These two products expanded VR gaming to millions of people, and a new version of the Quest in particular became the hottest item for Christmas 2021.

But the increase in users brought some unavoidable issues to the fore.

Most obviously, children should not use stereoscopic VR due to potential damage to their vision (or, at least, a lack of definitive proof otherwise). Most headsets are also too uncomfortable for long-term use, trapping heat and moisture from a user’s face and adding weight to their head. Some users even proved allergic to the foam used in the Quest 2.

All the headset makers have struggled to account for every possible head or face shape, pupillary distance and vision difference, meaning some people simply can’t use them without pain. Some models accommodate glasses, but certain kinds of lenses work better than others, while people with astigmatism tend to have issues with all headsets regardless.

And then there’s VR sickness — triggered by the disconnect between what you’re seeing and hearing compared to all your other senses — which affects each person differently.

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By contrast, 10 years after the first smartphone was released the category was quite mature; primitive compared to the devices we have today, obviously, but they weren’t hurting people.

A core engineering roadblock with headsets is that we don’t yet have the technology to substantially make things more comfortable, realistic or intuitive without the unwelcome trade-offs like huge prices, bulky external batteries, extra weight or too much heat. Meta has spent billions prototyping headsets with brighter, sharper or multi-focal screens, but it could be many years before they’re affordable and fit on human heads.

Reports indicate Apple’s initial version will put some components in a separate box you keep in your pocket, tethered to your head with a cable.

Augmented reality headsets on their own, including Google Glass, have been able to get much smaller and comfortable. But integrating the technology into a VR headset generally means external cameras feeding a 3D feed of the outside world to a user, which brings issues of its own, including an impact on the user’s ability to be spatially aware.

Another question is whether the consumer appetite is truly there. Sony’s recently launched PlayStation VR 2, which is far more capable than its predecessor, has reportedly fallen well below sales expectations, with only a few hundred thousand units moved. Meanwhile, Meta’s Quest Pro, an attempt to court business customers into its dream of a metaverse future, has also fallen flat.

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A key concern here, and one that is most likely the subject of heated discussions within Apple, is that the value proposition of mixed reality headsets is still unclear. Some people really like playing video games with their gaze and hand gestures rather than a TV and controller, but the pitch to everybody else rests on speculation about the future.

Meta imagines a persistent digital reality that exists alongside the real world, which people are going to want to dip in and out of throughout their day. Many others see a future of hybrid work where geographically separated colleagues will feel like they’re in an office or meeting room together. Some even envision a person being able to share their perspective with loved ones when they’re apart, for example streaming their view of a holiday directly to someone else’s eyeballs.

But none of this exists yet, and neither does the technology to create it.

If it’s Apple’s goal to have headsets that let people feel closer to each other across distances, it could be launching a headset five or 10 years before that’s even possible. In the meantime, it will also need to solve the issues of making the product comfortable, adaptable and affordable.

Given the company’s AR output to date, an Apple headset could start overlaying digital information on the real world straight away — including walking directions, real-time measurements, text translation, accessibility labels, games and more — but at an expected asking price of more than $4000, it will be tough to convince people it’s better than just seeing that information on their phones.

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