As we get closer to the release of Apple’s AR/VR headset, the launch date seems to be getting further and further away. What was once a possible January event, then a spring event, then a WWDC announcement, might now be attached to the iPhone 15 event in September.
According to a tweet by Ming-Chi Kuo, the likelihood of a spring announcement of the headset is “decreasing,” while “the probability of the headset launch alongside iPhone 15 in 3Q23 is rising.” If the headset is unveiled in September, Kuo says Apple is still planning to ship the headset before the end of 2023.
In a separate blog post, Kuo shares some information about the development of future generations of the headset. As reported previously, he says the second-gen has “two high-end and low-end models” scheduled to launch in 2025. While the first-gen headset will reportedly have an extremely high price tag of at least $3,000, the second-gen model is expected to cost much less.
The iPhone event is no stranger to major announcements. Back in 2014, Apple used the stage to unveil the Apple Watch alongside the iPhone 6, and in 2016, the AirPods arrived with the headphone jack-less iPhone 7. The long-rumored headset will be Apple’s first truly new product category in many years. It’s expected to be an extremely high-end device with a pair of high-resolution OLED 4K displays, advanced head- and eye-tracking technology, gesture input, an M2 processor, and a 3D interface.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.