
Apple’s smartgoggles will be cool, but it’s the subsequent Apple smartglasses that will change the world. – MacDailyNews, July 11, 2022
Augmented Reality is going to change everything. — MacDailyNews, July 21, 2017
Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we’ll look back at holding up slabs of metal and glass to access AR as unbelievably quaint. — MacDailyNews, July 28, 2017
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