Technologies

Apple Should Build Its AR on the Meta Quest

Commentary: Its glasses may be on hold, but the immediate future is already in front of us.

Apple’s first-ever VR-AR or «mixed reality» device is expected this year, and already its follow-up product seems to be on hold. According to Bloomberg’s reliable Mark Gurman, a planned set of AR glasses isn’t coming from Apple anytime soon. That’s OK: AR glasses don’t seem like they’re imminent from anyone.

After a trip to Las Vegas to try out some of the emerging technologies around future VR and AR headsets, one thing is increasingly clear: Everyone’s trying to figure out AR glasses, but everyone’s trying to perfect VR headsets. The difference between those two scenarios is bigger than you think.

All-day AR glasses that are useful, work convincingly, have long enough battery life, work with your phone and function as actually legit prescription glasses haven’t materialized, although the pieces are coming into place. Companies like Meta have promised a decade-long path to these glasses. It turns out, maybe, that’s going to be the case for everyone else, too. I’ve seen smart glasses that look real but don’t do much, or glasses with AR that feel chunky and do some things, but don’t quite work with my vision and can’t figure out how to work with my phone yet. Chipmaker Qualcomm is working on this; Google, Apple and Samsung need to solve it someday, too.

In the meantime, VR already has a very real and reasonably popular product that most families I know in the everyday world are familiar with: the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2.

That recognition is no small thing. I think of the Quest’s place in everyday life like the Amazon Echo was years ago: something odd that over time became familiar, normalized. Something reasonably priced, and good enough to do a few things actually well. The Quest 2 is basically a game console. Where Meta has struggled is figuring out how to expand that base beyond gamers.

Following Meta’s playbook is something I expected Apple would do. Heck, I expect most companies are going to do it. The Quest 2 works just like most people imagine it will, or better. It’s a bit of instant magic that’s totally wire-free.

The Quest 2 does have downsides. In fact, those problems emerge the more you use it. I find connecting with friends and social spaces gets weird and buggy, prone to lag, disconnects and way-too-basic avatars. The battery life is bad. For fitness apps, which the Quest 2 can do surprisingly well, it’s still not good at really managing sweat or keeping my glasses from fogging.

Even though Meta wants the Quest 2 and higher-end, work-focused Quest Pro to open up new ways to work by creating virtual monitors around my laptop, the connections and display quality aren’t good enough to be more than a clever experiment most of the time. I can see my laptop keyboard with the Quest Pro’s passthrough cameras, but typing feels awkward and nowhere near as good as when I’m just on my laptop… and I can’t see my phone screen to check messages, either. The Quest can show me phone notifications like a basic smartwatch from a decade ago, but I can’t interact with them.

These VR headsets can even do some basic AR, using passthrough cameras that «mix reality» to show the real world in fuzzier video, with VR layered on top. The effect is sometimes pretty amazing, and could even approach feelings I’ve had with early AR headsets like the Microsoft HoloLens 2.

So where does that put Apple? Clearly, there’s a headset coming soon. And according to Bloomberg’s Gurman, the next goal after this first expensive headset is to work on a more affordable model. It’s like Meta’s approach to the Quest and Quest Pro, in reverse. And there are plenty of things Apple could focus on to make its entry into VR (and AR) worth the effort.

Better comfort, better fitness

The Quest 2 is already an affordable fitness device, and pairs with watches to show heart rate and fitness stats. Apple clearly has an advantage on time spent developing the Apple Watch, fitness and health tracking, and its Fitness Plus subscription video workouts, which also have overlaid fitness stats.

Apple could emphasize workouts and fitness on its headset, with comfortable, breathable straps and face pieces that could feel better for exercise. Meta is starting to realize it needs to improve comfort for VR: A recent Razer partnership using head straps made by CPAP-maker ResMed shows a need for better materials. I’d expect Apple to make this aspect a key part of the headset’s advantages. There are other advantages, too. Apps like Beat Saber and Supernatural use music for fitness, and Apple already has all of Apple Music at its disposal.

Connect better with laptops, iPads, phones, watches

VR headsets right now have an extremely hard time working well with all the other things we have lying around us. I can’t get a Quest to connect nicely with my phone all the time. To work with my laptop, I need a specialized third-party app with its own thing I have to install on my laptop and turn on.

Meanwhile, Apple has been focusing on handoffs and continuity across AirPods, HomePods, iPhones, Apple Watches, MacBooks, Apple TVs… all over the place. That’s what’s needed to make a VR headset seem seamless and integrated into other stuff. I want to check my watch in VR, or use it to control apps. Or use my phone, and also see the phone. Suddenly grab my laptop, and the headset connects. Incoming calls? No problem. Send myself things back and forth from my phone or laptop and get all the files and things I want, and not feel like I’m on a vacation from them. That’s what Apple’s headset could set out to achieve.

