This week, the full attention of Apple teams will be on its “Far Out” event, which is expected to see the debut of the iPhone 14 family – iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max – as well as new AirPods and the new Apple Watch from the American giant.
If the flood of news to come should delight aficionados of the Apple brand, it has other projects in its boxes. Including the future launch of a highly anticipated virtual reality or augmented reality headset.
The first of these models, codenamed N301 and likely to be called Apple Reality Pro, could launch as early as next year. It could be followed by a less expensive N602 model, and the N421, which should be a set of augmented reality glasses. For Apple as for its competitors, this is a challenge: within large technology companies, the commonly accepted opinion is that the future of digital will be written thanks to augmented reality and virtual reality headsets.
A turning point
The digital giants have already injected billions into these projects in recent years. For the latter, the battle ahead will be crucial: the brand that wins will be able to manage our relationship with the visual world around us. The advertising potential (not to mention the invasion of privacy) is nearly endless.
However, the enthusiasm is still far from there: while the global market for reality headsets grew by 92.1% year-on-year in 2021, only 11.2 million devices were delivered according to the analysis firm IDC, against 1.3 billion smartphones delivered the same year. The metaverse is certainly attracting a lot of interest and investment, but mainstream virtual reality is still dominated by smartphones and tablets rather than headsets.
Virtual reality is not Apple’s only priority to secure the future. Many rumors point to the possible launch of a kind of self-driving “Apple Car”. Such is the power of the Apple brand that, according to a recent study, a quarter of new car buyers would “definitely” consider buying one, even if it doesn’t exist yet and may never exist. The iPhone ecosystem continues to expand, as does Apple’s interest in the services. And there’s still growth in the smartphone market, especially if Apple releases a foldable iPhone at some point in the future.
Source: ZDNet.com