Apple's AR Headset to Get Powerful 3D Sensors, Motion Detection: Kuo

Apple’s AR headset will reportedly launch in 2022 and now, a fresh report states that it will come with more powerful 3D sensors. These sensors are said to be more advanced than the ones used in iPhone and iPad for Face ID. Furthermore, Apple’s AR headsets will reportedly get an innovative gesture and motion detection system. The 3D sensors are said to get an increased field-of-view (FOV) which is said to improve object detection. The first generation of Apple’s AR headsets are said to weigh around 350 grams and cost around $1,000 (roughly Rs. 75,500).

Notable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in an investor note — spotted by 9to5Mac — that the Apple AR headset will be equipped with more powerful 3D sensors than the existing sensors iPhone and iPad models use for Face ID. Kuo, citing sources, also mentioned that the headset is expected to feature an innovative gesture and motion detection system. The AR headset is said to get four 3D sensors that will allow it to capture gestures and objects more accurately than the current TrueDepth camera.

In the investor note, Kuo said, “We predict that the structured light of the AR/MR headset can detect not only the position change of the user or other people’s hand and object in front of the user’s eyes but also the dynamic detail change of the hand (just like the iPhone’s Face ID/structured light/Animoji can detect user’s dynamic expression change). Capturing the details of hand movement can provide a more intuitive and vivid human-machine UI (for example, detecting the user’s hand from a clenched fist to open and the balloon [image] in hand flying away).”

Kuo further states that the 3D sensors in the AR headset will get an increased FOV that will help it detect objects up to 200 percent further away than the current Face ID sensors. The AR headset will not only get hand gesture detection, but is rumoured to have eye tracking, iris recognition, voice control, skin detection, facial expression detection, and spatial recognition.

Apple’s first generation AR headset will weigh around 350 grams, as per Kuo. He further stated that the development of the second-generation headset has already begun and will be significantly lighter. Rumours suggest that it will cost upwards of $1,000.

The AR headset is expected to launch sometime in 2022 but experts say it may be available to purchase much later. Apple’s headset is also said to feature processing power similar to a Mac and could work without being paired to Mac or iPhone. It will reportedly feature dual processors and feature two Sony 4K micro-OLED displays. Kuo also suggests that Apple could eventually replace the iPhone with the AR headset in a decade.