Virtual reality has been gaining popularity through out the years. Currently, new smartphone releases are being bundled up with VR headsets and the Android operating system even as a built-in VR support in place. It is speculated that VR will be built into all smartphones in the future.
Many large name brands like Samsung and Sony has their own VR headsets available for use. Even Google has "Daydream View" mobile VR headset already available for pre-order. Now, it seems like Apple is going to be a major player in the market too.
It has been rumored that Apple who has a long rap for being very secretive with their developments and upcoming devices has a secret team developing a virtual reality and augmented reality device for over ten years.
Th secret team is a group of individuals who are experts from fields related to virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. They are currently exploring ways on how to utilize the technology and apply it to upcoming Apple products in the future.
Apple CEO Tim Cook did not really confirmed that they are developing any virtual reality or augmented reality device but he did say something that got a lot of people speculating that it really is in the works and it won't be VR.
"AR I think is going to become really big," said the Apple CEO. "VR, I think, is not gonna be that big, compared to AR ... How long will it take? AR gonna take a little while because there's some really hard technology challenges there. But it will happen. It will happen in a big way. And we will wonder, when it does [happen], how we lived without it. Kind of how we wonder how we lived without our [smartphones] today."
It looks as if Tim Cook wanted an AR version that is more mobile friendly. "The reality is it has to be something that everybody in [this room] views as an acceptable thing. But few people in here are going to think it's acceptable to be tethered to a computer walking in here and sitting down. And few people in here are going to view that it's acceptable to be enclosed in something [makes a gesture around his head], because we're all social people at heart."
Apple already has AR patents since 2013 and recently acquired Metaio which is an AR software company. If speculations are true, it might be just a little while before Apple release an AR device.
