Via Twitter, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says not to expect to see Apple’s mixed reality headset at WWDC next week as the company will want to keep the product under wraps prior to its early 2023 reveal / mid-2023 launch in order to thwart the inevitable flood of copycats.
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It still takes some time before Apple AR/MR headset enters mass production, so I don't think Apple will release AR/MR headset and rumored realityOS at WWDC this year. Apple's competitors worldwide can't wait to see the hardware spec and OS design for Apple's AR/MR headset.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 31, 2022
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I'm sure that if Apple announces AR/MR headset and its OS at WWDC, competitors will immediately kick off copycat projects and happily copy Apple's excellent ideas, and hit the store shelves before Apple launches in 2023.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 31, 2022
The reasons, it seems, are twofold. First, mass production of the “AR/MR” (augmented and mixed reality) headset won’t happen for some time, according to Kuo. So WWDC would be too early for a reveal. Moreover, should Apple debut its headset with full specs, it’d give competitors a blueprint for copycatting.
Kuo then casually adds that Apple will launch in “2023,” echoing analyst Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities, who similarly said the product will be delayed until early 2023.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the AR/VR headset won’t be mentioned at all. At some point, Apple will need to hype its mixed reality platforms, so developers feel compelled to build AR/VR apps and optimize their existing ones for a new platform. Another piece of the puzzle is iOS 16, which is expected to debut with several new AR/VR technologies. Moreover, software developers recently unearthed references to “realityOS” in App Store upload logs and GitHub repositories used by Apple, suggesting we could learn about Apple’s mixed-reality platform before any hardware debuts.
MacDailyNews Take: The changes augmented reality will usher in, led by privacy-focused and widely trusted Apple, will be significant and far-reaching. Hopefully, even without headset hardware, we’ll get some nice hints – developers have to get ready, after all – at WWDC next Monday!
Augmented reality is going to change everything. — MacDailyNews, July 21, 2017
The impact of augmented reality cannot be overstated. It will be a paradigm shift larger than the iPhone and the half-assed clones it begat. — MacDailyNews, August 4, 2017
Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we’ll look back at holding up slabs of metal and glass to access AR as unbelievably quaint. — MacDailyNews, July 28, 2017
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