Apple’s headset production has been delayed due to hardware issues, ecosystem issues, the economic downturn, and other factors.
- What’s happening? Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple has delayed mass production of the expected mixed reality headset.
- Why care? If Kuo’s sources are aware, then the headset could miss an estimated late 2023 launch, although that’s unlikely at the moment.
- What to do? Read more on Kuo’s twitter.
Kuo: Apple headset presentation at WWDC is again in doubt
The analyst says Apple has delayed mass production of the headset, arguing that it may not be announced at Apple’s upcoming WWDC event in June as previously thought.
This is a rather unexpected prediction from Kuo. Apple’s latest headset review stated that the device is currently manufactured by Apple’s contract manufacturers. Rumor has it that the company will unveil the headset at WWDC, which will be held from June 5 to 9, with shipments starting by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
A well-known analyst wrote that the Cupertino giant is “not very optimistic”about the announcement of a headset that “recreates a striking iPhone moment.”
He cited issues such as hardware trade-offs in terms of weight and battery life, the high price tag, and the generally underdeveloped market for these things as the main reasons why now is not the right time to release such a product.
4 main problems
“Apple’s main concerns, which aren’t very optimistic about the market reaction to the AR/MR headset announcement, include the economic downturn, trade-offs in some hardware features for mass production (like weight), ecosystem and app readiness, high selling price ($3,000-$4,000 or even higher), etc.,”Kuo tweeted.
Because of this, Kuo continued, mass production for assembly was pushed back another 1-2 months to the mid-to-late third quarter of 2023.
Delay = lower shipment forecast, which is now only 200,000-300,000 units this year, from a previous estimate of at least half a million units.
Kuo is Apple’s most trusted analyst because his sources are deeply rooted in Apple’s supply chains in Asia, allowing him to predict future Apple products. However, its time frame often fluctuates.
What’s the killer apple helmet app?
The headset may not have a killer app. Apple has put all of its cards on co-presence, making FaceTime calls and watching specially curated movies on the headset.
But none of these tasks is a killer app. It’s far more practical to call someone with an iPhone in your hand than it is to put a high-tech helmet on your head.
Watching movies will be interesting until the novelty wears off. The headset will have two micro-OLED 4K displays, but spending two hours watching a feature film with those screens just a few inches away can be exhausting.
No one has yet come up with the perfect killer app for augmented and virtual reality.
Doubts about the usefulness of the headset
Recent reports from Bloomberg and the New York Times have painted a picture of Apple’s rare disagreement about a new product launch. The company apparently showed the headset to its first 100 executives, but not everyone was convinced.
Some, the story goes, fear that Apple’s headset is a “solution in search of a problem.”
The reports come after the Financial Times said Apple boss Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams dismissed “early objections from designers to wait for technology to catch up with their vision.”
Bloomberg also stated that some planned features, such as over-the-air typing, may not be ready during prime time. Apple should improve on this and other pending features in future updates to the xR operating system that powers the Reality-branded headset.