Both Apple and Qualcomm has been recently in the news about their Mixed Reality headsets / glasses. These will certainly bring interesting features to the market and have the chance to allowing more people to be aware about the metaverse – and enter it. Apple has been quite good on making their products look interesting and cool for people. Most VR/MR headsets don’t appeal to ordinary people because they “are not cool” or “are not socially acceptable”. It is definitely interesting to see if Apple can change that trend. On the other hand – it looks kind of swiming glasses or like a vertical iPhone on your face.. But we have seen only concept art so far – and not the actual product.
When it actually comes out to market matters. Many sources say it will be out this year (2022) but we will see because many innovations suffer from the component shortage.Other key thing is the price – if it is “thousands of dollars” it will be only used by few and it won’t make an actual impact for a long time (until the price is low). If they aim to battle with Microsoft HoloLens 2 with the price and features, I have to say they need to be very creative at Apple with content and capabilities – other they will be just a curiosity. If the price is $1000 or around that then we will se a lot more of them around – but it will be still an expensive add-on to your iPhone / Mac.
Based on rumours (and design) it will also have cameras capturing exteriors and Mixed Reality content will be superimposed on top of that. Just like Meta Project Cambria. I will be keeping my eye on Apple MR headset – it is always interesting to see what Apple invents and comes out with. And to what usage they primarily think their headset would be used. On Metaverse-side I hope that, if Apple builds their own Metaverse platform, they agree with others how our crypto possesions (clothes and so on) will travel between platforms.
Qualcomm Wireless AR Smart Viewer glasses
Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon XR2 powered AR Smart Viewer glasses look a lot like .. well.. glasses – not a headset. According to the Verge article these glasses have very likely a short battery life, but they seem to be very lightweight. This means that these glasses won’t be the final product, but one step forward towards it. Since they are not tethered to your phone with wires, it will also gives quite a lot more flexibility where these glasses could be used.
Looking at specs itself they don’t seem to be the big hit – until you realize how lightweight they are. Heavier than ordinary glasses, but very light compared to most headsets on the market. Technology like this can, in time, bring Metaverse to daily life much more than we think today.
Vesa Nopanen - My Metaverse Day 