Tim Cook says Apple sees potential in the metaverse and “invests accordingly”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company sees a lot of potential in the metaverse, which he links to the company’s current AR / VR ventures, adding that the company is investing in space.

Leaks and rumors suggest that Apple is taking a leading role in the future of virtual reality, called by some “metauniverse”. During a conversation about Apple’s profits, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the company is interested in this development and has already invested with a commitment to augmented reality.

In particular, Cook said that “we are a company in the business of innovation” and “we have over 14,000 AR applications in the App Store” when asked about the metaverse.

Cook added that Apple sees “a lot of potential” in the space and “invests accordingly.”

The metaverse refers to the conceptual idea that in the future, people will use virtual reality headsets to do work, attend events, or communicate. Early attempts at such a reality came from Meta, formerly known as Facebook.

Cook’s mention of augmented reality applications is not surprising. Apple insists on a massive AR experience after adding LiDAR to the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro.

It is rumored that Apple is working on VR headsets that may be released in 2022. Such headsets would allow people to interact with the metaverse.

Bloomberg said on January 14 that this could be delayed as there are expected to be software and hardware challenges.