Pro tip – if you ever want to witness the bounds of human creativity, ask people to design something they've never seen. That's exactly what the team over at Freelancer.com did, when they asked users to come up with a design for the new Apple Reality Pro AR/VR headset, and the results are magnificent.
In the mix were a host of designs – from those which resembled Daft Punk's special occasion-wear, to Terminator-esque units – showing off the truly limitless capabilities of the human mind.
The winner, Ahmed Chenni, utilised a much sleeker design, which you'd be forgiven for thinking had come direct from Cupertino itself. The design closely resembles other renders we've seen, with a headband that looks like the Apple Watch strap. Chenni does add some creature comforts, though, with what looks to be a padded, breathable back piece.
The design also utilises a rectangular panel for the front portion. Whether or not this will make the official design seems to split opinions, with just as many renders using a shaped, ski-glasses-like design. It certainly looks good here, though, almost resembling a curved iPhone.
Chenni's design shows four colours: white, yellow, black and purple. The yellow is my pick of the bunch, though I can't see it getting any further than a third-party mock-up. Call me cynical, but I just can't see a world in which Apple releases a new, multi-thousand dollar device, and offers it in a host of bright hues. My gut says we're far more likely to see black, white and grey offerings, at least to start with.
Apple will be keen to release the best VR headset possible. While little is known about the spec sheet for the release, a series of informed estimations give us an idea of what to expect. As the device is expected to launch at a premium price point – between $2,000 and $3,000 is the current consensus – we're expecting a 4K display.
It's also likely to be powered by an Apple Silicon chip, given Apple's strides in that direction of late. Whether that ends up being a chip we already know about, like the new M2 Pro, or a new chip just for RealityOS, remains to be seen.
Whatever happens, the headset is certain to turn heads when it hits the market.
