Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 02/04 – The Most Details On Apple’s AR/VR Headset Yet

Episode Date: February 4, 2021

Whole bunch of Apple rumors today. The most details yet on the Apple headset. Will the Apple car be an AV first, and does that just mean it will be for delivering things? Is the iPhone 13 getting better cameras? And also, Amazon is deploying cameras on its trucks. And Senator Klobuchar wants to put the burden of proof on the acquirers, when it comes to tech mergers. Sponsors: AirMedCareNetwork.com/tech offer code: TECH LinkedIn.com/ride Links: New Apple Mixed-Reality Headset Details: Swappable Headbands, Eye-Tracking (The Information) Apple and Hyundai-Kia pushing toward deal on Apple Car (CNBC) Kuo: iPhone 13 Now More Likely to Get Upgraded Ultra Wide Camera With Improved Low-Light Performance (MacRumors) Amazon is using AI-equipped cameras in delivery vans and some drivers are concerned about privacy (CNBC) Klobuchar to Introduce Antitrust Bill Raising Bar for Technology Deals (WSJ) The Technology 202: Klobuchar's new antitrust bill may hit Big Tech where it hurts (Washington Post) tech.supercast.tech for the premium feed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Thursday, February 4th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough today. A whole bunch of Apple rumors. The most details yet on the Apple headset. Will the Apple car be an AV-first? And does that mean it will be for delivering things? Is the iPhone 13 getting better cameras?

And also, Amazon is deploying cameras on its trucks. And Senator Klobuchar wants to put the burden of proof on the acquirers when it comes to tech mergers. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. As I just said, there's a whole bunch of smoke around a whole bunch of Apple rumors this morning. Three bigons right in a row, so let's tick them right off. First, sources are giving the information the most details we've heard yet about Apple's rumored mixed reality headset. The rumors they are dishing are. The headset will have 8K displays, advanced eye tracking tech, and more than 12 cameras to track

hand movements and also show what's going on out in the real world. The information viewed internal Apple images of a late-stage prototype from last year, which show a sleek, curved visor attached to the face by a mesh material and swappable headbands. Apple is far along in the design of the product, which Apple employees are internally describing as a mixed reality headset because of its ability to combine virtual reality experiences with games and other applications that use real-life objects surrounding the person, wearing the headset. It could ship as early as next year, said the person with direct knowledge of the product who requested anonymity to talk about a device that Apple hasn't yet publicly admitted

it is making. The company has tapped Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron, which already makes iPhones and iPads for Apple to assemble it. Still, the product is complex and risky enough that Apple could decide to postpone or shelve it as it has done with other novel products in the past. Among the biggest risks is the price of the device, which is likely to cost significantly more than the $300 to $1,000 for existing VR headsets from Facebook's Oculus and others. Last year, Apple internally discussed pricing the product around $3,000, more than the starting price of the company's high-end laptops, but around the $3,500 that Microsoft charges for its mixed-reality headset, HoloLens, according to the person with direct knowledge of the device. The potentially high price,

explains why Apple has internally talked about a goal of shipping only about 250,000 units of the headset in the first year of its release, though that plan could change, according to the person. One of the biggest mysteries around the product is how people will use it. Games have been one of the main attractions for VR headsets and are likely to be a focus for Apple's device as well. The company has internally discussed productivity and education applications, the person said. The category is still young and faces questions around data privacy and unknowns around long-term usage, which may slow its ability to break out from early adopters, end quote. So that all is super interesting to me. Apple has largely stayed away from niche products

since the iPhone era began. Even the HomePod, which hasn't exactly broken through, partly due to a high price point, you still got the sense with that that Apple wanted those to sell in the same number as Echo devices do. We've talked before about how Apple might just want to get this out the door, though, so that it can learn and perfect the technology and the form factor can iterate and iterate with the ultimate goal of being some sort of mass market eyeglasses by the end of the decade. You know what I mean by eye glasses? In the meantime, it's interesting how this seems to be a blending of AR and VR, sort of fudging things a bit, quote, the company's headset, codenamed N301, will immerse the wearer in a fully virtual

environment similar to that of Oculus Quest. Its current design also blocks peripheral vision to keep outside light from leaking into the wearer's field of vision, the person with knowledge of the product said. The cameras on the device will be able to pass video of the real world through the visor and display it on screens to the person wearing the headset, creating a mixed reality effect, the person said. Apple is developing multiple technologies to control the headset, including a previously unreported thimble-like device to be worn on a person's finger, allowing them to interact with the software, according to two people familiar with the matter. It couldn't be learned whether Apple plans to bundle that device with the product or sell it separately. It could also

