This bonkers Apple patent could solve one of VRs biggest problems

Date:
Thu, 17 Aug 2023 17:04:09 +0000

Description:
Future Apple Vision Pro VR headsets might come with liquid lenses according
to this US patent.

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Apple might have found a wild solution to VRs prescription lens problem; liquid lenses.

VR headsets and glasses dont usually mix well. Often they sit too close to your face for glasses to fit in front of your eyes, and the solutions
deployed by headset designers are a mixed bag some package in optional spacers that make room for specs like the Oculus Quest 2 , while others include a prescription lens attachment (but you need to buy lenses for it at an added cost) like the Apple Vision Pro , and a few do nothing at all.

This has resulted in some glasses wearers feeling like VR isnt accessible to them, but that might change if Apples latest patent comes to one of its headsets.

According to the patent granted in the US (via Apple Insider ) Apple has created a design for an electronic device with liquid lenses. The document describes a head-mounted device (sounds like a VR headset) with tunable
liquid lenses. You can read the patent for the full details, but the TL;DR is that electronic signals sent to the lenses will deform the liquid in them and alter the refractive index of the lenses.

This should allow the liquid lenses to correct a wide range of eyesight
issues without the need for any accessories. Whats more, the correction is calibrated by the headsets eye-tracking system.

Apples patent also states that it could apply to a pair of glasses. We cant read too much into patent wordings, but this could hint at the Apple AR glasses that Apple apparently also has in development. When will we get
liquid lenses? Apple's liquid lenses could bring VR and AR into focus (Image credit: Shutterstock / Girts Ragelis)

As with all patents we need to note that theres no guarantee that well ever see these liquid lenses appear in a real headset one thats made by Apple or otherwise. While the design exists in theory, it might be less than practical to add liquid lenses to a commercially available headset either from a
design or cost perspective. Alternatively, Apple might develop a different solution to VRs prescription problem.

Whats more, even if liquid lenses do appear in an Apple headset you or I
could pick up off the shelf theres no telling when that will happen.

Its probably an impossibility for the first-generation Vision Pro to launch
in early 2024, and wed be surprised if it appeared in the second-generation headset that rumors predict will appear sometime in the next few years. Instead, it seems far more likely wed see liquid lenses in the third-generation model (assuming we see them at all) in half a decade or so as this would give Apple plenty of time to hone the design. You might also like Meta has two award-winning VR headsets you'll never get to try Apple might have already ruined the Vision Pro for VR gaming The Apple Vision Pro brings 'validation' and unique opportunities to VR



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/virtual-reality-augmented-reality/this-bon kers-apple-patent-could-solve-one-of-vrs-biggest-problems


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