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An attendee wears an HTC Vive Virtual Reality headset during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, June 5, 2017.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

On Monday, Apple is expected to announce its first new major product line since the Apple Watch in 2014.

During Apple’s software-focused developer conference, WWDC, it could release its first mixed-reality headset, according to analyst research, media reports and increasingly, vague references from Apple itself.

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The headset, according to reports, will feature high-definition screens in front of the user’s eyes. But it could also let users see and interact with the real world through high-powered cameras mounted on the device, a trick sometimes called passthrough or mixed reality.

Apple is launching its headset as the broader virtual reality industry sifts through what’s been called a trough of disillusionment.

“Although the lackluster uptake of the AR/VR market and the transitory enthusiasm about the Metaverse create a backdrop of challenges, it is instructive to remember that Apple invents entire new categories that have the potential to disrupt existing markets and create entirely new markets,” Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in a recent note.

When Facebook rebranded as Meta in October 2021, it drew attention to VR and the metaverse headsets could enable. But since then, sales for existing VR headsets haven’t been great, usage has been worse and the anticipated explosion in successful VR software companies hasn’t happened.

Augmented reality, a related technology that shows computer graphics through pricey, specialized transparent lenses, has also failed to thrive. Microsoft’s Hololens, announced in 2014, had a high-profile deal to make headsets for the U.S. Army, but it recently stalled. The most visible AR startup, Magic Leap, has changed management and refocused from making a consumer-oriented gaming device to developing a tool for a small set of industries.

Apple’s headset is expected to be more powerful than what’s out there — even current $6,500 VR headsets. It’s expected to have a 4K resolution screen for each eye and a powerful Apple-designed chip, according to TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

It could also be pricey, retailing for as much as $3,000, according to a note from TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar, and could only sell in the hundreds of thousands in the first year. By way of comparison, the Apple Watch sold millions in its first year.

But many people in the industry believe Apple’s announcement will energize consumers and software developers and bring the technology closer to its ultimate promise: a headset you wear daily, as you go about your business, or perhaps a pair of lightweight glasses, helping you with contextual information.

“It’s good to see others get into this business, particularly Apple, who doesn’t jump into markets too early,” Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson told CNBC. “That is a huge validation of what we have been doing to date, and we welcome that, because it’s also good for the ecosystem.”

Here’s why Apple could succeed where everybody else has failed.

Apple breaks products into the mainstream

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiling the first iPhone in 2007.

David Paul Morris | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The language may be dated now. The clunky phrase “internet communications device” transformed into “there’s an app for that” quickly. But it still showed how Apple can quickly slim down a pitch for a new gadget into terms consumers understand.

For now, the world of headset technology is confusing and has no clear use cases. Industry practitioners spend a lot of time explaining the differences between augmented, virtual and mixed reality. If Apple can demystify the whole industry for the public, it could end up with the first headset mainstream consumers understand and want.

Plus, Apple has about 34 million developers for its current phones. That’s a huge resource Apple could encourage to build the killer app that would turn its headset into a must-have.

Apple has been laying the groundwork for a decade

When Apple releases a headset, it won’t just have the technology Apple developed in secret. It will have a base of software and hardware infrastructure Apple has been building and buying for years.

Starting in 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook began frequently talking about the benefits of augmented reality, often contrasting it with the limitations of virtual reality.

Around the same time, Apple started buying several companies focused on specific technologies that could end up in a headset.

— In 2013, Apple bought PrimeSense, whose 3D camera sensor eventually ended up being part of the basis for Face ID, the company’s facial recognition system for iPhones, and influenced the company’s current depth-sensing cameras.
— In 2015, Apple bought Metaio , which made AR software for mobile devices.
— In 2016, it bought Flyby Media, which worked on computer vision technology.
— In 2017, it bought SensoMotoric Instruments, which developed eye tracking, a core VR technology, as well as Vrvrana, which developed a VR headset.
— In 2018, it bought Akonia Holographics, which developed transparent lenses for AR glasses
— It bought NextVR, which filmed video content for virtual reality, including sports.

Apple also started releasing developer’s kits for augmented reality, including one called ARKit, which could use the iPhone’s hardware to create limited AR experiences on the phone, such as interacting with a virtual pet or trying out digital furniture in a living room.

Apple now has an entire library of software to perform difficult tasks the headset will need to be able to do to integrate the real world and a virtual world seamlessly.

— RealityKit allows developers to render graphics that mesh with the real world.
— RoomPlan scans the room around the user.
— Animoji is a 3D avatar that can match the user’s facial expression.
— Spatial Audio can make audio sound like it’s coming from somewhere, not just from the user’s headphones.

