Apple could be working on an AR/VR headset for iPhones

Apple could be working on an AR or VR headset for the iPhone. The company just secured a patent for a Head Mounted Display device that you can slot iPhones into. According to a new report from ZDNet.

The patent, which Apple was awarded this week, describes how users could take their iPhone or iPad and place it in the head-mounted display to be worn like a VR headset. The accessory would have an adjustable strap for fastening the device to the wearer’s head. It’s also state that the patent describes the user’s iPhone or iPad should be able to detect that it’s being placed in the accessory to create a wireless connection.

This sort of design is an all-too common one these days as both Samsung and Google have been down this road. Samsung’s Gear VR series of devices and Google’s Daydream View worked in much the same way. You slot your phone into the headset and its screen acts as the display for the VR and AR experiences. Google also experimented with Google Cardboard before the Daydream headsets were released.

An iPhone-powered VR headset from Apple could be a lot cheaper

Phone-powered VR headsets weren’t exactly the most exciting. At least compared to what we have now. But there’s no denying they helped pave the way for today’s VR hardware. Even if only in small ways.

Gear VR and Google Daydream View walked so Apple’s potentially upcoming phone-powered VR headset could run so to speak. If it ever gets made. Securing the patent doesn’t necessarily mean Apple will use it. Or that a headset would make it to a production phase.

But another reason why phone-powered VR headsets might have their place is because they tend to be much less expensive than current options. Maybe not by leaps and bounds now with Quest 2 back down to $299. But for those in the Apple ecosystem, a VR headset powered by your iPhone would be a lot less than Apple’s recently announced Vision Pro. Which sits at a whopping $3,499.