Tech

Is a virtual reality headset controlled directly by the eyes coming next year?

According to an analyst, Apple appears to have a virtual and augmented reality headset in the works that will release at some point next year

Updated 5 years ago · Published on 23 Mar 2021 1:00PM

Is a virtual reality headset controlled directly by the eyes coming next year? — Virtual reality headsets could have a new lease on life with Apple's arrival on the market. – Getty images pic, March 23, 2021

APPLE could soon revolutionize the virtual reality headset market. According to famous analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who specializes in following the Apple brand, the headset that Apple may be preparing to release in 2022 will be able to identify the user by analyzing their iris but will also be capable of unprecedented tracking of the eyes during all activity. Will this be enough to finally win over the general public and make VR headsets truly mainstream?

According to the latest information gleaned by renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (TF Securities), Apple appears to have a virtual and augmented reality headset in the works. It could even come to market as early as 2022. To be clear, it would be a separate product from the project of connected glasses, aimed at a more general public, which could also come out next year.

This headset would be a high-end product, featuring several major innovations, the most prominent being a sophisticated eye-tracking system. The headset would be able to know in which direction the user is looking at all times. It is also set to be able to react to a blink of the eye or even identify the user thanks to iris recognition.

And from those capabilities, a whole slew of new uses could be imagined for the device. For instance it could be possible to view an optimized version of the image precisely where the person is looking and, conversely, to reduce the quality of the image elsewhere. It could also be possible to display information by looking at a specific point or to verify information or interact with an element simply by blinking. As for iris recognition, this could be used not only to recognize the different users of a headset but also to confirm payments via Apple Pay.

The whole device could consist of two high-resolution screens as well as an in-house chip, in line with what the American manufacturer offers with its new MacBook. This future headset, a first for Apple, will probably not be among the brand's top-sellers in terms of number of units, but it could certainly open the way to a new era in a sector that to date has not really taken off. – ETX Studio, March 23, 2021