According to the most recent details revealed today by tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, bulk deliveries of Apple’s long-rumored AR/VR headset may be postponed until the second half of 2023 owing to unnamed “software-related issues.” Although Kuo said that bulk sales of headset components are still most likely to start in the first half of 2023, he thinks fully completed headset shipments may not start until the second half of the year. Even if Apple unveils the headgear earlier in the year, this delay may cause it to debut in the second half of 2023.
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The mass shipment schedule of components is still likely 1H23/2Q23, but due to postponed mass shipment schedule of the end product, Apple MR headset shipment forecast in 2023 will likely be less than 500k units, which is lower than the market consensus of 800k-1,200k units.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
The headset and an SDK for programmers to make AR/VR apps for the device could be unveiled by Apple at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2023 in June. In a previous report, Kuo said that Apple intended to introduce the headgear during a media event in January and start mass distribution in the second quarter of 2023. Although Kuo is unclear if the delay would cause the January announcement to be postponed, he did point out that an excessively long time lag between a media event and bulk shipments might harm sales.
A most recent report claims that Apple has developed a new operating system called xrOS and intends to introduce its first augmented reality headgear within the next calendar year. The company had previously said that it will refer to the operating system as “realityOS,” but as the unveiling date draws near, it seems that several components of the head-mounted wearable have changed.
Bloomberg suggests that the development of augmented reality headgear has reportedly sped up, and there is a possibility that the name of the operating system, which is now xrOS, may be changed. Apple did modify the name of the operating system to xrOS, however, in part so that people could recognize the types of material that might be shown via the AR headset. Extended reality is denoted by the letters “XR,” which implies that the device will be able to run mixed reality material, which includes augmented and virtual reality.
According to Kuo, Apple would sell less than 500,000 headsets in 2023, making its headgear a costly niche product. Since the product is still in the pre-production stage, it is in your best interest to wait until more information is available.
