Apple could launch its first “pricey” mixed reality headset as early as 2022, offering both AR and VR capabilities. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has shared more insights into the headset in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter.
He says Apple’s mixed reality headset will feature “advanced chips, displays, sensor, and avatar-based features.” Since it will be a mixed reality headset, users will be able to experience games in virtual reality, which is “what you want for seriously high-performance games with top-tier graphics.”
Apple eventually does plan to launch an AR-only headset, but that’s still a few years away.
As for price, Gurman did not provide an exact figure, but a previous report claimed that Apple’s headset could cost upwards of $3,000.
Last month, reputed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple had delayed the production of its AR/VR headset until the end of 2022 as it wants the “complete software, ecosystem, and services” ready for the device before its public launch.
Apple has been very bullish on AR but has little to show except for ARKit and some LiDAR-based features on recent Pro iPhone models. It will be interesting to see how the company develops the ecosystem before launching its AR/VR headset in 2022. And since the device is still in development, the 2022 launch timeframe could very well slip into 2023 or later.
