Apple's next product will be called Apple Reality. (Probably.)

The best clue is the apparent name of their next operating system: "realityOS"

Feb 09, 2022

Hi-rez mockup by Antonio De Rosa based on low-rez leak.

The best guess for the branding of Apple's forthcoming mixed-reality platform is: Apple Reality.

The reason is simple: Apple's most recent naming convention uses hardware platform brands in the operating system names:

Apple Watch: watchOS
Apple iPad: ipadOS
Apple Mac: macOS
Apple TV: tvOS

So, logically — Apple Reality: realityOS

(The main exception is that the iPhone OS is no longer called "iphoneOS," but is instead shortened to “iOS.")

Recently, references to "realityOS" and "rOS" have been discovered in pre-release iOS 13 builds, GitHub repos and even in App Store upload logs.

Rens Verhoeven @renssies

Uh what is Apple’s RealityOS doing in the App Store upload logs? AR/VR confirmed?

Steve Troughton-Smith @stroughtonsmith

“#if TARGET_FEATURE_REALITYOS” Well then. This at least confirms it 1) has its own OS & binaries, and 2) has a realityOS Simulator https://t.co/6a25kWshXR

Nicolás Álvarez @nicolas09F9

@zhuowei @stroughtonsmith Apple force-pushed the repo to hide this but someone had grabbed the commit hash already... https://t.co/T7nRnEmSyv

matthewdavis.eth @IAmMatthewDavis

Looks like #Apple just accidentally confirmed #RealityOS. 🥽 Whoops! github.com/apple-oss-dist…

The GitHub repo even references a realityOS simulator, no doubt so that developers can test realityOS apps.

Apple owns the trademarks for “RealityKit” and “Reality Composer,” which sounds like an SDK for a platform called “Reality,” and an end-user tool for creating content for a platform called “Reality.”

Leaks and speculation suggest that Apple will ship its initial augmented reality glasses in the form of virtual reality glasses. Like the iPhone, which captures a real-time video of your physical view and superimposes virtual objects upon it, the glasses will also have cameras that capture real-time video and add digital content to it.

Although Apple is rightly more excited about augmented reality than virtual reality, its first glasses will also enable VR.

A later, more advanced product will superimpose virtual content on top of your natural view through clear lenses. The ultimate goal is a product that look just like conventional eyeglasses and sunglasses, but which are in fact augmented reality glasses. Give Apple a few more years for that one.

The Apple Reality platform will be powerful and expensive. Respected analyst Ming-chi Kuo says it will be as powerful as a MacBook Pro. Tech news site The Information reported on the existence of prototypes that pointed to two 8K displays. I believe that's overkill on both battery drain and price, and predict Apple Reality glasses will have two 4k displays at most.

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Apple's old target for shipping was this year. But leaks and credible rumors point to next year for the release.

I think what makes most sense is that Apple unveils Reality this year and ships next year, giving developers time to build apps. (Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January and Apple shipped it in July, six months later.)

The announcement will also suck the oxygen out of Meta's metaverse con.

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In a nutshell, Facebook envisions people wearing VR headsets all day and living, working, playing, learning and being entertained in virtual spaces, just like terrifying dystopian sci-fi.

Apple envisions people dipping into virtual spaces briefly for meetings, then removing the goggles and living mostly in the real world.

Facebook is wrong. Apple is right.

But the big revelation today is that it looks like Apple's product will be called Apple Reality.

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