Jony Ive. Photo credit: Insider Monkey

The fact that an augmented reality or virtual reality product from Apple has long been expected but not yet released seems to now have a candid explanation as explained by a recent Bloomberg report [paywall]. According to the report, Apple, in 2018, was a few years into its plan to build a powerful single headset with both virtual-and-augmented-reality capabilities but had to delay its efforts after an objection from Jony Ive, the company’s famed design maverick who departed last year after a three-decade stint.

According to the report, Apple intended to sell a headset that’s paired with a stationary hub resembling a small Mac due to difficulties faced in trying to fit advanced processing capabilities into a miniaturized device. Ive happened to have balked at such a plan, demanding that Apple developed a standalone headset even if it meant having less powerful technology. Apple CEO Tim Cook apparently sided with Ive. The team tasked with building the headset is a 1,000-person strong workforce led by veteran engineer Mike Rockwell, Bloomberg notes.

Right now, Apple is working on a standalone headset that among other features will have a cinematic speaker system, Bloomberg reports. Prototypes of the headset are said to like a smaller version of the Oculus Quest, Facebook’s latest virtual reality headset which was released last year and is known to have sold in the tens of thousands. Right now, Apple’s engineers are still testing the device on different head shapes to come up with an ideal fit, Bloomberg reports.