Merged reality has to be the worst reality based name around but hang on only one was worse than it transmogrified reality
I agree somewhat, but to put it into context, Everyone was creating their own terminology for their own platforms.
Hence XR and Qualcomm. You should well remember some of the tangents names was taking on these announcements. Most not from major chip manufactures though.
Intel never wanted to go consumer level. They were just creating a open source hardware and software platform for development. They just wanted to sell the chips, and giving you the tools to create the need and demand.
If you look at the architecture of what was in the pipeline, it was not much different from what Apple is actually doing with external cams for enviroment and hand tracking as well as pass-through AR.
If you look at Qualcomm and XR , they mimicked Intel without going totally open-source.
Intel dropped out because Qualcomm was just beating them in the cost of production of small scale cpu/gpu SOC and if you look at the timing, they dropped out of the cell market at the same time.
The Snapdragon chip they use for XR is nothing more than a cellphone chip cpu/gpu SOC even though recent versions are more specialize for VR/AR than the early ones.
So for Apple and Qualcomm, the 5G cell tech is on the SOC.
It remains to be seen if Intel will re-enter this market when they finish building new chip fabs in Columbus, Ohio and perhaps some other location. They are trying to get back in the game of making cutting edge (3-4nm) chips. Something Apple has secured by designing their own chip and having it produced by the leader, TSMC, who is also building a US based production facility. So you can see why I think Apple is untouchable and will lead for the next 3-5 years.
I still think even with the recent cuts at MS, the timing is right for a Alfa of Hololens made with Intel chips.
But likely not for about 2 years. Could be interesting but MS and Intel have always had a good relationship.
And there is enough bad blood between Apple and MS that they will never follow Apple in anything more than form. (unless they can steal it and get away with it)
It could be we see one more major strange dev platform name (or more) in the medium term.
Like everyone else, I am just anxious for this to get rolling well with competition. It's just not good for us if one or even two dominate.
