The MacRumors Show: Apple Headset Introduction Rumors, Unreleased Magic Charger, and More

This week on The MacRumors Show podcast we discuss Apple's long-awaited mixed-reality headset, as well as Emergency SOS via satellite and the unreleased "Magic Charger" accessory.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos

Following the release of the Emergency SOS via satellite feature for the iPhone 14 lineup earlier this week, we talk through demoing the feature and our expectations for where it will truly be useful in the future. We also look at Apple's ecosystem of MagSafe accessories after it emerged that the company abanoned plans to release a "Magic Charger" for the iPhone.

Last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that work on realityOS, the operating system designed for Apple's mixed-reality headset, is "wrapping up internally" as the company's focus turns to apps on the new platform. Meanwhile, DigiTimes reports that Apple is targeting March 2023 to begin mass production of the headset – a time frame that fits in with other key reports. As signs of the headset's introduction in the first half of the next year appear to solidify, we discuss how the device's announcement and launch is likely to take place, as well as Apple's AR/VR roadmap for the future.

Listen to The MacRumors Show using apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or subscribe by copying our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. You can also watch a video version of the podcast on the MacRumors YouTube channel.


If you haven't already listened to the last episode of The MacRumors Show, be sure to catch up for a deep dive into the key features of macOS Ventura and expectations about upcoming Mac models with John Gruber.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like Federico Viticci, Sara Dietschy, Luke Miani, Sam Kohl, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, iJustine, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, Jon Rettinger, Rene Ritchie, Andru Edwards, Jon Prosser, and Mark Gurman. Remember to rate and review the show, and let us know what subjects you would like the podcast to cover in the future.

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Top Rated Comments

ipedro Avatar
26 months ago
No disrespect to the guys but they look really [silly]¹. MacRumors looks even worse for repeatedly pushing this design in mockups for not understanding Apple's design philosophies, cultural priorities and roadmap. Apple has been moving away from isolation and bringing people back to the real world with its devices augmenting their experience, not covering it up.

Apple's AR glasses are not going to look anything like this. At best, some low level hardware engineer or developer saw the component prototype used to test the device's assembled components working together or software in use as glasses and leaked a description out.

Someone willing to lose their job over a leak is not at the level that Tim Cook would be sharing the release design with. That's on an as need to know basis if Apple is anything as careful and secretive as they were with the iPhone leading up to 2007, where only a very select group of VPs and hardware designers had seen the finished product. Those people can be trusted and are not going to leak it given what's at stake to them personally so the first time it'll be seen by 99.9% of Apple's employees will be on stage the day it's unveiled.

¹(can't use the language this mockup deserves)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mansplains Avatar
26 months ago

These will be great for my RoboCop cosplay
I prefer Mecha-Hermes, but it takes a bit more
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
26 months ago

I dont see Apple releasing something that isnt a game changer in this space.
Another standard headset isnt the answer.
Exactly.

A lot of people here commenting on the forums only knowing about VR and current companies making VR goggles, simply don't understand what AR is and its potential. It's not about gaming (though it can also be used for that).

What's really sad is those same people refuse to exercise their imagination even a tiny bit, or simply do a little research as to what AR is about, clinging to the notion it's game-based, rather than a tool useful for solving problems (among other things). With a load of potential in both commercial and personal spaces. Apple will do very well with this.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
enterthemerdaverse Avatar
26 months ago

No disrespect to the guys but they look really [silly]¹. MacRumors looks even worse for repeatedly pushing this design in mockups for not understanding Apple's design philosophies, cultural priorities and roadmap. Apple has been moving away from isolation and bringing people back to the real world with its devices augmenting their experience, not covering it up.

Apple's AR glasses are not going to look anything like this. At best, some low level hardware engineer or developer saw the component prototype used to test the device's assembled components working together or software in use as glasses and leaked a description out.

Someone willing to lose their job over a leak is not at the level that Tim Cook would be sharing the release design with. That's on an as need to know basis if Apple is anything as careful and secretive as they were with the iPhone leading up to 2007, where only a very select group of VPs and hardware designers had seen the finished product. Those people can be trusted and are not going to leak it given what's at stake to them personally so the first time it'll be seen by 99.9% of Apple's employees will be on stage the day it's unveiled.

¹(can't use the language this mockup deserves)
Would be great if that silly ski goggles design is a deliberate leak designed to confuse the competition and make competitors keep wasting money on clunky dumb headsets.

In some way that’s the trick Samsung is trying to do to Apple. They want Apple to waste money on “foldable phones” and set them up for failure. Apple ain’t falling for it.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
26 months ago

No disrespect to the guys but they look really [silly]¹. MacRumors looks even worse for repeatedly pushing this design in mockups for not understanding Apple's design philosophies, cultural priorities and roadmap. Apple has been moving away from isolation and bringing people back to the real world with its devices augmenting their experience, not covering it up.

Apple's AR glasses are not going to look anything like this. At best, some low level hardware engineer or developer saw the component prototype used to test the device's assembled components working together or software in use as glasses and leaked a description out.

Someone willing to lose their job over a leak is not at the level that Tim Cook would be sharing the release design with. That's on an as need to know basis if Apple is anything as careful and secretive as they were with the iPhone leading up to 2007, where only a very select group of VPs and hardware designers had seen the finished product. Those people can be trusted and are not going to leak it given what's at stake to them personally so the first time it'll be seen by 99.9% of Apple's employees will be on stage the day it's unveiled.

¹(can't use the language this mockup deserves)
Spot on.

One just needs to look at what was revealed by another Stanford University AR/VR Laboratory collaborator at the August SIGGRAPH conference this year. And knowing that Apple has been collaborating with Stanford's AR/VR Laboratory on this for around seven years.

I've been saying it's going to be glasses for a couple of years now. Anything else would be a major failure for Apple, and would be similar to Apple's first iPhone looking like a large walkie-talkie with an 8" antenna.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
richinaus Avatar
26 months ago

Spot on.

One just needs to look at what was revealed by another Stanford University AR/VR Laboratory collaborator at the August SIGGRAPH conference this year. And knowing that Apple has been collaborating with Stanford's AR/VR Laboratory on this for around seven years.

I've been saying it's going to be glasses for a couple of years now. Anything else would be a major failure for Apple, and would be similar to Apple's first iPhone looking like a large walkie-talkie with an 8" antenna.
I dont see Apple releasing something that isnt a game changer in this space.
Another standard headset isnt the answer.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)