Apple aiming to unveil its mixed-reality headset this spring

Apple’s highly anticipated mixed-reality headset could be unveiled just ahead of the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Apple’s headset, expected to be called “Reality Pro,” will likely offer virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) capabilities so wearers can immerse themselves in a virtual world or have digital data overlaid onto real-world, real-time imagery.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman — a reporter with a decent track record when it comes to Apple forecasts — said on Sunday that following a string of postponements with the device since Apple decided to start developing it some five years ago, the tech giant is currently “aiming to unveil it this spring ahead of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.”

This jibes with comments late last week from the usually reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo whose contacts in Apple’s supply chain have led him to believe that the device will go on sale either late in the second quarter or possibly sometime in the third quarter, meaning July through September.

In other words, unveiling it in the spring would give Apple enough time to launch a massive marketing campaign ahead of a sales drive several months later.

And Kuo, like Gurman, also believes that Apple will hold an unveiling event for the mixed-reality headset in the spring, possibly during or just ahead of the WWDC event.

Gurman’s report also claims that Apple has already handed the headset to a “small number of high-profile software developers” for testing, and so they can start creating third-party apps for the device. His report adds that the headset’s operating system is dubbed “Borealis” inside the company, but will be marketed as “xrOS.”

More recently, Apple had been expected to unveil the headset at an event this month before starting shipments somewhere around April through June. But due to what Kuo said were “issues with mechanical component drop testing and the availability of software development tools,” Apple engineers needed more time to deal with the challenges and the company now appears to be aiming for the spring unveil before shipping the device several months later.

Whatever happens, it really does finally look as if 2023 will be the year in which Apple brings its long-awaited mixed-reality headset to market. Gurman adds that the company is “banking on the product as its hot new introduction for this year.” We can’t wait to see it.

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Trevor Mogg