It’s unknown as to when the collaboration between the two companies started. But according to Digitimes, the AR headset will only be released in the second half of 2020 at the earliest. It may not look like the concept illustration above either.
It’s an interesting partnership, to say the least. Valve launched its own Index VR headset earlier in May. Perhaps Apple takes that as an indication that the company that runs Steam knows a thing or two about making headsets. All that said, it seems that the Apple AR headset will still require an iPhone to run. This is so that all the computational tasks can be carried out by the phone. In turn, this allows the headset to be as light as possible. (Source: Digitimes via Cult of Mac. Image: iDrop News, USPTO)