decide not to ship it. Using the cameras on the device, the headset will also be able to respond to the eye movements and hand gestures of the wearer. A version of the headset seen last year by one of the people also had a physical dial on the visor's side for controlling the device's software. The headset will have LiDAR sensors, which Apple already uses in iPhones and iPads to measure the distance between surfaces. That technology can quickly map objects in physical space, allowing the user to place something like a virtual gameboard on a real coffee table. Additionally, another outward-facing display built into the visor potentially allows the wearer to show graphics to others or quickly check information when they are not wearing the headset,

the person with knowledge of the device said. Apple is also building interchangeable headbands that feature its spatial audio technology, which is already built into the latest AirPods models, and creates a more immersive surround sound experience than traditional stereo audio. It is expected that the headset will charge through a cable, and Apple is also working on an optional headband with additional battery life. The inclusion of two 8K displays in the headset would make its picture quality far higher than that of other consumer headsets, and even the majority of high-end televisions,

which costs thousands of dollars at 8K resolution. Apple has for years worked on technology that uses eye-tracking to fully render only parts of the display where the user is looking, looking. That would let the headset show lower quality graphics in the user's peripheral vision and reduce the device's computing needs, according to people with knowledge of the efforts, end quote. So, my newly acquired Quest 2 does have a sort of pass-through mode where you can see your surroundings in black and white while you're setting up your play area. This is that, fully blown out, I guess, but also, if this is not letting any outside light in, it's not actually AR. This is VR,

This is VR emulating AR, which is an interesting choice. Yeah, I need to get to work and put the wheels in motion for that Oculus Quest bonus episode that I promised, right? And look, at this point, I'm basically full on expecting some sort of announcement of an Apple car by the end of this month. Not an Apple event or anything like that, but some announcement of some sort of tie up between Apple and some car manufacturer. CNBC is the latest to report that Apple and Hyundai slash Kia are close to some sort of manufacturing deal. The great Phil LeBoe is reporting that the first Apple cars will definitely be designed to be autonomous first, which is interesting because, again, people have been thinking that it might be logical for Apple to get a normal electric car under their belt before going the full autonomous route.

Apple is close to finalizing a deal with Hyundai Kia to manufacture an Apple-branded autonomous electric vehicle at the Kia assembly plant in West Point, Georgia, according to multiple sources who briefed CNBC on the plan. The so-called Apple car, which is being developed by a team at Apple, is tentatively scheduled to go into production in 2024, though people familiar with the talks between Apple and Hyundai Kia, say the eventual rollout could be pushed back. One source familiar with Apple's strategy on developing a car tells CNBC, I doubt Hyundai is the only automaker they could strike a deal with. There could be somebody else, end quote. For Apple, the decision to build a car opens the to tap a global auto and mobility market valued at $10 trillion.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katie Hubbardi explained the profit potential for Apple in a research note she issued in January, quote, smartphones are a $500 billion annual total addressable market. Apple has about one-third of this market. The mobility market is $10 trillion, so Apple would only need a 2% share of this market to be the size of their iPhone business, Hubbardi wrote. sources familiar with Apple's interest in working with Hyundai, say the tech giant wants to build the Apple car in North America with an established automaker willing to allow Apple to control the software

and hardware that will go into the vehicle. In other words, this will be an Apple car, not a Kia model featuring Apple software. The Kia plant about 90 minutes southwest of Atlanta, Georgia, has available capacity, so scaling production and tapping the Hyundai Kia supply chain can be done relatively quickly, quote, the first Apple cars will not be designed to have a driver, said one source with knowledge of the current plan. These will be autonomous electric vehicles designed to operate without a driver and focused on the last mile, end quote. That could mean Apple cars, at least initially, could focus on package food delivery operations and firms incorporating robotaxies, end quote. So that's an interesting wrinkle. I know what I just said in the previous segment about Apple having

the tendency not to go for niche markets in recent years, but actually I would have have put my money more on Apple doing a high-end luxury vehicle at first for the reasons that I elucidated last month. I mean, let's come back to those total addressable market numbers with the automotive market, even if Apple only takes a small sliver at the top, it moves their valuation on Wall Street meaningfully. Quoting Ben Badgeron on Twitter, 2% of that market is larger than the iPhone business. And Apple likes markets where customer satisfaction is relatively low and experience can be better, which is automotive, end quote. Counterpoint from Phil Byrne, quote, the Apple Kia deal says $49,900 entry price to me,

