Rumors of an Apple AR Headset Heat Up after Apple Acquires VRvana

There’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of Apple’s building their own augmented reality (AR) headset to be released in 2020. Now while these are just rumors, they still hold some weight, and even more now after TechCrunch sources say that Apple has acquired VRvana, which crowdfunded a camera-based AR and VR headset called the Totem. The big appeal to the Totem is that it promises to provide a seamless blend of augmented and virtual worlds.

The Totem is reportedly able to display fully opaque images on its OLED display, which is what's supposed to let it transition smoothly between AR and VR. The Totem is said to eliminate any disorienting lag, which is common with camera-based designs with mixed reality, cutting the lag down to three milliseconds. The headset’s also suppose to have “inside-out” tracking that utilizes the system’s camera to track its users position and use infrared to follow their hand movements.

See VRvana’s AWE USE 2017 presentation showing off thei AR and VR technology.

https://youtu.be/Gudj3-09rYQ

Apple has declined to confirm that they’ve made this deal.

However, if these rumors are true, many are wondering what Apple will do with VRcana’s technology. Since Apple may be building their own AR headset for 2020 ,which is said to be a fully self-contained device with no lad, ghostly visuals, cords or required controllers, it would make sense for them to incorporate VRcana’s tech into that.

Apple’s been buying up AR and VR companies for a while now, recently buying SensoMotoric Instruments, a company that makes eye-tracking glasses and platforms for AR and VR. They also made additional AR and VR investments with Flyby Media, metaio, Emotient, and Faceshift. If one thing is clear, it’s that Apple is very interested and invested into AR and VR.

Sean Berry
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is Videomaker's Managing Editor.

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