Apple’s mixed reality headset may have these leaky parts

It’s possible we just took a look at some cables and sensors for Apple’s upcoming virtual/augmented reality headset. Photos by MrWhite128, a protected Twitter account, which were reposted by MacRumors And 9to5Macappear to show ribbon cables that seem to fit perfectly over a set of eye-shaped glasses.

It’s not obvious from the images what exactly the cables would do beyond connecting the left and right sides of the headset – without context there’s not a ton to be gained from it. The leaker also shared footage of a cable that has three bulbous sections, which could be some kind of sensor or camera. The headset is rumored to have color transmission capabilities that let you see the real world outdoors, similar to the Meta Quest.

To be clear, these images are pretty sketchy. For one thing, the person who posted them didn’t directly say they were from a helmet, according to MacRumors, which reports that the tweet’s caption was just a face with sunglasses emoji. And while the ribbon cables definitely look like they belong in a VR headset, the long cable with sensors on it (image three in the gallery above) looks suspiciously like a first-gen HomePod’s microphone array, like 9to5MacIan Zelbo pointed out in a now-deleted tweet. While it’s not exactly weird if Apple used a similar design for another product, it’s probably worth taking this one with a huge grain of salt.

If the parts are legit, however, that could add weight to rumors that Apple plans to announce the headset at WWDC this year and release it before the end of 2023. Leaks tend to happen when the company is starting to ramp up its supply chain to actually produce the devices – if that’s the case here and it starts producing parts, the timing would be about right. It would also line up with rumors from last year that Apple was planning to put the headphones into production in March 2023.

Of course, we are still in fairly speculative waters; the only way this particular rumor will likely be confirmed is after the headset is released and teared down or if Apple shows an exploded view of the headset components when it announces it. At the very least, though, we got to see some interestingly shaped flat cables and imagine how they might fit into a potential headset that only exists in rumors and concept sketches.