Earlier this week, Apple announced that it would hold its annual WWDC 2023 developers conference from June 5-9. Many industry insiders predicted this would be the time and place for Apple to finally and officially reveal its long-in-development mixed-reality headset. However, a new statement from the well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that might not happen after all.
Because Apple isn't very optimistic about the AR/MR headset announcement recreating the astounding "iPhone moment," the mass production schedule for assembly has been pushed back by another 1-2 months to mid-to-late 3Q23. The delay also adds uncertainty to whether the new device…
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 30, 2023
In a Twitter post, Kuo claims that "Apple isn't very optimistic about the AR/MR headset announcement recreating the astounding 'iPhone moment.'" Some of the reasons behind this lack of optimism include the current slowing global economic situation, along with what he says were "compromises on some hardware specifications" for the headset. Other issues include creating a solid app ecosystem for the headset, and its price, which Kuo claims could be as high, or higher, than $4,000.
Kuo says that mass production of the headset has once again been delayed by one or two more months, and might not happen until sometime in the mid or end of the third quarter of 2023. He predicts that only 200,000 to 300,000 units of the headset will be made by the end of the year, well below previous estimates of 500,000 units.
All of this doesn't sound good, so perhaps Apple might delay the headset reveal until later this fall, around the time the company is expected to also reveal its iPhone 15 models.
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