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Apple Mixed-Reality Headset Rumored to Cost ~$1,500 to Manufacture
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There's definitely a market for AR night vision goggles, it's just not a consumer/lifestyle niche.
My guess on the price: 1499 USD in order to be in the same ballpark as competitors and make up market share. So somewhere close to the BOM only, and they will look to recoup the r&d investment later via services. Also there will be storage tiers.
It’s going to be really interesting whether they have some application in mind which will convince people to wear this thing for 2 hours a day.
It’s going to be really interesting whether they have some application in mind which will convince people to wear this thing for 2 hours a day.
There are a series of issues here, but basically what you are describing is an issue with low and mid tier VR. Top tier VR has already largely addressed this on the VR equipment end of things. I've had an HMD for years now that is 4k per eye native. FOV also comes into play, with very wide HMDs having reduced PPI compared to lower FOV HMDs. This means that the Apple Stereoscopic Simulation Hat. Will (unless they made a massive blunder somewhere with panel manufacturer) will look sharper than my HMD, because the Asshat looks to have a far lower FOV. But even my wide FOV 4k HMD looks *very crisp* and sharp. Way sharper than a 1080p display, unless you sit further back from the display than you would want to (obviously display size in this scenario plays a role in perceived sharpness as well.)
Anyway, yes, what you are seeing with VR HMDs that just look like awful, blurry messes (most of them) is slowly going away. We need better GPUs to make best use of the top-tier VR HMDs (even the 4090 is not enough sometimes), so there are still hurdles. I expect the Asshat is going to look very, very good! I won't buy one due to price and FOV, but I bet what what is there looks great. (As you can tell, I'm not fond of low FOV HMDs; because to me that's just as bad as low-clarity HMDs - it breaks immersion.)
This is very much an issue right now, absolutely agree with you, but I think it can be solved. If anyone can figure it out through lots of research it's Apple. I think part of it for me is the harsh light that the screens emit, and you can test that by setting your headset to minimum brightness. That makes it tolerable for longer. Apple could have figured out how to fix that. Though I remain doubtful.
No… no.
Comparing the ski goggles to spectacles is absurd.
I wear these pretty much all the time when I am at my Mac… Hours at a time. No problem. I cannot imagine strapping anything I have seen so far (from all manufacturers) to my face for hours on end, never mind that it has an extra battery pack?
I'm really worried about the gaming part
There will be no PCVR support(probably)
Valve will not support them(competition)
M2 will make the headset the most powerful one in the market BUT meta bought a lot of VR game studios like people behind Beat saber.
There will be no PCVR support(probably)
Valve will not support them(competition)
M2 will make the headset the most powerful one in the market BUT meta bought a lot of VR game studios like people behind Beat saber.
Going with the mentioned conservative cost of $1,600 (including labor and shipping), I'd predict a sales price of roughly $2,300.
Seems reasonable, especially considering it will include a suite of interesting productivity apps.
No doubt many here will still insist on clinging to the $3,000 price, a rumor that's been floating around for a long time here.
That gives people an opening to label the device a major flop. Which is always a crowd-pleaser here!
Seems reasonable, especially considering it will include a suite of interesting productivity apps.
No doubt many here will still insist on clinging to the $3,000 price, a rumor that's been floating around for a long time here.
That gives people an opening to label the device a major flop. Which is always a crowd-pleaser here!
Given this is a first-generation device for Apple, the US$1,500 materials cost does not surprise me.
In fact, the very high cost of the device (circa $3,000) tells me it's more a device intended for developers to develop apps. A more consumer-friendly device may not appear until at least fall 2024 at a much lower cost, maybe around $1,100.
In fact, the very high cost of the device (circa $3,000) tells me it's more a device intended for developers to develop apps. A more consumer-friendly device may not appear until at least fall 2024 at a much lower cost, maybe around $1,100.
VR has always been viewed as a "toy" because it's so cumbersome to use. You have to step away from everything else you're doing in order to use it. Unlike the computer or phone or watch, which are a portal/tools to get things done. People can justify spending money on those, because you can justify it as "necessary" to your life.
I just don't see how Apple is going to differentiate themselves in this regard, even with the most amazing VR system in the world. It's still going to be a single person "toy", at least 5X the price of the Oculus "toy". I doubt it'll totally flop, but it will probably become a side project for Apple over time, similar to the Apple TV (just way, way more expensive).
I just don't see how Apple is going to differentiate themselves in this regard, even with the most amazing VR system in the world. It's still going to be a single person "toy", at least 5X the price of the Oculus "toy". I doubt it'll totally flop, but it will probably become a side project for Apple over time, similar to the Apple TV (just way, way more expensive).
My opinion keeps evolving on use case, but my current thought is that this will be pitched as some kind of alternative to the Pro Display XDR or Studio Monitor. The target audience are users already spending thousands on displays.
I know, different use cases with those products, but two studio monitors would set you back the same as the $3000 VR glasses. If Apple VR can draw 3-5 virtual desktops in front of your eyes, comfortably, that may be perceived as a better value for some users.
I know, different use cases with those products, but two studio monitors would set you back the same as the $3000 VR glasses. If Apple VR can draw 3-5 virtual desktops in front of your eyes, comfortably, that may be perceived as a better value for some users.
I think that was one of the reasons the military put a hold/stop on the HoloLens.
$2499 will be the price. Very low margin for an apple product. iPad intro price was a big shocker. Wasn't going to order, but at that price back then I didn't think twice.
Beat Saber would be one of the very few things that would get me to buy an Apple VR headset. Alas.
This just oozes “comments that we will look back on that aged poorly”. The very wording in the first paragraph sound like the beginning of a news article about the success of this product. “Meta gave up on vr. Microsoft HoloLens never went anywhere. the Market for this segment seemed all but dead until apple entered the market and revived a dead market. It’s been 5 years since apples headset launched and since then, other companies have all but copied apples successful strategy in a new and booming augmented reality market“
As some of us older people have seen over the years, people have been quick to judge something before it’s even on the market. So myopic. People said the first iphone was going to fail because it didn’t have a hardware keyboard. It didn’t even have 3g or picture messaging. Or an App Store! It basically existed to lay a foundation to build on. Same for Apple Watch and “why do I need a watch? I tell time on my phone just fine. Nobody wears watches anymore”. Or ipad and “I don’t need a big iPhone”.
at least wait a year or two after product release to have a final opinion on the damn product
People did not want to wear watches, myself included, until Apple Watch. Watches in general were a dying market. The thing about a device like this is that it could show the XR industry how things really should be done, which is why you can't make predictions based on the current market. It's totally up in the air, but I wouldn't bet against Apple making a product into something we thought we didn't want or need.
Comments like yours are the type thing I see right before a big change. I'll never forget how many predicted the Nintendo Switch was going to be DOA, that nobody wanted a handheld in a world of cell phones, etc.
Oh, and as for Wall Street, I consider anything they predict to be bad to be ripe for the taking. They are extraordinarily wrong about what people want, just about what generates easy revenue...I've worked on Wall Street, these are people less tech savvy than your grandparents. These are the people who think Tesla is going to win the EV game so hard that they value them more than the entire automotive industry combined...when Tesla sinks, and it literally has to when the dust settles on EV's, they will say that EV's are a huge negative.
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Typically, any product should retail at about double the cost to build unless you plan to recoup your investment by selling software like you see with a game console. You need to account for R&D at about 10%, support at about another 10%, and at least 10% more for customers who return the product. That leaves about 20% profit margin.