Apple doesn’t give up easily

When the Apple Watch hit the market, Apple didn’t know entirely what it was going to be. Cook even said at its release the company was excited to learn what developers would do with it.

One early thought is the Apple Watch was going to be a fashion must-have. In the early days of the product, Apple spent a lot of time courting fashion media and seeding the product with tastemakers. Beyonce was spotted wearing a gold Apple Watch model, with a never-released band, before it was released.

But once the Apple Watch got into user hands, Apple figured out people were most interested in it as a fitness tracker. Subsequent versions de-emphasized the luxury gold model and introduced a version co-branded with Nike.

When Apple finally released a new premium model of the Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Ultra, its selling point was features that dedicated fitness trackers had for serious weekend warriors, such as marathon battery life and a bigger screen.

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Apple could pull the same move with its headset. Even if the first is expensive and doesn’t sell well, Apple is already planning future versions at lower prices and higher volumes, according to Kuo.

Analysts don’t expect Apple’s headset to turn into a significant source of revenue immediately, but they believe Apple is dipping a toe into a market that could one day be worth billions.

“By 2030, I believe the wearables/glasses segment could account for 10% of Apple’s sales (assuming they don’t release a car), a similar size business as Mac and iPad are today,” said Gene Munster, founder of Deepwater Asset Management, in an email.

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Google promotes ‘AI Mode’ on home page ‘Doodle’

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Google promotes ‘AI Mode’ on home page 'Doodle'

Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses the crowd during Google’s annual I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California on May 20, 2025.

Camille Cohen | AFP | Getty Images

The Google Doodle is Alphabet’s most valuable piece of real estate, and on Tuesday, the company used that space to promote “AI Mode,” its latest AI search product.

Google’s Chrome browser landing pages and Google’s home page featured an animated image that, when clicked, leads users to AI Mode, the company’s latest search product. The doodle image also includes a share button.

The promotion of AI Mode on the Google Doodle comes as the tech company makes efforts to expose more users to its latest AI features amid pressure from artificial intelligence startups. That includes OpenAI which makes ChatGPT, Anthropic which makes Claude and Perplexity AI, which bills itself as an “AI-powered answer engine.”

Google’s “Doodle” Tuesday directed users to its search chatbot-like experience “AI Mode”

AI Mode is Google’s chatbot-like experience for complex user questions. The company began displaying AI Mode alongside its search results page in March.

“Search whatever’s on your mind and get AI-powered responses,” the product description reads when clicked from the home page.

AI Mode is powered by Google’s flagship AI model Gemini, and the tool has rolled out to more U.S. users since its launch. Users can ask AI Mode questions using text, voice or images. Google says AI Mode makes it easier to find answers to complex questions that might have previously required multiple searches.

In May, Google tested the AI Mode feature directly beneath the Google search bar, replacing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” widget — a place where Google rarely makes changes.

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How a beer-making process is used to make cleaner disposable diapers

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How a beer-making process is used to make cleaner disposable diapers

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Disposable diapers are a massive environmental offender. Roughly 300,000 of them are sent to landfills or incinerated every minute, according to the World Economic Forum, and they take hundreds of years to decompose. It’s a $60 billion business.

One alternative approach has been compostable diapers, which can be made out of wood pulp or bamboo. But composting services aren’t universally available and some of the products are less absorbent than normal nappies, critics say.

A growing number of parents are also turning to cloth diapers, but they only make up about 20% of the U.S. market.

ZymoChem is attacking the diaper problem from a different angle. Harshal Chokhawala, CEO of ZymoChem, said that 60% to 80% of a typical diaper consists of fossil-based plastics. And half of that is an ingredient called super absorbent polymer, or SAP.

“What we have created is a low carbon footprint bio-based and biodegradable version of this super absorbent polymer,” Chokhawala said.

ZymoChem, with operations in San Leandro, California, and Burlington, Vermont, invented this new type of absorbent by using a fermentation process to convert a renewable resource — sugar — from corn into biodegradable materials. It’s similar to making beer.

“We’re at a point now where we’re very close to being at cost parity with fossil based manufacturing of super absorbents,” said Chokhawala.

The company’s drop-in absorbents can be added into other diapers, which makes it different from environmentally conscious companies like Charlie Banana, Kudos and Hiro, which sell their own brand of diapers.

ZymoChem doesn’t yet have a diaper product on the market. But Lindy Fishburne, managing partner at Breakout Ventures and an investor in the company, says it’s a scalable model.

“Being able to build and grow with biology allows us to unlock a circular economy and a supply chain that is no longer petro-derived, which opens up the opportunities of where you can manufacture and how you secure supply chains,” Fishburne said.

