Apple is expected to announce its first mixed reality headset as soon as this June and the WWDC 2023 event. But a new report claims that the company’s design team might have preferred that wasn’t the case.
The mixed reality headset, reportedly dubbed Reality Pro, is likely to be a costly and limited product but a new report claims that Apple’s operations team pushed ahead with a 2023 release despite others within the company preferring to hold on until a better product could be produced.
A Financial Times report, via 9to5Mac, claims that Apple’s design team had concerns about shipping a product so soon and would instead rather wait and ship something better at a later date.
The Reality Pro headset is expected to be large with limited battery life. It’s said that the design team wanted to wait until something more akin to a pair of glasses could be produced. That, however, is thought to be several years away from being possible.
“Apple’s operations team wanted to ship a “version one” product, a ski goggle-like headset that will allow users to watch immersive 3D video, perform interactive workouts or chat with realistic avatars through a revamped FaceTime,” the report says. “But Apple’s famed industrial design team had cautioned patience, wanting to delay until a more lightweight version of AR glasses became technically feasible.
The headset is expected to cost around $3,000 thanks to the advanced technology that will be used. That technology includes two 4K displays, body and eye-tracking sensors, and Mac-level chips similar to the M2 parts used in Apple’s most recent computers.
The report notes that Apple doesn’t seem to expect the limited product to sell in huge numbers, however. It’s said to expect around a million Reality Pro headsets to be snapped up in the first year.
With this in mind, it appears Apple is taking a similar approach to that of the original Apple Watch. It’s thought that CEO Tim Cook and the operations team want to get a product into stores and then iterate with future updates – something the company has done to great effect with the Apple Watch.
