Apple has sent out official invitations to select media to attend the WWDC 2023 keynote in person at the company’s headquarters at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. The keynote is scheduled for 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on June 5. It will also be broadcast live at the same time so that anyone can watch it from home.
The keynote at WWDC is the opening event for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and it usually includes a number of software announcements, including revealing major new updates to iOS, iPadOS, iPhone macOS, and more. This year, the rumored major announcement is said to have unveiled Apple’s augmented reality headset, a long-awaited device (which Apple hasn’t officially acknowledged, of course) that marks the company’s first major foray into the realm of mixed reality, the term many use to describe all of this. from AR and VR.
The AR headset is believed to be running a new version of Apple’s mobile operating system potentially known as “xrOS” and could be branded as “Reality One”. Rumors have it that it will be relatively thin and light compared to most competitors on the market, use OLED screens inside and feature an external screen to communicate with others IRL, and run a variant of the M2 processor. It should support iPad apps fairly out of the box, and it costs around $3,000 when it finally goes on sale.
There are still many question marks around the headset — including whether it will actually break cover at the event, but graphics around the event suggest some sort of mixed reality announcement, and developers will need time to build with this new platform if Apple wants it to. It will be ready for consumers upon its final release.