Apple's smart headset project is again being restarted, and rumors are referring to a company that makes accessories with Valve, the video game publisher responsible for the Steam online gaming portal. The news is from a well-known, but always reliable online source, DigiTimes, which says Apple is working with Valve on its “AR head mounted display unit” and is preparing to launch it in the second half of 2020.
The report said Apple is working with Quanta Computer and Pegatron to assemble the device, but it didn't detail how the headset works, what it looks like, or what features you can expect. This rumor came from an anonymous industry source and should be treated as a guess for now. But this isn't the first time I've heard about Apple's augmented reality plan.
In early October, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities wrote in a report that Apple is working with third-party brands on headsets but has not revealed which brands are involved. The DigiTimes report appears to have linked Valve and the project based on Kuo's information. In the same report, the release date of the late 2020 was also provided.
Valves are best known, including steam or games. Half-lifeBut there is Valve Index, its own virtual reality headset, released in May of this year. Previously, I worked with HTC on HTC Vive VR and Vive Pro headsets. Apple's headsets have, after all, been repeatedly connected to augmented reality content, not virtual reality in any form, which is the direction the industry generally takes.
We also previously appeared to be similar to Apple's rumor plans. Samsung's research on the Gear VR headset can be seen as a precursor to Apple's Valve relationship. To create a headset and decisively fill the app store, it worked with Oculus. Recently, if the Galaxy S10 phone uses a special adapter, it seems that interest in the Galaxy VR headset has disappeared because the Galaxy S10 phone goes into the accessory, while the Galaxy Note 10 does not. Whether the Galaxy S11 is backward compatible or whether a new headset is released will still remain.
The trend in mobile VR, where smartphones provide a screen inside the headset accessory, is probably at the time. We recently dealt with the Daydream VR headset to provide one of the most enjoyable and accessible mobile VR experiences like Samsung. If Apple's development process is long, it can bring something new to the table.
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