Apple AR Headset Could Arrive Next Year, Analyst Claims

Apple's first Augmented Reality (AR)-based product could go into mass production by the second quarter of 2020, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes. Earlier in March, media had reported that the iPhone-maker published an update titled, "Systems, methods and graphical user interfaces for interacting with Augmented and Virtual Reality environments" as part of an existing patent filed in August 2018.

"The analyst says that the AR glasses will essentially act as a display only with the actual computing, rendering, internet connectivity and location services coming from the iPhone in the user's pocket. It is assumed that the pairing will work wirelessly," 9To5Mac reported on Friday.

The patent hints at Apple's plans of developing an AR-based headset that would work alongside an iPhone to enable users experience an environment where computer images are overlaid on the real world.

The patent suggests that the headset would wirelessly communicate with a separate device powered by a custom Apple processing brain. The company also wishes to add a "touch-sensitive surface" as a way to interact with that environment.

"Apple is clearly betting big on it being a hit. If manufacturing is indeed ramping up at the end of 2019, a 2020 public product launch is seemingly on the cards," the report added.

Last month, software giant Microsoft had announced $3,500 "HoloLens 2" -- a new version of the company's three-year-old mixed-reality headset during the MWC 2019 event at Barcelona. The device would enable direct manipulation of holograms with the same instinctual interactions users would use with physical objects in the real world.