According to Haitong International Tech Research analyst Jeff Pu, Apple could announce the glasses could 2024. He had further claimed that a prototype for the much-rumored product could even be ready by the end of this year before entering mass production in H2, 2024.
Alongside the AR glasses, Apple is also said to be working on a virtual reality headset that is rumored to launch in Jan. 2023. While some rumors suggested that Apple might demo the device at Worldwide Developers Conference 2022, that never happened, so it remains to be seen if it will be announced next year. Meanwhile, Apple recently filed to patent multiple possible names related to AR/VR, including Reality Pro and Reality One, suggesting one of them could be the name for its headset.
According to Jeff Pu, Apple's AR glasses may be delayed until 2025 or even 2026 due to an unspecified 'design issue.' The report comes from MarketWatch, which claims Pu confirmed the delay via an email to the publication. The report, however, did not clarify what those design issues are or what Apple is doing to address the challenges, but it is a disappointing development nonetheless for AR/VR fans who were hoping to get their hands on the device before the end of 2024.
Apple's Rumored AR Glasses
Many companies have invested heavily in augmented and virtual reality over the past few years, but the technology remains a niche among mainstream consumers. Meta is one of those companies that is said to have invested billions in the metaverse, with a recent report claiming that the company has already burned through as much as $36 billion on VR research. However, a year after Horizon Worlds was opened to all adults in the U.S. and Canada, it remains restricted to hardcore VR enthusiasts and is yet to find traction among mainstream consumers.
For Apple's AR/VR plans to be successful, the technology needs to become somewhat more popular in the next couple of years. Many proponents of the new technology are also hoping that Apple's AR/VR offerings might jumpstart the sector that has remained in limbo despite all the buzz surrounding it. With so much depending on the new products, it will be interesting to see if Apple will be able to deliver in the next few years.
Source: MarketWatch