Rumors suggested that WWDC would have featured more product announcements, possibly even Apple’s first augmented reality (AR) headset. However, after being a no-show at the conference, the Apple AR headset will now be delayed until the second quarter of 2022.
Reportedly, Apple has been planning to debut its very own AR gear, following in the footsteps of Facebook and Sony. The company announced it would release an initial “mixed-reality” device in 2021 or 2022 followed by AR glasses around 2025.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicted in March that the Apple AR headset could be released in the “next several months.” However, the absence of any updates from Apple and its no-show at yesterday’s WWDC keynote point towards a delay.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s early predictions, the Apple AR headset was supposed to be available to purchase in 2021, but in March of this year, he changed the date to 2022.
“We predict that Apple will launch AR HMD devices in 2022. The device will provide a video see-through AR experience, so the lens is also needed, and Genius is also a key supplier,” he said at the time.
The unusually long gap between its announcement and release could be explained by the fact that this is Apple’s first attempt at AR. Since the company is new to this field, it wants to give developers some time to prepare for an entirely new platform. Reports suggest that it will be a premium product aimed at developers, rather than a consumer device.
Kuo’s report on the Apple AR headset also mentions a promising future for Genius Electronic Optical, one of Apple’s key suppliers. It talks about the iPhone 13, commenting that Genius will be the only supplier for its wide-angle and telephoto camera lenses. While Largan was another major supplier for Apple, a recent gaffe it made has led to Apple temporarily suspending its shipment agreement with them. The slipup on Largan’s part means that Genius will exclusively be shipping around 65% to 70% of these parts, which translates to it holding a whopping 40% to 50% of the components’ market share.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.