With speculation ramping up that Apple will announce its long-awaited AR/VR headset at WWDC, set to kick off on Monday, the company is running a Twitter campaign with a video animation of its logo and the tagline “A new era begins.”
In the tweet, the company says, “A new era begins. Join us at #WWDC23 on June 5 at 10 a.m. PT.” The company is expected to unveil its first AR/VR headset on Monday, following years of development setbacks and hurdles. In addition to marking the first major new category for Apple since the Apple Watch, the headset represents Tim Cook’s legacy at the company’s helm.
Apple is promoting next week’s event as an opportunity to “code new worlds,” hinting at new tools to create AR/VR experiences for the upcoming xrOS platform in an email to developers. Apple is expected to detail several new tools to allow developers and users to easily create AR/VR experiences for the upcoming platform.
It is anticipated that the headset, known as “Reality Pro,” will be one of the most technologically advanced products to emerge from Cupertino’s $2 trillion technology behemoth. As of this week, reliable display analyst Ross Young provided new information on the headset’s display specifications, including two 4K microLED panels with 4,000 PPI and up to 5,000 nits of brightness.
A pair of Apple silicon processors based on the M2 chips are anticipated to power the headset. However, recent reports suggest Apple will not stick with the “M” brand for the processors in the upcoming headset. Instead, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman suggests the company will rebrand the chips powering its first headset and future mixed-reality products.
Aside from unveiling the headset itself, Apple is expected to devote substantial on-stage time to discussing the operating system that will run the upcoming headset, xrOS. As Apple’s latest platform, xrOS, originally rumored as realityOS, will join iOS, watchOS, macOS, and tvOS in Apple’s software lineup.
In tandem with xrOS, the headset will boast a suite of features, according to Gurman’s reporting over the last several months. Features include running existing iPad apps in mixed reality, including FaceTime, Files, Home, Freeform, Mail, Maps, Messages, and more. There will also be a new Wellness app with 3D graphics, including a portal for watching sports in virtual reality, using the headset as an external monitor for the Mac, and videoconferencing features.
This year’s WWDC will be more hardware-focused, with less emphasis on new updates for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, as is typical for Apple’s annual developer conference. Rumors suggest the watchOS 10 update will perhaps be one of the more noteworthy software updates to emerge from next week’s conference. The company is also expected to announce iOS 17, watchOS 10, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14 with new features. For a full recap of everything we expect next week, see our Supercharged rundown.
