Apple’s rumored AR/VR headset and the realityOS will reportedly focus a lot on SharePlay to offer shared experiences for movies, music and games.
Apple’s upcoming augmented reality/virtual reality headset might give FaceTime video calls a VR spin, allowing users to interact via digital avatars in the form of a Memoji. A Memoji is essentially an animated emoji that users can customize and give a likeness of their face. The feature is quite popular, and it relies on the True Depth camera system that Apple has put on its phones, starting with the iPhone X. Memojis mimic the user’s expressions via facial recognition algorithms and translate them onto the virtual avatar in real-time.
As mentioned above, the critical criteria for creating Memojis in the first place is advanced camera hardware, similar to the TrueDepth system. And it might very well be available on Apple’s highly anticipated AR/VR headset. Apple’s wearable device is rumored to come equipped with no less than twelve cameras with eye-tracking technology and will reportedly rely on 3D sensors for advanced hand tracking. So, in a nutshell, Apple’s headset appears to have the necessary hardware in place that can deliver a lot more than just the Memoji experience.
Now, a fresh rumor suggests that Memojis will lay the foundation of Virtual Reality FaceTime calls via Apple’s headset. In the latest PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes that for group FaceTime calls, those wearing Apple’s headset might be able to switch to a VR version where they interact via their Memoji avatars instead of their real face appearing in the feed. “I assume the headset will be able to determine a person’s facial expressions in real-time, making the experience fairly lifelike,” Gurman adds. The premise is not alien. Meta’s Horizon Workrooms is the best example of a system that allows people to participate in a virtual meeting in the form of virtual avatars of each participant, even though those avatars don’t have legs yet.
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Gurman adds that SharePlay, which allows users to share their screen during FaceTime calls, will also play a key role in realityOS, Apple’s rumored AR/VR operating system. Just like how group video watching works in FaceTime calls, multiple headset users will also be able to enjoy a shared movie-watching or music listening experience. The same courtesy extends to games as well, but there is no mention of how command inputs will be handled. So far, there haven’t been any concrete rumors about a controller or remote for Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset.
Interestingly, Apple is reportedly not focused on creating its own metaverse, unlike Meta, which is burning billions of dollars to achieve its lofty metaverse ambitions. A recent report notes that Apple’s headset is surrounded by numerous hardware and software woes and that it might push its market debut to 2023. Plus, it is not going to be an affordable gadget, thanks to all the cutting-edge tech that Apple will reportedly cram into its headset that is rumored to come with a desktop-grade processor in tow.
Sources: Mark Gurman / Bloomberg
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