Trademark filings uncovered by Bloomberg that include the word “Reality” have revealed potential names for Apple Inc.’s much-anticipated mixed reality headsets.
Mixed reality devices are a type of virtual reality headset that can be fully enclosed over the user’s face and still allow them to see the world through it while “mixing” both fully virtual content with what the user can see. As a result, these headsets can support both fully immersive virtual reality experiences and augmented reality apps on the same device.
The names “Reality One,” “Reality Pro” and “Reality Processor,” were all filed in the U.S., EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and Uruguay.
Although the trademarks themselves were not registered to Apple themselves, instead to Immersive Health Solutions, which is believed to be linked to Apple, by Bloomberg. This company itself was registered by another Delaware shell corporation, the Corporation Trust Co., which was used to trademark “realityOS” earlier this year.
RealityOS, or rOS, is the rumored operating system that will power the upcoming headsets. The link to Apple comes from the launch of RealityKit in 2019, a developer framework that allows for creating 3D models for the company’s apps, including augmented reality content.
Although Apple has made no announcements, it is expected to unveil the device sometime in January 2023 according to famed analyst Ming-Chi Cho. The current market price could be somewhere around $2,000 to $2,500, but it’s unknown if that’s between the base model or the “Pro” version, which is generally the name set for the premium model.
A report from May revealed that the headset was shown to Apple’s board, sparking rumors that it might be revealed sometime this year.
The details of what would go into the headset itself have remained under wraps for the entire time of the device’s development. With only patents and leaks to go on. So far, from a report in November, it is strongly suspected it will be powered by Apple’s M1 or M2 chip, which would support 4K Micro OLED displays and a constellation of sensors and cameras for eye and gesture tracking.
The “Reality One” trademark could be for the headset itself, with “Reality Pro” being the premium version with upgraded specs for the prosumer market.
Finally, the trademark name “Reality Processor” might suggest a specialized chip designed to power the entire headset based on the M1 or M2 processor, mentioned above. Apple has been pushing hard recently beefing up its own custom silicon with bigger and better processors with the stable of “M” chips that it has been put into Macbooks, laptops, tablets and more.