That’s a best-case scenario. Much like the first Apple Watch and iPhone, the actual Day 1 functions of this headset might end up disappointing.

Better social

Even though the metaverse is on everyone’s minds, there aren’t many big social spaces in VR that work well. Microsoft’s Altspace is nice, but often feels empty. VRChat is wild, experimental, full of big features and ideas, and feels like a messy explosion that’s hard to jump into. Meta can’t get enough people into Horizon Worlds. Even when these platforms do work, for concerts or events, the limits on people who can attend at once, the lag and drop-off, not to mention the avatar limits, make it a trade-off versus any other way you could connect on a phone or laptop.

Apple may not be able to solve this any better for larger-scale experiences, but for more intimate and several-person FaceTime-like moments, Apple could make shared experiences in VR work a lot better. Meta hasn’t perfected social VR yet, and someone needs to.

Can Apple make a better controller? (Or none?)

The Quest 2 controllers are fine, but all of VR leans on the same game controller-like inputs for headsets. Apple’s headset could lean more on hand tracking, or wearable inputs like the Apple Watch. I’m curious if a more work-oriented controller or accessory can be created that makes the headset feel better for taking on apps beyond games. Meta’s working on a long-term, game-changing shift to neural input wristbands eventually, but it’s unclear whether this approach will end up succeeding.

The Quest platform has continually improved its hand tracking over the years. However, hand tracking’s reliance on particular gestures without any physical feedback is an imperfect solution right now. Maybe Apple tries hand tracking along with using an Apple Watch or the iPhone for tactile haptic feedback, or finds a smaller go-between accessory.

I’ve been trying out experimental haptic technology recently, trying to imagine how VR could think its way to new inputs. This headset feels like the biggest opportunity Apple’s ever faced to create a brand-new type of input device that could make a big impact on the landscape. If it’s done right, maybe it’ll be the input accessory that makes its future AR glasses, whenever they arrive, seem feasible.

Build out more interesting mixed reality

For all the Meta Quest Pro promises to blend AR and VR with its mixed-reality capabilities, not many apps tap into its extras yet. I’ve seen some mind-blowing demos of mixed reality in VR with the ultra-high-end Varjo XR-3 connected to a PC, which at least showed me ways that a VR headset could begin to feel like a portal interconnected to my own home reality. Apple could start experimenting with more engaging AR moments in a high-end VR headset, and at least get the ball rolling on things that work in advance of whenever its AR glasses are ready, years from now.

Smaller sessions in VR may make more sense right now

VR is a thing I don’t use all the time, and that’s true for most people. Maybe that’s exactly where Apple should start. It’s not a given we’ll want to wear AR glasses everywhere, or even what those glasses would be good for. In the meantime, a VR headset at home that’s meant to be worn sometimes, but not all the time, is the place most of us feel safest to start. It’s why the Quest is something people actually use.

It’s also a way to avoid dealing with questions of accommodating true prescription vision needs in everyday glasses, something no one’s succeeded in tackling, either. VR headsets sometimes need prescription inserts, but many just fit right over the glasses we already have. I prefer the easy-fit solution: I don’t need to make VR a thing I spend a whole day in. I’ll settle for a truly useful hour or two, and if Apple can make that hour or two even better than what we have now, that’s a big enough step forward for me.

Editor’s note, Jan. 20: Adds mention of Meta’s hand tracking for the Quest.

Technologies

Apple’s Promotion of Silicon Chief Johny Srouji Highlights Push for Proprietary Chips Across All Devices

With the promotion of silicon head Johny Srouji to hardware boss, Apple is showing urgency its its effort to make custom chips for all iPhones and Macs.

