Apple Reality Pro Specifications Leak, Firm Hints at Mixed Reality Headset

Apple Reality Pro is expected to be unveiled as the company’s first mixed reality headset next week. Ahead of the Cupertino company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple has hinted at the arrival of a new device via a blog post urging developers to learn to “code new worlds”. Days ahead of WWDC 2023, the display specifications of the purported Apple Reality Pro have been leaked online. Meanwhile, a developer has spotted a reference to xrOS, the operating system that is expected to feature on the mixed reality headset.

In a blog post on the Apple Developer site titled “Code new worlds”, the company urges developers to watch the Apple Keynote on June 5 at 10am PT (10:30pm IST). The title of the blog post hints at the arrival of new hardware that could offer access to virtual worlds using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. Several reports suggest that Apple will unveil a new wearable mixed reality headset — dubbed Reality Pro — at WWDC 2023.

While Apple is yet to officially announce any details about the purported mixed reality headset, display analyst Ross Young has leaked its display specifications. It is said to sport two 1.41-inch (diagonal) Micro OLED screens. These displays will have a pixel density of 4,000ppi and support more than 5,000 nits of peak brightness, according to Young.

Meanwhile, developer Steve Troughton-Smith spotted a reference to xrOS, which is expected to be Apple’s newest operating system following the introduction of watchOS in 2014. In a Mastodon post, the developer revealed that the App Store Connect platform for developers shows an error message if it detects an app designed for the purported operating system.

App Store Connect is capable of identifying xrOS binaries
Photo Credit: Steve Troughton-Smith

When Troughton-Smith tried to submit an app for xrOS, the App Store Connect platform revealed the following error: “Incorrect Platform. You included the xros arm64 executable in your ios bundle. Only ios executables can be included.” Developers cannot submit binaries for apps with an arbitrary platform name, which means that the service is capable of identifying xrOS apps.

The developer also discovered that Apple’s open-source linker code contains references to the new operating system with a reference to “realityOS” — which was previously believed to be the name of the operating system for the mixed reality headset. We can expect to hear more about Apple’s purported Reality Pro headset at WWDC on June 5.