Apple is ready to enter the virtual/augmented reality market with a high-end mixed-reality headset scheduled to be made public during the spring of 2023. Reports suggest that the development of the project has been ongoing for the past seven years, with various delays preventing it from the intended 2019 launch.
The 'Reality Pro', as it is likely to be called, would run on a new operating system, dubbed xrOS, that the tech giant has been developing for some time now. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is planning to make the project public ahead of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which usually takes place in June.
The report follows comments made by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last week, where he claimed that software development and mechanical component issues were the core reasons that forced Apple to delay product shipment for the latter half of 2023. Despite the "Pro" appendage that Apple uses across its higher-end, user-focused product lines, the project has been mentioned as "Borealis" by those involved internally.
With Apple's mixed reality headset reportedly including a 3D video service and its own interpretation of the metaverse, it will fall in direct competition with Mark Zuckerberg's Meta. And with some third-party developers already developing apps for the device, it seems the race is on.