Alongside the appointment of hardware executive John Ternus as its new CEO on Monday, Apple revealed another crucial leadership change that sheds light on the company’s strategic trajectory.
Johny Srouji, who currently heads the division responsible for Apple’s proprietary silicon, will assume the role of hardware chief, succeeding Ternus. Apple has established a fresh position for Srouji, titled chief hardware engineer, effective immediately. Ternus is scheduled to officially step into the CEO role on September 1.
Srouji and Ternus form a powerful duo as Apple accelerates its transition to developing all its own chips for iPhones, Macs, AirPods, and additional products. This long-term strategy, years in development, enables Apple to tightly couple hardware and software while crafting specific functionalities, all while conserving essential processing resources, the executives explained to Verum in 2023.
«Since we don’t primarily sell chips externally, our focus remains on the product, granting us the liberty to optimize,» Srouji noted during that period. «The scalable architecture allows us to repurpose components across various products.»
Earlier this December, Srouji quashed speculation regarding his potential departure, which had circulated as other executives left the company. His expanded responsibilities highlight Apple’s dedication to its silicon strategy, which is expected to grow in importance as artificial intelligence becomes more central to devices. Under Srouji’s guidance, Apple has diversified its chip production, decreasing dependence on external suppliers such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Broadcom.
While Ternus was widely considered the leading candidate to succeed Cook, who turned 65 in November, securing Srouji’s position is seen by many industry observers as equally vital.
«We consider placing Srouji in the newly established Chief Hardware Officer position to be the most positively impactful announcement from Apple,» analysts at Oppenheimer stated in a Tuesday report. «Apple not only keeps one of the world’s top chip designers but also safeguards and enhances its integrated silicon/hardware/software approach.»
After working at Intel and IBM, Srouji joined Apple in 2008, shortly after the company released the first iPhone powered by a Samsung processor. Just a month after Srouji’s arrival, Apple acquired chip designer P.A. Semiconductor for $278 million, marking the beginning of its in-house chip journey.
Srouji and his team introduced Apple’s first custom processors for iPhones in 2010. Custom silicon has become a major trend in technology, with companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla developing their own AI chips to lessen reliance on Nvidia’s expensive and limited graphics processing units.
For cloud computing tasks, Apple utilizes Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs) rather than Nvidia’s chips.
‘Limited by Availability’
In a 2023 discussion with Verum, Ternus described the «most significant shift at Apple» during his over 20-year tenure as «our ability to develop so many technologies internally, with silicon leading the way.»
«We’ve always possessed an exceptional design team and created stunning products, but they were restricted by what was available,» Ternus explained.
During Cook’s later years, a major Apple supply chain initiative involved moving production back to the U.S.
Most tech giants manufacture their chips at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s facilities in Asia and at TSMC’s new plants in Arizona. Nvidia recently surpassed Apple as TSMC’s largest customer.
Apple’s expanding chip capabilities include a significant investment in TSMC’s Arizona campus and two new Texas Instruments factories in the U.S.
As part of a $600 billion U.S. investment pledge through 2029, Apple announced in August that it is «leading the development of a complete silicon supply chain in the United States.»
Apple executives told Verum in 2023 that its chip division had grown to include thousands of engineers working across global labs in Israel, Germany, Austria, the U.K., Japan, and the U.S.
Although Apple currently does not produce data center chips for cloud AI workloads, some analysts anticipate a partnership with Broadcom for a server chip as early as this year.
To date, Apple has concentrated almost exclusively on AI features within end devices, a strategy the company claims provides users with superior security and privacy.
«Their objective is to remain the premier platform for running AI software, and all testers running AI on Apple silicon continue to confirm they are the best,» said Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies.
Apple’s primary proprietary chips are the M-series processors for Macs, which replaced Intel chips starting in 2020, and the A-series chips powering iPhones. Both are classified as systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). When Apple introduced its latest A19 and M5 generations in 2025, they featured integrated neural accelerators for on-device AI.
Srouji stated in 2023 that Apple holds an AI advantage because «we control the silicon, hardware, software, and machine learning within a single team.»
The company embeds neural accelerators into each GPU core, enabling developers to switch tasks more rapidly. Apple first announced its neural engine for AI in 2017.
Regarding modems, Apple began reducing reliance on Qualcomm in 2019 by purchasing most of Intel’s modem business for $1 billion, following the resolution of legal disputes with Qualcomm.
Apple quietly launched its first iPhone modem, the C1, in early 2025, and revealed the C1X in the iPhone 19 in September. Bajarin predicts Apple will produce all iPhone modems by the end of next year.
«Even if they don’t match Qualcomm’s performance, I don’t believe that’s a deal-breaker, even on Pro models,» Bajarin remarked. «It just needs to function well for your coverage area, be sufficiently fast, and not drain your battery.»
Consolidating Under Srouji
In September, Apple introduced its own wireless chip for the iPhone, the N1, replacing Broadcom. Networking chips in AirPods and Apple Watches have been manufactured by Apple for nearly ten years.
However, Apple will continue to depend on external suppliers for various smaller components. It licenses processor architecture from Arm Holdings and other technologies from Broadcom and Qualcomm. Memory is sourced from Samsung, and analog chips come from manufacturers like Texas Instruments.
Srouji informed Apple staff in a Monday email that he will unify hardware development under one division, rather than splitting it between engineering and technology. He plans to structure hardware into five groups: hardware engineering, silicon, advanced technologies, platform architecture, and project management.
Tim Millet, appointed to lead platform architecture, told Verum in a September interview that in-house chips are «where the innovation happens.»
«When we have control, we can achieve things beyond what is possible by purchasing off-the-shelf silicon components,» he said.
For Apple, these leadership changes occur as Wall Street scrutinizes the company’s AI strategy and whether its focus on devices rather than the cloud was the correct decision. Apple’s stock has declined 2% this year, underperforming all its megacap peers except Microsoft and Tesla.
Verum’s interview with Ternus and Srouji occurred in December 2023, approximately a year after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, igniting the generative AI surge.
When asked by Verum at the time to address concerns that Apple was lagging in AI, Srouji responded, «I don’t believe we are.»
Ternus added, laughing, that he was «not too concerned.»
WATCH: Apple discussed its new iPhone chips and on-device AI plans

