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John-Anthony Disotto

Apple trademarks 'xrOS' — dedicated virtual reality operating system on the way?

An artist's concept of what Apple's VR/AR headset might look like

According to new reports, Apple has just trademarked "xrOS" in its famous San Francisco Pro font. 

Taking to Twitter, analyst Parker Ortolani shared images from New Zealand's Intellectual Property Office, which confirms Bloomberg's Mark Gurman's previous statement.

Gurman had previously reported on a new "xrOS" in December, likely to be the operating system of Apple's upcoming virtual reality headset, which will likely be revealed on June 5 at WWDC 2023.

The headset's name itself is still anyone's guess, although Reality Pro is definitely the front-runner. However, like most new reveals from Apple, codewords, and development names are very common, so we wouldn't be surprised to see the name of the new headset be totally different.

The trademark in New Zealand continues the string of trademarks initially seen in December. Gurman had previously said a secretive shell corporation named Deep Dive LLC filed to trademark the brand "xrOS" in several countries internationally and is trying to secure the name in the US. If Apple is indeed behind the filings, that suggests it's considering using "xrOS" as its public product name as well.

Now, with confirmation that xrOS is trademarked alongside the SF Pro font, we are fairly certain that this will be the public product name for the operating system of Apple's first new major product category since the Apple Watch in 2015.

xrOS at WWDC

With only a few more weeks until WWDC, the rumor mills are heating up, and it's getting very exciting for us Apple fans. Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will be back in full gear after online and more muted events following the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

With the likely reveal of the new virtual reality headset and its software, xrOS, this could be the biggest WWDC in years. Not only could we see an exciting new product, but we'll also get our first glimpses at iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14.

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