In brief: Apple's much predictable AR/VR headset is at least one twelvemonth abroad from being ready, but the visitor has been making meaning progress in designing the custom silicon that will go far work. Now we know the device will offload most rendering work and depend on an iPhone or Mac for internet connectivity and location services.

Apple has long been rumored to be working on an augmented/virtual reality headset, and information technology looks like information technology will need to be tethered to an iPhone to be useful in any way. According to a report from The Information, the new device will work in a similar way to the offset few generations of the Apple tree Scout, in that some features volition require a wireless connection to a nearby iPhone or Mac.

The report says Apple finished work on the arrangement-on-a-flake (SoC) for the headset last year and completed the physical designs for two additional chips that will get into the new device -- the display driver and an prototype sensor. All 3 chips will be manufactured using TSMC's 5nm process node, as Intel is said to have secured the majority of the foundry'south 3nm production chapters.

Interestingly, the new SOC won't integrate some capabilities found in the A-series and the M1, nigh notably the Neural Engine. However, it will have ameliorate video decoding and encoding performance and feature a more power-efficient CPU and GPU pair. The headset will exist able to do some basic tasks on its own but will rely on a wirelessly connected iOS or macOS device for powering augmented and virtual reality experiences, presumably to make the device lighter and more comfortable to wear.

This isn't surprising, as existing mixed-reality devices like the Magic Leap and the Microsoft HoloLens are non exactly comfortable to wear for multiple hours at a time. The start needs to be tethered to a PC, and the latter is a full-blown Windows PC crammed into a headset, only neither device has been able to generate meaning user adoption.

As for when we'll exist able to run across Apple's first take on a mixed-reality headset, information technology's hard to say at this point since TSMC has been experiencing low-yield bug in trial product runs for the image sensor, which is said to be unusually large for a MR headset. With a bit of luck, Apple may be able to introduce it in the second half of 2022, which can't come up soon enough.