A so-called "Zurich Vision Lab" is now believed to be the clandestine home to an enormous range of Apple research projects, and may be key to the Apple Car, the AR Headset, and the future of Siri.ZurichIn 2017, Apple was revealed to be quietly operating a research facility in Switzerland, and was believed to be recruiting staff to work on the Apple Car. Now new research suggests that the R&D operation is actually contributing significantly to countless long-term Apple projects. Read more...

Apple is expected to unveil its mixed reality headset at WWDC in less than two weeks. Shifting from a focus on iPhone analysis, CIRP is out with a research note discussing what Apple Reality Pro adoption could look like by comparing it to Apple Watch, AirPods, and HomePod ownership. more… The post Could Apple Reality Pro headset adoption follow Apple Watch or HomePod trend? appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Apple's mixed-reality headset will be primarily targeted at developers and could now see shipments of fewer than 100,000 units this year, Taiwanese research firm TrendForce reports. Apple headset concept by Marcus Kane TrendForce claims that the headset's high cost, difficulty to manufacture, and focus on developers will "restrict sales predominantly to pre-orders for this year." While Apple's headset could stimulate some new demand in the AR/VR product category, the high price tag of the device, believed to be in the ballpark of ~$3,000, will apparently pose a significant barrier to broader market growth. Trendforce forecasts that shipments of the new headset will now "fall short" of 100,000 units this year, with Apple potentially capping production at no more than 300,000…

New research claims that Samsung is focusing on higher-end smartphones in Western Europe, aiming to challenge Apple's iPhone as the market shows early signs of recovery.Canalys most recently reported that global smartphone shipments fell by 13% in Q1 2023. Samsung remained the biggest vendor, but only Apple managed to grow its market share year over year.Now Canalys believes that Samsung is aiming to mimic Apple's focus on higher-end smartphones, at least by increasing advertising and carrier deals for its flagship models within Western Europe. It's increasing its investment in Market Development Funds (MDF), which supports partners' sales efforts. Read more...

Macworld Everyone wants to talk about AI. Most of them don’t know what it is (artificial intelligence), but they still want to talk about it. Who’s got it and who doesn’t. What industries it’s ripe to disrupt. And the one company that’s not in the middle of that conversation is Apple. Viral images generated by Stable Diffusion, and pathological chatbots from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are the story of the day. Apple, meanwhile, has nothing. Or perhaps, considering the current state of Siri, less than nothing. Apple’s nowhere when it comes to AI. That’s the narrative. The thing is, it’s not true. At least, not yet. Presenting the Neural Engine It’s hard to imagine that you could portray Apple as…

Recent data indicates that nearly every newly manufactured car now comes equipped with either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, responding to the growing consumer preference for these connectivity features.Tesla had one of the best infotainment systemsA report from Straits Research found that 98% of newly produced vehicles were compatible with either CarPlay or Android Auto. Meanwhile, 80% of prospective car buyers strongly preferred having these smartphone-based infotainment systems in their new vehicles. Read more...