Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple has built a special hands-on area inside Apple Park where select participants can get some hands-on time with Apple’s “Reality Pro” AR/VR headset following the headset’s debut on stage at WWDC 2023 on Monday.
Gurman says Apple will show off the headset to “some attendees and media” on June 5. It also has plans to host additional demos during the summer. The headset will likely hit shelves at the end of 2023/early 2024.
While many have been referring to the new headset as ”Apple Reality Pro” up to now, the official marketing moniker won’t be announced until Monday. Apple has trademarked several other names that could be used for the headset, now or in the future. These trademarked names include “Reality One” and “XR Pro.” The operating system is expected to be called “xrOS.“
Apple is expected to offer several tentpole features for the new headset, including an advanced FaceTime experience, which will allow headset users to conduct one-on-one virtual meetings using near photo-realistic avatars, to make users feel as if they are interacting together in the same place.
Gurman says the planned demos will be designed to showcase the immersive FaceTime calls experience, as well as Apple TV+ content and gaming, all in a virtual reality environment:
Apple has built a large structure on the Apple Park campus to provide controlled hands-on demos of the device to some attendees and media at the conference. The company has set up an area at the basketball courts near its employee fitness center. Apple is also planning future demos through the summer. When it shows off the device, it’s planning to focus on immersive FaceTime in VR, Apple TV+ content and gaming.
Apple is expected to unveil its AR/VR headset for the first time on Monday, June 5, during the WWDC keynote. Apple is also expected to unveil iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10 (which is expected to boast an overhauled UI for Apple Watch, macOS 14, tvOS 17, the new 15-inch MacBook Air, and more.
Mactrast will be covering all of the big news and announcements from the WWDC 2023 keynote address, as well as the rest of the events and unveilings during the rest of the event. So, stay tuned.