Via Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple has constructed a special hands-on area inside Apple Park in which to conduct hands-on demos to press of the Apple Reality Pro AR/VR headset, following its unveiling at WWDC next week.
Gurman says that Apple plans to show off the headset to “some attendees and media” on June 5, as well as host future demos over the summer months. The headset will likely ship either at the end of the year, or early 2024.
Although the headset has been colloquially referred to as ‘Apple Reality Pro’ up to now, the final marketing name remains unclear. Apple has trademarked other names like ‘Reality One’ and ‘XR Pro’ as well. The operating system is believed to be called “xrOS”.
One of the expected tentpole features of the product is an advanced FaceTime experience, where headset wearers will be able to conduct 1-on-1 virtual meetings using near photo-realistic avatars, not merely cartoony Memoji characters. The goal is to make it feel like users are interacting together in the same place.
Bloomberg says the demos will revolve on showcasing the immersive FaceTime calls experience, Apple TV+ content and gaming in a virtual reality environment.
The headset will be unveiled for the first time on Monday, June 5, as part of the WWDC keynote. Stay tuned to 9to5Mac for full coverage of all the announcements.
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