The Apple VR headset display could be 50 times brighter than your Oculus Quest 2’s

We’re days away from WWDC 2023, Apple’s annual developer conference which we expect will be the launch event for the Apple VR headset. As we get closer to the event more and more leaks are seemingly spoiling the details, with the most recent of them unveiling the displays the headset could use.

Respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has already detailed many of the high-end specs we should expect from the Apple headset – which will apparently include 12 cameras and 2 processors – saying that the screen it has is a micro OLED display from Sony. Now we have a few more details.

According to Ross Young on Twitter – he’s the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants and his bio says he has over 25 years of experience in the display industry – the OLED screen will offer 4K resolution per eye and a peak brightness of 5,000 nits (around 50 times brighter than Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 which offers 100 nits). 

Young also claims the display has 4,000 PPI (pixels per inch). For comparison, the Quest 2 boasts only 773 PPI, while the Meta Quest Pro has around 1,059 PPI.

If these stats are true Apple’s VR headset could offer incredible visuals. Its high pixel count should not only make virtual images appear clear but could help to eliminate the screendoor effect (the image looks like you’re peering through a screendoor’s mesh). Plus, with a high peak brightness, it would offer much better HDR than any other VR headset which should help to make experiences more immersive and real – that’s why one Meta prototype tried using a display that’s 20,000 nits.

As with all leaks, even those from analysts with insider knowledge, we should take this information with a pinch of salt. We won’t know for certain what Apple’s VR headset has in store for us until it launches and it’s officially unveiled, and hopefully, we won’t be left waiting for much longer.

Another xrOS teaser

We’ve also got yet another confirmation of the Apple VR headset’s operating system called xrOS.

What appears to be an Apple shell company has not one but two trademarks for xrOS in New Zealand – it has the name xrOS and a separate wordmark filing for xrOS written out in the SF Pro font. SF Pro official font Apple uses for all of its operating systems such as iOS, macOS, and others.

Now the App Store itself has seemingly given the game away. After looking over some Apple source code, developer Steve Troughton-Smith attempted to submit an xrOS app to the App Store. His attempt failed, but the rejection message he received recognized that his app was incorrectly using the “xrOS arm64 executable.” This shows that App Store Connect – an Apple-made system – knows what xrOS is, and suggests that it’ll be the public name of the VR headset’s operating software.

Steve Troughton-Smith‘s error message in App Store Connect (Image credit: Steve Troughton-Smith)

With WWDC happening on June 5 it should only be a matter of days until Apple reveals what it has up its sleeves in terms of its VR hardware and software. We can’t wait to see what’s unveiled.

Want to see what Apple’s VR headset is up against? Check out this report about people’s first impressions of an Oculus Quest 3 prototype, and our rundown of the best VR headsets out there.