Other investors include Toyota Ventures, GS Futures, KDT Ventures, Cavallo Ventures and Lululemon.  The company has raised a total of $35 million.

The Lululemon partnership shows that it’s not just about diapers. ZymoChem’s bio-based materials can also be used in other hygiene products and in bio-based nylon. Lululemon recently said it will use it in some of its leggings, which were traditionally made with petroleum.

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Figma files for IPO on NYSE, plans to ‘take big swings’ with acquisitions

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Figma files for IPO on NYSE, plans to 'take big swings' with acquisitions

Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, appears at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco on May 9, 2024.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Design software company Figma filed for an IPO on Tuesday, and plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol “FIG.”

The offering would be one of the hotly anticipated IPOs in recent years given Figma’s growth rate and its high private market valuation. In late 2023, a $20 billion acquisition agreement with Adobe was scrapped due to regulatory concerns in the U.K. That led Adobe to pay Figma a $1 billion termination fee.

Revenue in the first quarter increased 46% to $228.2 million from $156.2 million in the same period a year ago, according to Figma’s prospectus. The company recorded a net income of $44.9 million, compared to $13.5 million a year earlier.

As of March 31, Figma had around 450,000 customers. Of those, 1,031 were contributing at least $100,000 a year to annual revenue, up 47% from a year earlier. Clients include Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Netflix. More than half of revenue comes from outside the U.S.

Figma didn’t say how many shares it plans to sell in the IPO. The company was valued at $12.5 billion in a tender offer last year, and in April it announced that it had confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC.

Wall Street banks predicted a rush of IPOs after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November following a dry spell dating back to late 2021, when soaring inflation and rising interest rates pushed investors out of risky assets. While President Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs in April roiled markets and led a number of companies to delay their plans, activity has been picking up of late.

Stablecoin issuer Circle doubled in value in its early June debut and is now up more than sixfold from its IPO price for a market cap of almost $43 billion. Online banking company Chime also debuted in June, following Hinge Health’s IPO in May. Artificial infrastructure provider CoreWeave, which went public in March, jumped 46% in June and has quadrupled since its offering.

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Buy now, pay later company Klarna, based in the U.K., filed for a U.S. IPO in March, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.

Figma was founded in 2012 by CEO Dylan Field, 33, and Evan Wallace, and is based in San Francisco. The company had 1,646 employees as of March 31.

Before establishing Figma, Field spent over two years at Brown University, where he met Wallace. Field then took a Thiel Fellowship “to pursue entrepreneurial projects,” according to the filing. The two-year program that Founders Fund partner Peter Thiel established in 2011 gives young entrepreneurs a $200,000 grant along with support from founders and investors, according to an online description.

Field is the biggest individual owner of Figma, with 56.6 million Class B shares and 51.1% of voting power ahead of the IPO. He said in a letter to investors that it was time for Figma to buck the “trend of many amazing companies staying privately indefinitely.”

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“Some of the obvious benefits such as good corporate hygiene, brand awareness, liquidity, stronger currency and access to capital markets apply,” he wrote, explaining the decision. “More importantly, I like the idea of our community sharing in the ownership of Figma — and the best way to accomplish this is through public markets.”

Field added that as a public company, investors should “expect us to take big swings,” including through acquisitions. In April Figma bought the assets and team of an unnamed technology company for $14 million, according to the filing.

The IPO will also mark another much-needed win for Silicon Valley venture firms, which are in need of returns after the multi-year slump. Index Ventures is the largest outside shareholder, with a 17% stake before the offering, according to the filing. Greylock owns 16%, Kleiner Perkins controls 14% and Sequoia has a stake of 8.7%.

Figma said it faces “intense competition” and that loss of market share would “adversely affect our business,” but didn’t name any specific competitors.

Over 13 million people use Figma per month, and only one-third of them are designers, according to the filing. In March the company announced Figma Sites, a tool that turns designs into working websites. It’s one of a few new products that diversify the company away from its collaborative service for crafting app and website designs.

As of March 31, Figma had $1.54 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Using its cash, Figma has begun investing in digital currencies. In 2024, Figma’s board authorized a $55 million investment into a Bitwise Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. As of March 31, the holding was worth $69.5 million, according to the filing. In May, the board approved a $30 million investment in Bitcoin, and Figma spent the money on USD Coin, which is a stablecoin.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are leading the deal along with Allen and Co. and JPMorgan Chase.

Correction: A prior version of this story had the incorrect stock exchange in the headline.

— CNBC’s Ari Levy and Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.

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