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Apple Delays Debut of AR/VR Headset Until June

Kuo initially said big January announcement and everyone expected this AR/VR headset, but it was the new M2 MacBook Pro’s that were announced.

Kuo then said Apple will most likely announce this big product at the Spring event instead of WWDC.

I agree with Kuo in that this will be a suprise “one more thing” announcement and then be ready for developers to start working on it in June. No clue when it could be actually released though, there could be several delays dealing with software and supply chain
 
Jensend said:
Yup, and we know that because there been zero times when Apple themselves have publicly announced a product launch timeframe in advance and then missed it.
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ThisBougieLife said:
Yeah, I really wish these "leakers" would stop using the word "delay". I see no proof of any delay. Is it possible Apple intended to release it in April and has pushed back the date? Maybe. But that isn't being shown here. Just say "AR/VR headset now predicted to be released at WWDC". Why would that be so hard?
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I was being sarcastic... And I'm sure there are plenty of internal schedules that are missed. The flagship iPhone is about the only product that is super consistent with releases, with less than 5 months of variance in release cadence since 2007.
 
We don't need people lost in virtual reality. There's work to be done in the real world by God's children for future generations.

"Swallow this. It's a symbol of your desire to return to reality."

 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
I’m still convinced this is what the plan was all along.
A $3000 headset is mainly going to appeal to developers, who should have plenty of experiences ready in a year and a half or so, when Apple introduces the reality SE or whatever that’s a grand and a half cheeper.
Also, outside of the iPhone event, the worldwide developers conference is the second biggest event of the year. Biggest if we’re just talking about the number of people who see it in person.
It makes all the sense in the world to announce their new platform, mainly aimed at developers, at the developers conference.
But it does tell me that the existing software updates this year will probably be relatively minor if they’re going to be announced at the exact same event as Apple’s first huge new category announcement since the Apple Watch.
Their events are usually about two hours, and I don’t see them dedicating any less than 90 minutes to the headset.
So…. maybe for everything else this year will be the snow leopard type updates everyone’s been asking for?
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Damn I hope you're right about the snow leopard year..!!
 
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StellarVixen said:
What is the point of pouring billions into R&D to create this thing then selling it for $3000 (three thousand dollars)???

VR companies are desperately trying to win over people for almost a decade now, and here’s Apple with “hey, kid, wanna buy these cool goggles for $3k”? Inconceivable to me.
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Because the potential is still there, but no company has exploited it yet. Apple - I truly hope - thinks it nailed it, so it's not only investing time, but even delating release date because it wants for users to have the most perfect experience right at launch.
 
filmantopia said:
Never. But I agree with OP. You have to realize this is a different kind of launch for Apple and calls for a different approach. According to Cook's comments to the press, Apple sees the AR platform as being "bigger than the iPhone" and something that we won't imagine being without in X years. So this is the beginning of a long term strategy.

This is going to launch with a very impressive UX that fascinates the world, but not a lot of ecosystem content. It'll be a pricey product, like a Mac, that is going to need to offer a strong value proposition.

This first, "Reality Pro" product is going to attract developers and creators to build compelling ecosystem, so when Apple launches the rumored lower cost version of this device, there will be a lot of consumers who will want it.

Think of it like this: The first product being launched is the "MacBook Pro" of AR devices, and in a year or two, the "MacBook" of AR will launch.
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I think you're right on almost everything, in fact I've been saying this for years.
On one thing I differ in thinking: Apple will release an OS that will already let users deal with daily work stuff, as in, creating an awesome UI for the desktop and some simple but most used apps like safari, notes, conferencing, the iLife suite (pages, numbers, keynote), and a few more. This way Apple won't rely solely on devs to make people go crazy for the headset, but it'll already be usable in many circumstances.
 
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Spock said:
Apple will not release a $3k headset. This product will either never see the light of day or the price will be far less than the rumors. I can remember when people thought the iPad would be more expensive.
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I think the $3000 price is Apple's doing to mislead competition (and rumors).
I too think that in the end the price will be much, much lower; and I'm not saying this in the hope I could afford it, cuz I couldn't even if it cost $300.
 
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This will change everything for the decade to come … exciting time ahead with the AR / AI revolution to come …
 
Le0M said:
I think the $3000 price is Apple's doing to mislead competition (and rumors).
I too think that in the end the price will be much, much lower; and I'm not saying this in the hope I could afford it, cuz I couldn't even if it cost $300.
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You are right … iPhone / iPad were much lower than expected at the time … but I don’t think this will be a consumer product as yet …
 
themikedshaffer said:
I usually avoid comments on unreleased products and rumored pricing. But I simply don't get it. Even at half the price, how is this thing going to gain any traction? Again, sight unseen, but if this thing is going to be anything but a catastrophe, Apple is going to need to have a couple of really awesome features/solutions that make it worth while. They are going to have to play an even longer game than they did on the watch with patience and a willingness to change the playbook up. But at a price of thousands of dollars rather than hundreds, they're not going to get the easy halo sale to general Apple users. It will be interesting to observe....
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As I had occasion to say many times, what's gonna make this device the new iPhone in terms of importance, is its user interface and the way we interact with it. It's gonna be so much faster using our eyes as pointers instead of the mouse, and hand gestures have limitless possibilities, unlike the mouse that has 3 buttons.
In a few words, Apple Headset will make it much faster to do almost anything.
 
MichaelAdam said:
You are right … iPhone / iPad were much lower than expected at the time … but I don’t think this will be a consumer product as yet …
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We don't know, really. I mean, Apple sells millions of laptops, and none of them are sold at less than $1000 dollars. I mean, that's not cheap, you know?
So perhaps it will be for consumers right from launch.
We'll just have to wait, I suppose ;)
 
Tyler O'Bannon said:
My biggest excitement about this is not knowing what to fully expect. To what extent will this be usable? What will it do? It’s a new product category, and that’s exciting.
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It'll do everything you do today on your 2D screen, but faster, thanks to its input methods like eyes tracking (as a pointer) and (virtually limitless) hand gestures.
 
Le0M said:
Because the potential is still there, but no company has exploited it yet.
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I think it's inevitable that VR/AR becomes a very large market. Maybe not smartphone big, but at least laptop big. But that's only if there's not some fundamental technical issues that make it impossible to create wide FOV with sharp optics across the full FOV, 8K+ per eye, lightweight/comfortable, all with 8+ hours battery life.
Le0M said:
I think you're right on almost everything, in fact I've been saying this for years.
On one thing I differ in thinking: Apple will release an OS that will already let users deal with daily work stuff, as in, creating an awesome UI for the desktop and some simple but most used apps like safari, notes, conferencing, the iLife suite (pages, numbers, keynote), and a few more. This way Apple won't rely solely on devs to make people go crazy for the headset, but it'll already be usable in many circumstances.
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Most current headsets aren't good enough to be comfortably used with most non-VR apps. But once the technology gets to a certain level, VR will become a feasible alternative to a flat screen device for more and more people.
That said, I hope it also has controllers, so many of the already great VR apps can be ported over.
 
Le0M said:
We don't know, really. I mean, Apple sells millions of laptops, and none of them are sold at less than $1000 dollars. I mean, that's not cheap, you know?
So perhaps it will be for consumers right from launch.
We'll just have to wait, I suppose ;)
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1000 dollars is consumer price nowadays … let’s see
 
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