Earlier in the year Apple released its most anticipated AR hardware product at its Worldwide Developers Conference: the Vision Pro. Its price tag of $3499 has deterred many consumers, and even Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure if the average person can afford it.

Apple is also rumored to be developing a “cheap” version of the Vision Pro, but even the “cheap” version probably won’t be cheap. Apple’s new patent suggests that users could put their iPhone or iPad into a slot attached to a headband that looks like a pair of goggles. The patent also suggests that the iPhone would have a detection mechanism that would communicate with the device to establish a wireless connection, meaning Apple is exploring new ways for people to use their iPhones and iPads.

The exact mechanism for this headband and how it will communicate with the iPhone or iPad to create a VR experience is not yet clear. The patent doesn’t necessarily mean that a product will actually be made, but it does suggest that Apple engineers are considering a way to turn an iPhone or iPad into a VR headset.

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Apple said in the patent that this technology provides immersive video content to the wearer of the headset in three dimensions. When the video content is output, the immersive video content can be dynamically presented according to the position and direction of the user’s body, as well as the user’s input requirements.

Figure 1 below shows an example of system #100 for presenting immersive video content to user #102. System #100 includes a source of video content #104 communicatively coupled to a wearable display device #106 via network #108.

The scope of wearable display devices includes any device that is configured, worn by a user, and displays visual data to the user, which, includes devices such as virtual reality headsets, augmented reality headsets, mixed reality headsets, or wearable holographic displays.

In Reference Figure 2A, Apple states that immersive video content #200 can include visual data that can be presented based on the user’s viewing direction and/or range of viewing positions.

Viewport #202 may present a portion of the immersive video content based on the position and orientation of the user’s head, and then present the associated visual data based on the angle of the user’s field of view.

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