4K screens are typically the size of TVs. Apple may have squeezed two of them into its upcoming headset.
- A supply-chain analyst said Apple's anticipated mixed-reality headset has 4K displays for each eye.
- Apple is expected to unveil the roughly $3,000 headset at its WWDC on June 5.
It sounds like Apple has managed to cram two top-of-the-line screens inside its next major product, which is anticipated to be less than a week away from being unveiled.
The latest rumbling about Apple's mixed-reality headset is that there will be two 4K resolution displays, one for each eye, according to a tweet from Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants.
Apple is expected to debut its first mixed-reality headset at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5. If it does unveil the headset next week, it will be Apple's newest major product line since the Apple Watch was released in 2015.
The information on the screens within the device isn't official, but Young, whose Twitter bio says he has over 25 years of experience in the display tech industry, has been accurate in the past with his predictions about unreleased Apple products.
In addition to 4K displays, which would be in two 1.41-inch Micro OLED screens, Young tweeted that the headset can achieve over 5,000 nits of brightness — far brighter than most displays.
Previous reports on the rumored headset's specs, say it will be goggle-shaped with multiple cameras, and include auto-adjusting lenses, a physical dial to switch between virtual reality and real life, and in-air typing with hand gestures and eye movements. People close to the headset project told The Information that the device is expected to cost at least $3,000.
Apple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.
The company has been working on a mixed-reality headset for seven years, Bloomberg previously reported. The road to its announcement hasn't exactly been smooth — Apple missed previous deadlines in 2019 and 2022 to release and ship out the product, according to The Information. As recently as March of this year, some employees involved with the headset told The New York Times the headset's expected June release could be postponed again because of an uncertain economy, although recent reports suggest it's still set to be announced at WWDC.
On top of that, some Apple employees are reportedly concerned about the headset's price, how useful it is, how it will perform, and how it will feel. A new report from The Information highlights challenges Apple's engineering team faced while designing the headset, including the headset's curved front-facing glass that sources familiar with the headset worried is more prone to shattering and could injure the wearer.
A former Apple marketing executive previously told Insider that if rumors and leaks about the headset "are correct," it would end up being "a very un-Apple product," and pointed to the lack of a major market for similar headsets from competitors like Magic Leap and Microsoft.
"Apple builds devices that can be sold in the millions with a solid profit margin, not high cost 'experiments' to be unveiled in public and sold to developers or enthusiasts with deep pockets," Michael Gartenberg told Insider. "This is a doomed model that Google tried with Glass & Microsoft with HoloLens."
Of course, Apple has a strong track record of entering an industry at the right time, capitalizing on the company's loyal customers with strong design, and eventually dominating the market (the Apple Watch is a recent example).
If Young's prediction on the displays within Apple's headset prove correct, Apple could be gearing up to wow people with a headset unlike any other currently on the market.
But with an expected sky-high price tag, the key question will be whether that'll be enough to get people to finally buy into strapping a computer to their face.