The forthcoming Apple Vision Pro, regular iPhones, or even the Apple Car, could use spatial audio to get users to turn toward where a sound seems to be coming from.
Apple AR devices such as "Apple Glass," may feature cooling to keep the wearer comfortable, and minutely adjust AR/VR environments to make them seem natural.
Projects such as Apple AR are offering more challenges, better working conditions, and greater salaries, for special effects artists than Hollywood studios.
With a combination of radar, and the LiDAR now present in the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro, "Apple Glass" could sense the environment around the wearer when the light is too low for them to see clearly.
If you can't decide between two items in a store, you may be able to hold them side by side and have "Apple Glass" display a rundown of the benefits of each.
Where a user is wearing "Apple Glass" or other head-mounted device, their iPhone may be able to recognize and respond to head gestures.
Apple is working on multiple methods to use a keyboard with a pair of augmented reality glasses or other head-mounted device, including virtual keyboards projected onto surfaces.
Apple's drive to have Apple AR hardware with high quality audio has led to research on how to create full spatial sound without developers having to record with large numbers of microphones.
A series of patent applications show that Apple is focused on how users can work in an augmented reality or virtual environment, with the company working on practical sides of how to make that space feel more real.
Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee says that the first version of "Apple Glass" is much more likely to be a virtual reality headset than an augmented reality wearable.
To bring the ability to track where a wearer's gaze and attention are focused, without requiring costly processing or battery-draining performance, Apple is having to develop a whole new system of eye tracking technology for "Apple Glass."
Future iPhones could use thermal or infrared imaging to supplement regular vision cameras, making it easier to use Apple AR in dark or busy environments.
The forthcoming "Apple Glass" will present wearers with new AR views of real or virtual surroundings, and Apple is working on technology so users to can zoom and magnify the images smoothly.
Apple continues to brainstorm new ways to lure in Apple TV+ subscribers, including potentially extending the free trial period for new hardware purchasers in the fall.
Apple AR is reportedly going to be tapped to supply extra content for Apple TV+ shows, integrating characters or props around viewers' devices.
Apple's [AR]T project with renowned artists creating Augmented Reality works for Today at Apple is now the subject of an Apple TV+ film.
Apple is developing a system to alert users to physical objects when immersed in a virtual reality environment.
Apple is researching technology to allow an "Apple Glass" user to not be constrained to fixed physical gestures or touch controls, and instead manipulate any object to alter what is visible on the headset.
The rumored "Apple Glass" headset may be a single hardware product, but the continuing flood of research looks more like Apple is intending to use AR as a sea change in how we use all of our devices.
Multiple avenues of research from Apple focuses on the ability of wearable AR devices like the rumored "Apple Glass" to sense what you're looking at, and reconfigure itself to contextually present information a wearer needs.
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William Gallagher
Mike Peterson
Amber Neely
