Apple’s Reality Pro Headset Already Anticipating Production Delays
Apple’s upcoming Reality Pro mixed reality headset will be unveiled in under three weeks at the company’s annual WWDC developer conference, a highly anticipated unveiling in the VR community. However, it is emerging that the company is anticipating production delays and that shipments might come much later than previously expected.
The Wall Street Journal reported that although the headset will still be unveiled at the WWDC 2023 in early June, there are “some production issues” that the company is anticipating and that these will likely affect the product launch.
Reports streaming in over the past few months suggest Apple is facing some challenges in launching the product. There have even been reports that some Apple staff are skeptical about the commercial viability of the headset.
Those reports are now corroborated by the Wall Street Journal report which cites people familiar with the supply chain. The reports claim that the Reality Pro headsets will only be available to most consumers in the fall at the earliest.
If true, this could be a major blow to Apple’s mixed reality ambitions and a complete departure from its usual product launch approach where it usually only talks about products once they are ready to ship.
Apple has been developing the mixed reality headset for the past seven years and it appears Apple boss, Tim Cook, is now intent on launching the headset, even if it is not yet perfect.
Apple is working hard to launch the headset this year but The Wall Street Journal reports that some of Apple’s employees and suppliers are questioning whether the rollout of the headset could be plagued with delays due to the “challenges with integrating the headset with new software”, with production as well as the broader market.
The WSJ report also supports earlier claims that the Apple headset will be launching with a “battery in a pack” which will be separate from the goggles and whose size can fit in one hand. This is a very un-Apple design approach.
According to the report, manufacturing delays have now pushed back the shipments of the headset to September this year. It was initially expected that the headset would be launched shortly after its unveiling at the WWDC early next month. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company aims to ship between 200,000 and 300,000 units of the headset this year. The headset will also be pricey, costing about $3,000 at launch, and may not target the mainstream market.
https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2023/05/16/apples-reality-pro-headset-already-anticipating-production-delays/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apples-reality-pro-headset-already-anticipating-production-delays
