Tech giant Apple is the latest company to jump on the metaverse bandwagon. According to a Bloomberg report, Apple will unveil its mixed-reality headset before the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which takes place in June. Third-party developers are already working on applications for the new gadget. The device itself is reportedly called “Reality Pro.”
The combined augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headgear is expected to be available later this year following the spring announcement. Additionally, the operating system for the headset will apparently be called xrOS. However, it is rumored to be internally dubbed “Borealis”.
Apple’s metaverse gear has been in development for nearly seven years. The company had planned to release it by 2019. However, things did not move as smoothly as intended. There were plans for launch in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively. However, none came to fruition.
The Reality Pro headset is anticipated to be a high-end product with a starting price of $3,000 or more. This puts it at double the cost of Meta’s Quest Pro mixed-reality headset ($1,499). This is not surprising, as Apple products are usually priced higher than their competition.
Why is Apple entering the Metaverse?
The metaverse hype has slowly faded as the poor market conditions of 2022 diverted attention elsewhere. However, the technology of a virtual environment is here to stay. The pandemic gave way to offline work environments, and the metaverse is taking it to the next level. Tech giants are aware of the direction of human societies, and their designs reflect the same.
However, whether Apple’s latest product will take off is uncertain. Meta’s big bet on its metaverse technology did not pay off. The company lost $9.4 billion on its metaverse venture, which caused a lot of damage to Meta.