Rumors surrounding a supposed Apple AR/VR headset have been documented for several years, but recently the reports have increased. According to recent statements, Memojis and SharePlay could be at the heart of the FaceTime experience.
Mark Gurman, who often has detailed insights into Apple’s plans and likes to spill the beans, has in his weekly “Power On” newsletter Apple's AR/VR headset has been taken up again. Rumors say that the headset will run on "rOS" or "realityOS", which is internally codenamed "Oak".
Apple AR/VR Headset: Memojis and SharePlay in FaceTime?
Now Gurman explained what he expects from FaceTime in realityOS and suggested that it could revolve around two of the company's existing experiences: Memojis and SharePlay.
I imagine a virtual reality version of FaceTime where you're in a conference room with dozens of people. Instead of seeing their faces, you see 3D versions of them (Memojis). I expect the headset will be able to recognize a person's facial expressions in real time, so the experience is pretty lifelike. I expect the new RealityOS will also feature SharePlay so multiple headset wearers can enjoy music, movies, and games together.
There have been rumors about Apple's work on realityOS since 2017. But the existence of the operating system was finally – albeit unintentionally – confirmed this week. confirmedwhen evidence of it was found in the App Store upload logs and in Apple's open source code.
Release could be delayed until 2023
Apple introduced Memojis in 2018 with iOS 12 while SharePlay is a much more recent addition, launched with iOS 15.1 last year. Speculation suggests that many new features Apple has released in recent years, such as ARKit, AR walking directions in Apple Maps, spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and the LiDAR scanner, are destined for the mixed reality headset in the long term, allowing the company to familiarize users with some aspects of the headset and publicly iterate long before release. It seems plausible that Memoji and SharePlay could also be part of this strategy. Despite the excitement that Apple's headset project is "close to launch" this year, Gurman now believes that development issues will likely delay the device's announcement until WWDC 2023. (Photo by Iryna Imago / Bigstockphoto)
