In a research note for TF International Securities this weekend, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple plans to release its long-rumored mixed reality headset “in mid-2022,” followed by augmented reality glasses by 2025.
“We predict that Apple’s MR/AR product roadmap includes three phases: helmet type by 2022, glasses type by 2025, and contact lens type by 2030–2040,” wrote Kuo. “We foresee that the helmet product will provide AR and VR experiences, while glasses and contact lens types of products are more likely to focus on AR applications.”
Kuo said several prototypes of Apple’s mixed reality headset currently weigh 200–300 grams, but he said that the final weight will be reduced to 100–200 grams if Apple can solve technical problems, which would be significantly lighter than many existing VR devices. Due to a complex design, Kuo expects the headset to be priced around $1,000 in the United States, in line with the price of a “high-end iPhone.”
Kuo believes Apple’s headset has the potential to provide an “immersive experience that is significantly better than existing VR products.”
Last month, The Information reported that the headset will be equipped with more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements, along with two ultra-high-resolution 8K displays and advanced eye-tracking technology. The cameras would be able to pass video of the real world through the visor and display it to the user.
MacDailyNews Take: Last month, The Information reported that the Apple headset would include more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements and showing video of the real world to people wearing it, along with ultra-high-resolution 8K displays and advanced technology for tracking eye-tracking technology with a price point around $3,000 making the product an enterprise-focused offering, not for the consumer market.
If priced at $3,000 vs. $1,000, we expect Apple’s headset will, in part, exist as a means for developers to build the next killer AR apps for true, light, powerful Apple smartglasses.
The design of these would look super when paired with AirPods Max. The broad side straps of the visor would wrap nicely over the ear cups of the headphones and hold them snug to the side of your head. The visor strap that wraps behind the head has the same bifurcated shape as the “tuning-fork design” of the headphones. Clearly they’re meant to be paired.
Apple is almost exclusively consumer focused, believing what a consumer wants will also work for their business needs. And that has largely been a successful play.
AR glasses will not run $1k. $799 is the likely pricing range for a base model. And Apple won’t be chasing at launch, or incrementally besting what’s out there. Rather, they will leapfrog the competition.