more than most people can afford, but Apple will come up with creative financing arrangements. You'll pay the same as you would for a $35,000 lease, but you'll still be locked into the platform somehow, end quote. Yes, some sort of Apple Prime subscription makes a lot more sense if it's your monthly transportation nut and your smartphone and your entertainment and your gym membership and on and on and on and on. And finally on the Apple front, Ming Chi Kuo says the iPhone 13 is now more likely to feature an ultra-wide camera with significantly improved low-light performance thanks to a new lens supplier. Quoting Mac Rumors. In his latest TFI Securities Investor Notes seen by Mac Rumors, Quo says that Chinese supplier Sunny Optical's iPad 5P lens verification has gone smoothly, and it has learned a lot from the process, meaning that the probability of

its shipping a 7P wide-angle lens for the iPhone 13 in the second half of 2021 has increased significantly. Quo expects Sunny to begin mass shipments of its iPad 5P lens in the middle of the first quarter of 2021, supplying Apple with around 15% of those parts due to limited initial production capacity. It is not specified in the report which iPad model the 5P lens is desin for, but shipment proportion for both 5p and 7p lenses is expected to further increase to between 15 and 20% and 25 and 30% in 2022. According to Quo, Sunny Optical's greater competition will also put pressure on Largan, which is currently fueling a price war due to its significant technological advantages over other iPhone lens suppliers, end quote. Let's see what non-Apple News I can scrape together

here before we go today. Amazon has started deploying AI-powered Netradine cameras, which are always on and automatically uploading footage so that Amazon can monitor drivers out in the real world. Quoting CNBC, Amazon has deployed the cameras in Amazon-branded cargo vans used by a handful of companies that are part of its delivery service partner program, which are largely responsible for last-mile deliveries. The cameras could be rolled out to additional DSPs over time, and Amazon has already distributed an instructional video to DSPs, informing them of how the cameras work. DSPs are contracted delivery providers,

usually distinguishable by Amazon-branded cargo vans, responsible for picking up packages from Amazon delivery stations and dropping them off at doorsteps. The program launched in 2018 has allowed the company to quickly scale up its last-mile delivery capabilities and compete with shipping partners such as UPS and FedEx. Amazon's DSP program has faced criticism for lax safety protocols in the past. Investigations by NBC News,

and BuzzFeed News, identified safety issues and described poor working conditions at some DSPs based on interviews with drivers and former Amazon employees. The cameras could help improve safety, but privacy advocates and several DSP drivers said they're concerned about potential privacy tradeoffs. The drivers who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from Amazon described the cameras as unnerving, big brother, and a punishment system, end quote. Yes, and what was it? I said just this week. about my entire block being surveilled thanks to Amazon's ring doorbell cameras. Now the cameras are going to be in the Amazon trucks, too. Super. I've gotten caught by the Google Maps Street View

cameras multiple times now when I'm out walking our previous dog. These days, Amazon would be capable of narking on me if I don't bother to pick up Archie's poop. Not that I would do that. I'm not a monster. And finally today, keeping to the promise to keep our eyes on how the whole winds of antitrust might bear out under a democratic regime in Washington. One thing I think we can assume, any remedies like breaking up big tech are probably all things being equal unlikely to happen in the end, and even if they did, they wouldn't happen for years. However, this sort of thing is the sort of thing that could meaningfully shape the tech landscape right now. The incoming head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, Senator Amy Klobuchar, plans to introduce an antitrust bill that would

significantly raise the bar for tech acquisitions, quoting the Wall Street Journal. The senator plans to introduce legislation that would bar companies that dominate their sectors from making acquisitions unless they can prove their deals, don't, quote, create an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition, and quote, according to a draft from Ms. Klobuchar's office. Now, the burden is on the government to prove a merger. substantially lessens competition. Ms. Klobuchar is hoping that Democrats' control of the Senate will improve odds of passage, and she will seek to build momentum through a series of legislative hearings focused on monopoly power. Quote, we have an increasing monopoly problem, really headlined by

what is happening with tech, but also extending across the economy, Ms. Klobuchar said. Our laws have to be as sophisticated as those that are messing around with competition, she said, and quote. And in an interview with the Washington Post, Klobuchar said this, quote, It's not just sitting there and pulling constant hearings where we're yelling at executives and throwing popcorn at them, though I'm sure some of that will go on. We have to pass something, and I really want to see something get done, end quote. Nothing for you again today. Maybe just sign up for the Ride Home Plus feed. You can do it at tech.supercast.com. Tech.

Talk to you tomorrow.