Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the U.S. military, The Verge reports, citing a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account on Monday. Apple confirmed the acquisition to The Verge. Zoe Schiffer and Alex Heath for The Verge: It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to two former employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. Apple shared its typical statement it gives when it buys a company with The Verge: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we…

Mira’s Prism headset from 2017. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the US military, according to a post from the CEO’s private Instagram account yesterday seen by The Verge and a person familiar with the matter. Apple confirmed the acquisition. The news comes just one day after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, a $3,499 mixed reality headset that the company has billed as a new “spatial” computing platform. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to…

Image: Apple Apple has announced visionOS, the operating system that will power its new Vision Pro headset. Apple says it’s designed from the ground up for spatial computing. The company revealed the operating system as part of its many announcements at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 event. The operating system is focused on displaying digital elements on top of the real world. Apple’s video showed new things like icons and windows floating over real-world spaces. The primary ways to use the headset are with your eyes, hands, and your voice. The company described how you can look at a search field and just start talking to input text, for example. Or you can pinch your fingers to select something or…

Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge If Apple’s mixed reality headset is going to succeed, it’s going to be because of the apps. On Monday, Apple will take the stage at its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference to talk about FaceTime and Apple Books and all the other cool built-in stuff you’ll be able to do with its ski goggles strapped to your face. But if it can’t get third-party developers on board, and those developers don’t figure out how to build life-changingly great stuff for those goggles, the Reality Pro (or whatever it’s called) doesn’t stand a chance. Apple knows this better than anyone, of course. The iPhone took off when apps like Instagram and Uber showed what you…

Four days before Apple is expected to enter, and likely redefine, the nascent mixed-reality (XR) headset market, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms pre-announced the latest version of its Quest mixed-reality headset, the “Quest 3” which will retail for $500. Nick Turner for Bloomberg News: The new Meta Quest 3 will cost $500 and ship in the fall, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, said it will continue to sell the Quest 2 model at a lower price, $300, to help “even more people access the magic of VR.” Meta is girding for a fight with Apple in the still-nascent world of mixed reality headsets, which meld augmented and virtual reality. Apple plans…

Months before it will actually ship its new Meta Quest 3, Meta has chosen to announce that it's coming just days before Apple's headset is expected to be unveiled.Meta Quest 3 (Source: Meta)Nobody can be certain that an Apple AR headset will be among the announcements at WWDC on June 5, 2023, but Facebook-owner Meta certainly believes the rumors. For with just days to go before Tim Cook gets up on stage, Meta has gone up on Instagram to tell people it's the best at making headsets. Read more...