Did Tim Cook just tease Apple’s rumored upcoming VR headset?
Apple’s CEO made some intriguing comments when asked about how Apple views augmented reality devices.
Apple has been long rumored to be working on a VR headset product. I summarized the state of those rumors just ahead of this month’s WWDC event where some were speculating Apple might announce such a device. That didn’t happen, and it seems more likely that Apple would host a dedicated hardware event to do so. But this week Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed by Chinese state media, and he was asked about how Apple views the potential of AR devices. Here’s what he said. (Hat tip to MacRumors for the transcript.)
I am incredibly excited about AR as you might know, and the critical thing to any technology including AR is putting humanity at the center of it. And that is what we focus on every day. Right now, as an example, we have over 14,000 ARKit apps in the App Store, which provide AR experiences for millions of people around the world.
I think despite that, we're still in the very early innings of how this technology will evolve. I couldn't be more excited about the opportunities we've seen in this space and sort of stay tuned and you'll see what we have to offer.
The first part of that is a pretty stock Tim Cook answer. He’s not going to comment directly on a future Apple product that the company hasn’t announced, so he pivoted to listing all of the apps and developer tools Apple already has in the AR space. But the last part of that last sentence is the juicy part: “…and sort of stay tuned and you’ll see what we have to offer.” This feels a lot like the kind of comments he was making ahead of the launch of the Apple Watch. In May 2013 he said, “The wrist is interesting.” A little over a year later Apple announced the first Apple Watch. Now to be fair, Cook has said similar cryptic things about Apple’s automotive plans, and there’s still no sign of an imminent Apple Car announcement.
It’s also worth linking Cook’s comments on AR with the specific question that was asked, which was: “What do you think are the key factors for AR products such as AR headsets to succeed in the consumer market?” It was actually a pretty savvy way to ask the question.
My takeaway is that Apple is at least seriously working on some kind of AR or VR product internally, and is likely to announce it in the not too distant future. The heavy rumors have been about a VR headset, but there have also been persistent rumors of an AR glasses product. VR is a much more immersive, created experience, whereas AR glasses would presumably be real glasses that serve you up relevant data within your field of view based on context. The latter product is of much more interest to me. Cook could have been subtly alluding to either device type.
I continue to be fairly uninterested in a VR headset from Apple, though of course curious to see Apple’s take on that device and that market. I’d be very interesting in owning a pair of smart glasses though. I think it’s likely we’ll see something along one of these product lines somewhere in the three to fifteen months range in the future.