The first VR headset Apple still seems scheduled for 2023, but production issues would make it a difficult product to order.
After several years of waiting and rumors, 2023 should be the year of deliverance for fans of the brand, but also for all observers of the tech universe.
Apple’s VR headset is falling behind
Apple was initially to present its mixed reality headset at the very beginning of the year, during a video event, with an online launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.
The well-informed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, however, published a note in recent hours and expressed a reservation on the dates advanced by some.
The helmet would no longer be expected before the second half of 2023, and it will be necessary to jostle to get your hands on a copy of the product.
Development slower than expected
Ming-Chi Kuo advances as the first explanation of the software problems that Apple developers must solve before a presentation with great fanfare. For this new product, the Cupertino teams are working on the design of a new operating system, which would be called “xrOS” according to the latest news, and this new platform would still require some improvements.
The analyst then details the deliveries of components needed to manufacture the mixed reality headset. Supplies would not begin until the second quarter of 2023, which would leave Tim Cook and his gang no choice but to postpone the first deliveries to the second half of the year.
Only 500,000 copies available by the end of 2023
Finally, the volumes ordered would be very meager. Far from the millions of iPhones shipped to the shelves each year, Apple would aim for a delivery of 500,000 copies for the year 2023, a figure below the expectations of analysts, who estimated a stock of between 800,000 and 1.2 million devices before the end of next year.
Apple could also play it safe on this first version, if we take into account the price higher than 3,000 dollars announced by some sources for this AR / VR headset.
Taking this information into account, the presentation of the product could logically take place in June during WWDC, the annual event organized by Apple for developers. The latter would be the ideal place to present the use cases imagined by the brand, but also to provide the first development kits in order to obtain several third-party applications available at the exit of the device.
Source : The Verge
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