Apple’s long-rumoured VR/AR headset might not launch until 2023

It looks like Apple’s often-rumoured augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headset will miss its previously rumoured 2022 release date, according to reliable Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.

While Apple initially planned to reveal the headset during its WWDC keynote presentation, “development challenges related to overheating, cameras and software have made it harder to stay on track,” says Bloomberg. This delay has likely pushed the mixed reality headset’s reveal back to 2023, which is well out of the initial 2021 window the tech giant reportedly aimed to show off the device in.

Apple’s AR/VR headset is expected to be a high-end device with dual 4K displays, several 3D sensors for inside-out tracking and a roughly $3,000 USD (about $3,763 CAD) price tag. According to this latest report, the headset will also feature two processors, including one as powerful as Apple’s current M1 Pro MacBook Pro chip. In early December, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo published a similar report stating that tech giant’s headset will include a chip that features M1 architecture.

Bloomberg says that Apple is still working on a pair of augmented reality glasses but that the wearble’s release has been pushed back to “later this decade.”

Though much of the initial hype surrounding AR and VR has died down, it will be interesting to see if Apple’s take on a headset can build on established technologies in a meaningful way. That said, with a price approaching the range of $4,000 in Canada, the headset’s audience will likely be limited.

Source: Bloomberg