Tim Cook wants Really his mixed reality (XR) headset. According to the Financial Times, the CEO of Apple would have agreed with the opinion of his second Jeff Williams who would also like to quickly launch the “Reality Pro”, against the advice of the company’s design studio. Designers who would have preferred to wait until the technology is ripe for augmented reality glasses, which will not happen for several years.
After seven years of development (twice as long as the iPhone), Tim Cook and his COO would feel a ” High pressure to launch the XR headphones, according to a former Apple engineer who worked on the product. ” They’ve postponed the launch every year for the past few years “, he adds. The design of this device would indeed have known a kind of reboot following Jony Ive’s refusal of a helmet with an external box responsible for the bulk of the calculations.
Jony Ive reportedly refused an overpowered virtual reality headset
In the end, the helmet could still have a wire in the leg, but for the battery. The departure of the chief designer in 2019 would have reversed the decision-making structure at Apple: the studio no longer imposes its wishes on engineers and operations, it would be the opposite. Besides, the designers have Jeff Williams as direct manager since the departure of Evans Hankey.
At 62, Tim Cook would also like to leave a legacy within Apple, in this case this new XR platform. It remains to be seen whether such a product is likely to be successful. The ambition would in any case be relatively modest for the mixed reality headset, Apple would plan to sell 1 million only during the first twelve months of marketing. It must be said that at $3,000 per beast, or $2,000 more than its direct competitor (supposedly) the Meta Quest Pro, you should not expect fiddly results.
Nevertheless, this still represents 3 billion dollars in turnover, and above all Apple would weigh 10% of the XR helmet market in this way. History to prime the pump, the manufacturer would also prepare a marketing campaign of short duration, but intense.
HTC isn’t afraid of Apple’s future mixed reality headset