Analyst Believes Apple Is Unlikely To Announce A New Mixed Reality Headset At WWDC

Apple is expected to announce a new mixed reality headset that has been worked on for a number of years, but when that will happen isn’t immediately clear.

While it’s thought that the product will go on sale next year, it was suggested that Apple could debut it during the WWDC event next week. Now, analyst Kuo doesn’t believe that to be the case at all.

Writing via Twitter, Kuo says that it is unlikely that Apple will announce the new headset during WWDC with such a long lead time before they will be available for delivery.

It’s thought that the headset won’t go on sale until 2023, meaning there will be more than six months between announcement and going on sale if it’s announced next week. That, Kuo says, does nothing but give competitors an early look at what Apple has been working on.

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.

Kuo goes on to say that he believes Apple’s competitors are keen to see what the new headset has to offer in an attempt to “kick off copycat projects” and “happily copy Apple’s excellent ideas.” That makes plenty of sense, although the same can be said for giving developers time to work on apps before the product ships. Apple did a similar thing with the Apple Watch, ensuring apps were ready in the App Store on day one.

Apple will hold its WWDC opening keynote on June 6 with iOS 16, macOS 13, and other software updates expected to be announced.