tech2 News Staff

Apple has been working on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences for quite some time, according to the patents filed by the company and the regular reports. But the experimentation and research in the field may finally materialise to a consumer product that people can use as reported by MacRumors. According to the reports, the company is working on a secret project with hundreds of people working since last year. This comes right after the hiring boost and several AR and VR related acquisitions by the company over last two years.

According to the reports, it is not clear about the exact direction the secret project is expected to take or any particular form factor, but the company is experimenting with different AR and VR products to find the right one. The company is taking its own sweet time to figure out what product works best for its hardware lineup. According to the report, the company has made several prototypes of the VR headset along with work on 'smart glasses'.

One interesting thing is that Apple CEO, Tim Cook has time and again pointed out that AR and VR are not the future despite the technology being cool in itself. According to Cook, nothing can replace the human contact that is currently used for interaction with devices. Despite this stringent stand that seems anti-AR or anti-VR, the company has been hiring a lot of researchers, programmers and even people who have worked on similar products in rival companies. The company acquired some companies with the first major acquisition back in 2013.

Despite it all, the lack of any product announcement or rumours on any expected launch is confusing at best for the consumers. Rival companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Google dive in the field with their VR, mixed reality or AR offerings already in the market.