A patent alone doesn't really mean they've been actively working on it for that long. It's very common for companies to register patents for things they don't plan to produce (either ever, or until some future point.)
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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Came to say this. A patent is nothing more then day dreaming on paper
Especially something this broad. The idea in many key aspects had been around for a very long time. Virtual reality headsets for gaming that respond to head movement have been an activity pursued idea since at least the 90s, I remember seeing a TV doc about a prototype device where they were using it to play Mech Warrior. This seems like patenting a hoverboard. It's a cool idea, a lot of people have had it, it's in popular consciousness,. it's even in movies, doesn't mean you're actively making one now or know how to.
If you read this patent, it explicitly says that it's a continuation of an application that was granted as 9,965,157. If you look at '157, you can see that it was granted in May 2018. It has the same line drawing of the headset and the same quotes on how it could be used. 9to5Mac somehow missed this five years ago. The corresponding published application, 2014/0129938, was made public in 2014, with the same drawing and example uses. Actually, we can go back to the 2008 published application 2008/0276178, with the same drawing and examples.
Just to make it clear, this isn't a new revelation at all. These were all public patent applications going back at least 15 years. Patently Apple first noticed it in 2014, so they were only six years late.
Edit: Electronista was first to notice in 2008, the same day it was initially published , picked up by The Unofficial Apple Weblog later that day and then by MacRumors a day later.
And this is what they came up with?
Yes. Technology is hard; doubly so for wearables.
You could say the same for the first iphone, though.