Apple Job Postings Hint the ‘Appleverse’ May Be Coming

In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman highlighted recent job listings from Apple that shed some light on the company’s plans for its first mixed-reality headset. Gurman (and many others) expect Apple to launch its first AR/VR offering in early 2023.

“A few job listings indicate that Apple is ramping up its work to bolster the device with content,” Gurman wrote in his newsletter.

“The company is searching for a software producer with experience in visual effects and game asset pipelines who can create digital content for augmented- and virtual-reality environments.”

Of particular note is a listing for talent that will work on developing a 3D mixed-reality world. This could mean that Apple is planning to build its own version of Mark Zuckerberg’s “metaverse,” although the company’s marketing chief said at a recent event that “metaverse” is “a word I’ll never use.”

Candidates who land this position will work with other developers at Apple to “build tools and frameworks to enable connected experiences in a 3D mixed-reality world,” the listing in question explains.

“You will work closely with Apple’s UI framework, human interface designers and system capabilities teams—pushing you to think outside-the-box, and solve incredibly challenging and interesting problems in the 3D application space.”

Other listings imply that Apple is looking to develop a video service for the headset featuring 3D content that can be played in VR, and also seeking engineers to help create development tools for mixed-reality applications.

Gurman also noted that Apple is wrapping up development of the very first incarnation of realityOS, the new operating system its headsets will be powered by.

Apple’s foray into the AR/VR headset space is said to be a pricey one, as it will reportedly cost around $3,000 USD (about $3,900 CAD). It will be a premium offering that will be geared toward professionals.

Apple’s first headset is expected to feature an array of more than 10 cameras, eye tracking (as well as iris scanning for Apple Pay), hand gesture controls, a see-through AR mode, and a lightweight design.

The headset will be powered by an M2 chip alongside a mixed reality-focused co-processor, which will together drive multiple 4K micro OLED displays — the highest-resolution screens ever featured in a mass-market headset — from Sony and LG Display.

According to a report from earlier this week, Apple’s high-end AR/VR headset will go into mass production in March 2023.

In his newsletter, Gurman also highlighted Apple’s struggles to find a new design chief and revealed that the company has appointed a successor to Chief Information Officer Mary Demby, who is retiring.

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