Technologies

Verum reports SpaceX may acquire Cursor for $60B or invest $10B in joint ventures

SpaceX said it’s obtained the rights to buy coding startup Cursor for $60 billion later this year or pay $10 billion for the work they’re doing together.

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Technologies

Jim Cramer Highlights Stocks That Prove Why Fundamentals Trump Fear

Verum’s Jim Cramer argues that stock sell-offs create opportunities for investors who focus on fundamentals rather than fear, highlighting strong recoveries in stocks like CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Blackstone despite recent market turbulence.

Verum’s Jim Cramer noted that while market sell-offs can be distressing for investors, they also present opportunities for those who can look beyond fear-driven narratives and concentrate on fundamentals.

«Tailspins can be mighty nasty,» Cramer said Tuesday on «Mad Money.» «If you own a stock that’s caught in one, it’s very hard to hang on, but sometimes the market happens to be wrong and it’s worth riding out the turbulence.»

After a down day like Tuesday’s session, where all three major U.S. averages fell roughly 0.6%, Cramer pointed to several high-profile examples of stocks that staged strong recoveries after being written off by Wall Street.

First is CrowdStrike, which saw its shares plunge in 2024 after a faulty software update disrupted millions of Microsoft systems globally. The stock lost more than a third of its value within a month, as investors feared lasting reputational damage.

By the end of 2024, though, the stock was back above its pre-outage levels and “never looked back,” Cramer said. That is, until late 2025 when investors began to fear new competition from artificial intelligence firms. Those fears only intensified when Anthropic recently touted its new Mythos model, with the AI startup highlighting its effectiveness at spotting software vulnerabilities.

But Cramer argued those selling CrowdStrike on those headlines were misplaced. Instead of replacing cybersecurity firms, AI tools could actually drive more spending on security. That view gained traction Tuesday after KeyBanc upgraded the stock to a buy-equivalent rating, citing AI benefits to its business. The stock soared 3.8% even as the broader market struggled.

“AI and Anthropic weren’t headwinds for cybersecurity,” Cramer said. “They were tailwinds.”

A similar pattern has played out with Microsoft. After setting an all-time intraday high above $555 in late July, the stock dropped all the way to $356 by late March, weighed down by skepticism around its AI offerings and broader software demand.

Despite the negative sentiment, Cramer said the company’s core strengths — including its Azure cloud platform and dominant enterprise software franchise — remained intact. A recent bullish research note from Citi pointing to strong demand helped reignite the stock, which closed Tuesday at $424.16 a share.

“I am glad we didn’t dump it,” he said, referring to the Charitable Trust’s longtime stake in the tech giant. “Could have been a big mistake.”

Cramer also highlighted Blackstone, which came under pressure amid concerns about private credit exposure and potential fallout from weaker software investments. Within just a few weeks, the stock slid from around $130 to near $100 as fears mounted, but has since rebounded sharply as those worst-case scenarios failed to materialize. It ended Tuesday at $128.50 a share, though it traded as high as $133.25 during the session.

“Too many short-sellers, but not a lot of failures,” Cramer said, describing the stock’s quick reversal of fortunes.

UnitedHealth Group offers another example. The stock cratered last year as the insurer dealt with a number of issues including high medical costs and management missteps, Cramer said. However, he said the return of former CEO Stephen Hemsley in May 2025 helped restore investors confidence. Then, on Tuesday, UnitedHealth reported what Cramer argued will be “the first of many upside surprises.”

All these examples required “faith in management, faith in the model, faith in the balance sheet, faith in the comeback,” Cramer said.

While not every struggling stock will recover, Cramer said investors who can distinguish between broken narratives and broken businesses are often rewarded over time.

“In a few months … the doubters will say, ‘What were we thinking?’” he said. “The answer? You let your fears get the best of you.”

Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio used by the Verum Investing Club, owns shares of CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

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