The 2022 Apple Spring Conference has been officially announced and will be officially held on March 8 (2 a.m. Beijing time on March 9), which is Apple's first large-scale release event of the year, called Peek Performance "high-energy transmission". According to the exposure, this conference brought a lot of things, such as a new generation of iPhone SE, iPad Air, Mac computer, etc., but AR/VR hardware is clearly not going to be.
However, this does not prevent the friends in the AR circle from playing Apple's official AR portal, browsing the Apple official website, accessing the page with an iPhone or iPad, and seeing the AR Logo logo created by the latest AR Core. Click on the color Apple Logo on the page to enter AR browsing mode, scan the surrounding lookup plane, and see the portal effect of the animated Logo.
A deep color gradient nests the Apple Logo with animation and musical effects. Users can also view in "VR" mode, web 3D display mode.
For most of the media in the technology circle, the above gadget is estimated to be negligible, because last year's conference has already used the idea of this AR portal, and there are not too many highlights. However, this case can be seen is the performance of the latest AR kit, which is crucial for developers of Web AR and various AR cultural tourism large space interaction cases based on mini programs, which have been talked about before in Web 3D. Then the recent technology circle for this conference in addition to the low-cost 5G version of the iPhone SE, the new version of the iPad Air tablet, Mac computer, etc., in addition to Apple's self-developed M series chips, or the rumor M2 chip is about to debut. Whether it is A series chips or M series chips, the impression is that each conference is a doubling of various computing power, but what is the significance? Is it silkier to play mobile phone elimination? Of course not!
This starts with the 2017 iPhone X to open a new era of full screen and face ID, this year for Apple, whether it is A-series processors or iPhones have entered the next era. The A11 Bionic chip at the time was a performance monster. It is equipped with a neural network engine for the first time, using a dual-core design, with up to 600 billion operations per second, mainly competent for machine learning tasks, able to recognize people, places and objects, and the most typical application is its first face ID and its derivative function 3D animated expressions. From that generation onwards, the A series chips had a new name "bionic" chip! Simply put, bionics is a scientific method of constructing a technical system by mimicking the function and behavior of biological systems. It breaks down the boundaries between living things and machines, communicating a variety of different systems. The bionic chip actually means that the chip integrates a neural network engine, and adds an AI operation acceleration core to the chip to integrate an independent processing unit and an independent core specifically for neural network computing. Then algorithms such as speech, picture recognition, face recognition, etc. mainly rely on this module to accelerate this series of AI algorithms. For example, the original image recognition, several pictures per second, and with NPU acceleration, you can recognize hundreds of pictures in a minute and second, which is not only faster but also consumes lower power.
In fact, for ordinary users, the computing performance of the chip is far excessive, especially the machine learning computing power increased by the bionic chip can hardly find much use in the daily use of mobile phones, but from A11 to A15 to M1 Chip Each time the increase in computing power requires more than just a large amount of research and development funds, many of the world's top technology companies may not be able to do it even if they spend the same amount of money, and they can keep up with it. But as a C-end consumer product, it continues to increase in a place that has been far more surplus, so is the significance of Apple's unlimited accumulation of computing power to show off the numbers at the conference? The answer is: Apple is constantly iterating hardware for the next generation of AR platforms!
Achieving perfect AR effects requires spatial positioning SLAM technology to match your virtual objects with real-time coordinates of the real environment; gesture recognition and gesture interaction make your AR content interactive;
Lighting understanding is required so that the texture color of your AR content can look consistent with the light and shade of the live environment, and the machine learning computing power of the bionic chip to achieve these functions is not only not excessive, but also far from enough. Of course, now running AR applications on the A14 chip will not appear as before, and the mobile phone will soon be obviously hot. Apple's neural network engine is of great significance for AR augmented reality and deep learning algorithms.
Although AR or VR equipment will certainly not be released tomorrow, overseas graphic designer Jermaine Smit made the latest rendering of Apple's AR/VR headset based on the information that broke the news last month. It's an AR/VR headset with 8K ultra-high resolution (dual 4K Micro-OLED displays) and eye tracking, which features a slim curved visor design that is fixed to the face by an adjustable headband; Apple may make an adjustable headband and accessories based on a variety of composite materials (like a smartwatch strap) to make users comfortable for a long time.
Previously, Apple analyst Guo Mingxi said that Apple AR/VR headset will be equipped with 15 cameras for tracking and collecting biometric data, of which 8 cameras process image projection, 6 cameras process biometrics, and finally 1 camera handles environmental detection; in addition, Apple seems to want to equip AR/VR headsets with cooling devices to prevent overheating; finally, the headset has a built-in independent battery. Netizens will ask this picture as if it is a VR device, and AR should have nothing to do with it, in fact, VR equipment with video see through way to achieve AR is also a very imaginative augmented reality mode.
Apple CEO Cook believes that he prefers to call the metaverse AR, for this goal, Apple has accumulated thousands of AR applications in its App Store App Store, and these excellent applications are likely to be directly ported to Apple AR devices in the future, and I believe that this point must be the explosive point of the AR industry!
Summary: If you want to see Apple release AR\VR products in the early morning of the day after tomorrow, clearly tell you that you don't have to stay up late!