Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper version of its $3,000 AR/VR headset for the rest of us.
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Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper version of its AR/VR headset, one that’s expected to cost less than the $3,000 we’re expected to hand over later this year.
Apple’s entry into the world of AR/VR is one that has been long awaited and it’s now expected to happen within the next few months. But it’s also expected to cost a small fortune, with a $3,000 price tag often bandied around. Now, it’s claimed that Apple might have seen the light – and it’s planning on a version we might actually be able to afford.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s cheaper entry is now in the works and that it could arrive as soon as 2024 or, perhaps, in the early knockings of 2025. The headset will be a “lower-cost version of the mixed-reality headset” that’s arriving soon, Gurman says.
While it isn’t yet 100% clear how Apple intends to make the product cheaper, we can expect a reduction in features, capabilities, and component quality. “Apple is aiming to lower the price of the follow-up mixed-reality device by using chips on par with those in the iPhone rather than components found in higher-end Mac computers,” Gurman says in his Bloomberg report.
However, the headset’s arrival is reportedly only happening because Apple has had to shelve plans for something even more ambitious – AR glasses.
Those AR glasses were set to be an ambitious product that would do away with the cumbersome headset we’re accustomed to and be used to overlay information on the real world. But Gurman says that technical difficulties have put paid to those plans, and that Apple has now delayed that product and replaced it with a cheaper version of its AR/VR headset.
As for when those AR glasses will now ship, nobody knows. But Apple can now add them to a growing collection of projects that have been in the works for years yet show little sign of shipping. Apple Car, we’re looking at you.
