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Defense startup founder and Oculus headset creator Palmer Luckey revisited a piece of early virtual-reality hardware on X, suggesting that John Ternus—set to become Apple’s CEO in September—may have helped build it during his time at Virtual Research in the late 1990s.
Luckey posted a photo of an old V8 head mount display from Virtual Research. “From what I can tell, he was the lead mechanical engineer on the V8 I obtained when I was 16,” Luckey wrote, referring to Ternus.
In comments to Business Insider, Luckey said the headset was “an incredible headset for the time.” He described it as well-balanced and relatively lightweight, with a field of vision that was ahead of other consumer products at the time. Luckey also said it mainly sold to military flight simulators for around $50,000.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A user guide for the V8 published online suggests the model was released in 1998, which would align with Ternus’s period at Virtual Research.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Ternus worked as an engineer at Virtual Research from 1997 to 2001 and joined Apple later in 2001. The article also notes that a patent filed in 1995 and issued in 1998—during Ternus’s time at Virtual Research—describes a similar-looking product: a virtual display apparatus for use in a virtual reality system, including support for attachment of video displays.
Ternus is widely known as Apple’s hardware leader, with work associated with products including AirPods and the iPad, and as the incoming CEO. His appointment is described as a shift back toward a product-focused chief, contrasting with current CEO Tim Cook’s operations background.
Apple entered the high-end headset market in 2024 with Vision Pro, which received a lukewarm public response. The article cites Vision Pro’s $3,500 price tag and the absence of a “killer app” as factors that did not impress consumers. At that time, Ternus had been senior vice president of hardware engineering for three years.
Despite the weaker-than-expected consumer reception, the article says Apple executives including Cook and Ternus remain optimistic about VR. In a Tom’s Guide interview earlier this month, Ternus said, “Vision Pro is an extraordinary product.” He added: “It’s like we reached into the future and pulled it into the present.”
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