Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims Apple's assembled a team called "T288" with hundreds of engineers to work on an AR headset that doesn't require an iPhone to work.
The team is reportedly testing their work with HTC Vive VR headsets and "a device similar to an Oculus Gear VR headset," with goal to build a fully integrated headset that includes a display and cameras powered by a custom chipset.
According to the report, Apple is looking into using its expert knowledge in designing custom silicon to create a more power-efficient chip for the headset. The chip could be similar to the integrated system used on the Apple Watch.
This integrated design would be classic Apple, and could be a potential threat to Qualcomm's efforts to make its Snapdragon processors, typically used in most Android devices, a viable chipset for standalone mobile headsets.
Apple's also reportedly working on a special operating system called "rOS," short for "reality operating system."
Apple is said to be targeting 2019 to get have the technology in place and ready to go. If all goes well, we could see an AR headset as soon as 2020.
And just how would you control Apple's headset? The report says the tech giant's "investigating touch panels, voice-activation via Siri and head gestures."
The headset is just one part of the equation, though. Apple's also reportedly working on a special operating system called "rOS" (short for "reality operating system") for the headset and exploring the idea of a separate app store just for AR apps.
Avid tech geeks will notice Apple's plans sound a lot like what Google's fledgling Daydream VR platform, which consists of the Daydream View VR headset with controller, and a special version of the Google Play Store just for discovering and installing VR apps.
As promising as an AR headset sounds, it's also important to remember that Apple could scrap such plans at any time. Just look at what happened with the now dead "Project Titan," Apple's ambitious project to build a self-driving car.
Cook, himself, has warned that AR glasses aren't coming soon. In October, he told Vogue, "The technology itself doesn't exist to do that in a quality way."
“We don't give a rats about being first, we want to be best in creating people's experiences," he said. "Something that you would see out in the market any time soon would not be something that any of us would be satisfied with."
And let's not forget that Cook said chief design officer Jony Ive felt the face is "the wrong place" to put a computer.
When asked about Google Glass, Cook wasted no time dissing them at the time:
We always thought that glasses were not a smart move, from a point of view that people would not really want to wear them. They were intrusive, instead of pushing technology to the background, as we’ve always believed. We always thought it would flop, and, you know, so far it has.
Of course, these comments were made in 2015 right before the launch of the Apple Watch. With new technology, it's possible the company's and its execs have changed their mind. After all, Apple famously was against larger phone screens and styluses, and the company now sells the iPhone 8 Plus and the Apple Pencil.
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