Apple VR headset may come with Micro LED display, M1 chip

Apple’s VR headset’s due date at the end of the year is inching ever closer, and the rumors surrounding the new device have been flowing in at a faster rate than usual. A mysterious new tip has made its way to us today, supposedly revealing details about the headset’s display and processing chip.

The leak comes from Korean tech site ET News, and claims it has insider info that Apple is developing a Micro OLED chip for the device with TSMC:

The parts industry expects Apple to release virtual reality (VR) headset terminal for the metaverse market as early as this year. It was understood that the performance test for VR headset production has been recently completed. Apple VR devices are equipped with micro-organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Apple cooperated with Taiwan’s TSMC with developing OLED displays for VR devices. Micro OLED displays do not require color filters since OLEDs are deposited directly on the chip wafer. Micro OLED is smaller, thinner, and more efficient.

The same article also states that Apple is equipping the VR headset with an M1 chip, which also powers Apple’s latest iPads and MacBooks.

Although the ET News leak has made its way into the tech mainstream media, it wouldn’t be too fast to put much stock in it. It further claims that Apple will be using the iPhone’s iOS operating system for the headset, despite an earlier fairly credible GitHub code leak showing clear references to a separate “Reality OS” operating system that the company is developing.

The M1 chipset claim is slightly more credible, as we know that the device has already been tested with the processor Apple designed to replace Intel components on certain Mac models. In power, the M1 processor is comparable to the 5nm-node A14 Bionic chip that powers the iPhone 12 series but is complete with all of 16 billion transistors for maximum compact power and efficiency.