Apple plans two AR headsets for 2025. Apple’s second-generation and more affordable AR Augmented Reality headset, expected in 2025, will be available in two models: one high-end and one at a lower price, according to the Ming-Chi Kuo analyst specializing in the Apple universe.
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Apple is expected to launch its first augmented and mixed reality headset in 2023: this device is known to be expensive and aimed almost exclusively at developers, while a second version arriving in 2025 is expected to be optimized for end users, with costs and lower price.
Apple’s second-generation AR and mixed reality headset, according to Kuo, could be two: a high-end model and a lower-priced one, respectively, from Luxcaseict and Foxconn. The launch date should be 2025.
Recall that Apple’s first AR/VR headset has yet to be announced, but a report earlier this week said the company’s manufacturing partner Foxconn is already developing a cheaper second-generation version.
That same report said Apple’s first headset will be “extremely expensive,” with industry estimates ranging from $3,000 to $5,000, while Apple’s second-generation headset will come at a more affordable price point that should land in the “one high-end Mac computers”. Now it seems that Apple is planning two different second generation peripherals: the first more high-end, the second less premium.
In his latest report, Kuo says Pegatron is gradually pulling out of Apple’s headset business and will transfer its AR/MR development team and manufacturing resources to Luxcaseict, a joint venture between Luxshare ICT and Pegatron, led by Luxshare ICT. already by the first half of 2023.
Thus, Luxshare ICT will take over the subsequent design and production of the high-end version of the second generation headset. Those changes will lead to the “subsequent acceleration of headset cost reductions, which is what Apple expects,” Kuo adds.
Apple’s plans to release a cheaper version of its AR/VR headset were first reported last month by The Information’s Wayne Ma and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. According to The Information, “significant” work on the second-generation device began last year and, at the time, the goal was to launch the affordable headset in 2024.
Apple’s first headset is expected to be announced at WWDC 2023 in June and will reportedly have over a dozen cameras, two 4K micro OLED screens, advanced eye and hand tracking, and many other advanced features. As for the software, the device is said to have an iOS-like interface with a grid of apps.
Among the latest rumors Kuo reported that the likelihood of the viewer being released together with the iPhone 15 is growing. All the macitynet articles that talk about Apple, augmented reality and virtual reality are available at the respective links.
