Apple's yearly developers conference is approaching, what does it mean for the market?
WWDC, or the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference is a yearly Apple event that takes place in June. The event is usually focused on software, but occasionally hardware announcements are slipped in, such as in 2019 when an new Mac Pro was announced. Apple will hold its 2022 WWDC from June 6 to 10.
The event starts at 10 am with the keynote speech, where most of the major announcements will occur. If you want to watch the event, you can view it off of YouTube, or the Apple store depending on what device you are using (Apple users can use the store, Windows or Android need a to use YouTube)
While other leading electronic companies such as Samsung (SSNLF), release many products every year, Apple (APPL) only release a few, so any announcements hold a much greater impact on Apple’s yearly profit.
Among the rumored announcements today is Apple announcing a AR system, or going in depth about the software behind it. According to Patently Apple, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple two mixed reality (MR) headset patents.
One patent covers a head-mounted device (HMD) faceplate that uses an infrared one-way mirror finish. Apple’s other patent covers an HMD charging system. Although these patents are not enough for a complete headset, it shows that Apple may be branching out into the AR/VR market.
If Apple does release a AR/VR headset, it could hurt another massive company. As of now the largest VR company in the world is Oculus, a branch of Facebook (FB). However, in the past 6 month Facebook stock value has fallen almost 40%, and been plagued with anti-trust issues. Especially considering that VR systems are a very intrusive form of electronics, with most including visual and audible data anti-trust issues can severely weaken a virtual reality companies value.
Because of the factors involved in electronics, especially with wearable technology, it will be hard to actually tell the value of new hardware to Apple before tech reviewers can go hands on. So many factors can make or break a wearable device, and it only takes one to make it a flop. Take for example comfort. If the device isn’t balanced well, it will feel uncomfortable to wear for longer periods of time, and people will not enjoy it. If it weighs to little, it will be hard to properly secure and can get damaged easily. Due to this, while hardware announcements can be very risky to acts on, software is a lot safer because it is much more clear what is actually included. However, any mention of AR/VR technology at the conference would not bode well for Facebook. Despite only 3% of Facebook revenue comes from Oculus, Apple AR/VR technology would cut directly out of that profit, and at such a weak point for Facebook it could be devastating for the company.