Why Didn't Apple Announce an Augmented Reality Headset?
Spoiler: They're Apple, They'll Announce it When It's Ready
Back in May, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple had showed version of its mixed reality headset to members of its board of directors. Then Saturday, the New York Times reported that major directors like Jon Favreau had signed up to make content for Apple's headset.
So, lots of folks expected Apple to show off a mixed reality headset at WWDC on Monday. Or at least to make some reference to RealityOS. We got none of that. There were a few scattered references to technologies for the phone that might also be useful in mixed reality, like live translations and such, but nothing solidly about an AR or VR headset.
However, minutes after the keynote concluded on Monday, Analyst Ming-chi Kuo posted "I believe Apple's AR/MR headset shipping date will postpone to 2Q23 (vs. 1Q23 of market consensus) because Shanghai lockdown interrupts the development."
He further tweeted that he thinks that engineering validation testing - or EVT- will start in Q3, there will be a media event in January with an SDK within a month after that, pre-orders in Q2 and ready on store shelves before WWDC 2023.
Note that Kuo doesn't cite supply chain sources, as he often does. This seems like it may be more Kuo's gut feeling, which is still more accurate than most.
Gizmodo sums up the reliable rumors about the headset as having a three-display configuration hat combines dual 4K OLED screens with six optical modules, an M1 chip and 14 cameras for advanced tracking. It also is exotic to cost around $3,000.
So it sounds like Apple really does have a product this time, but the world got in the way of being able to make an announcement. Which frankly probably bothers its customers more than the company, as Apple is culturally very comfortable with announcing products when they're ready instead of when it might be advantageous for public perception.
It's been amusing to see so many observers trying to read the tea leafs, hoping to see clues of Apple's AR/VR developments.
The recent reports by The Information detailing Apple's struggles to develop the headset reveal the company's resolve to only ship it when it's ready. Only just recently did they reveal the prototype to it's board, so it was beyond wishful thinking to hope it would arrive at WWDC.
As a whole, you have to imagine this was a big gift to Meta - which can now extend its market share lead as it builds out its meta verse ambitions.