Over the years Patently Apple has posted 370 Apple patents covering all aspects of the technology being developed for their future Mixed Reality Headset(s) and/or smartglasses. Last Friday, the technology news site The Information published a rumor report about Apple using Iris tracking and scan for logging in as well as providing clip on prescription lenses.
The basics of the key technology presented in the rumor report has of course been first covered in Apple patents. In January 2020 Patently Apple covered a report titled “Apple Invention Details a Prescription Lens System for a Future Head-Mounted Display Device. Later in July 2020 we posted another report titled “
Apple using Iris imaging for Biometric authentication surfaced in a 2020 patent report titled “Apple has Added a completely new Tier of Biometric Specifics to their Touch Bar Patent related to Macs.” The report noted that “Apple has added a completely new tier of 20 patent claims to their invention so as to specifically cover biometrics that now includes Face ID and an Iris Scanner coming to Future Macs and possibly to the Mac Pro Display. Then in a June 2022 patent relating to under display technology for the iPhone, iris biometric scanning was touched on.
As far as Iris scanning used in a future HMD, Patently Apple covered this in a 2020 patent report titled “Another Dimension of Apple’s Eye Tracking Technology reveals the use of Biometrics and Machine Learning.” While the patent didn’t specifically describe the use of biometrics for device authorization, we know that Apple’s work on this for the iPhone and iMac was. So it’s a not a leap to believe that Apple will use this in their future headset at some point in time.
The information’s report further added that Apple’s headset would 14 cameras instead of the 10 on the Quest Pro, with the additional cameras used to better capture body movements and create more accurate digital avatars. The headset will include two downward-facing cameras focused on a person’s legs, something the Quest Pro does not have. Though Zuckerberg did cover the complexity of showing a person/Avatar’s legs in their recent Meta event.
Apple has a number of patents regarding cameras for their future headset. One intricate patent was covered in our September 2022 report titled “Apple wins a Patent for a Scene Camera System for a Mixed Reality Headset that includes a 2-Dimensional Array of Cameras.”
The Information’s report goes on to cite anonymous sources saying that the headset will run on a 5nm TSMC chip (with similar power to the M1) and cost upwards of $4,000.
Lastly, The Information’s report describes Apple’s headset will be made of “mesh fabrics, aluminum and glass” and it will be thinner and weigh less than the recently announced Meta Quest Pro.
IDC reported last month that AR/VR headsets will decline worldwide in 2022 and forecasts that headsets could hit 35 million by 2026. Today, VR headsets are primarily used for gaming. Hopefully Apple will introduce features and apps that will go far beyond this narrow application in order to expand this market.
To discover other Apple headset features via patent filings, check out our “HMDs, Smartglasses +” archive here.
