Details emerge about the connected battery of the Apple headphones

Enlarge / Apple's MagSafe Battery for iPhone. The outer pack of the headset is said to look like these.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman is back, sharing insider details about Apple's upcoming mixed reality headset. This time, Gurman has shared new details in their weekly newsletter about the headset's controversial connected battery design.

Previous reports from Gurman, supply chain analyst Ming Chi-Kuo and The Information revealed that after lengthy internal debates, Apple has decided to go ahead with a design headphone that works with an external battery connected by a wire.

In fact, including the battery inside the headset would make it too bulky and heavy for some users. Apple employees opposed to this approach argued that it made the headphones difficult to use, especially in public.

Now, for the first time, we have some details on exactly what this will look like. Gurman writes that the headset will have two ports: USB-C and a new proprietary power port. The USB-C port will be used for data only, while the proprietary port will be used for "a charging cable that goes into the headset has a round tip that fits magnetically."

The cable will be permanently attached to a battery that is "about the size of an iPhone but thicker" and has a similar aesthetic to Apple's official MagSafe battery for the iPhone. The pack will also need to be charged, of course, and it'll use a USB-C connection to connect to a MacBook Pro-like wall-mounted charging brick.

A fully charged pack provides about two hours of use, and Gurman speculates that Apple might try offering users to purchase multiple battery packs for longer sessions.

On the one hand, two hours seems like plenty given that most people don't like being in VR for particularly long periods of time, although the headset's non-immersive AR features might be more comfortable for longer sessions. long. Plus, the helmet is said to resemble a ski goggle in shape and size, making it much smaller (and probably more comfortable) than most head-mounted displays we've seen before.

The headset will offer a wide range of features and applications, from games created by experienced Apple Arcade developers to immersive fitness programs and the ability to use iPad apps such as Books, FaceTime and Maps while virtual reality. Apple even plans to offer users a way to see a screen for a nearby MacBook in virtual or augmented reality, suggesting it will be designed for longer-term uses.

Given all of this, it's no surprise that Apple decided not to include a battery in the headset. To achieve all-day use, experienced users will need to purchase multiple batteries and replace them every two hours.