It may be time to stop talking about Apple’s anticipated AR/VR headset again - at least for a while.
Remember the start of 2021, when rumors flew fast and furious that Apple was on the verge of announcing a partnership to build a car? Then that partnership reportedly died, while news of another immediately took its place? All of this against the backdrop of Apple preparing a plant to build the blessed beast in the southeastern U.S? It was a heady time. But, as winter gave way to spring, big car stories sort of melted away. They went back to the usual cadence of “here’s who Apple hired,” “here’s who Apple lost,” “here’s how much Apple could make in cars, if…” It was the center of the Apple watching world to start 2021, fading back to another point to consider down the road.
I’m getting a sense of deja vu, only time with the headset. Though only a couple of weeks old, 2022 has been rife with stories of anticipation and expectation around Apple’s MR/VR/AR/XR thing (like here and here and here and here), though those stories are already… well, they’re not losing steam exactly, though they are getting tempered. Take the latest from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Apparently citing secret so-and-sos, 9 to 5 Mac has Gurman saying:
The headset — a high-end device that blends virtual and augmented reality — was targeted for an unveiling at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June, followed by a release later in the year. But development challenges related to overheating, cameras and software have made it harder to stay on track, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
That could push the announcement until the end of 2022 or later, with the product hitting shelves by 2023, the people said.
I really want this thing to happen. And I really think it might be time to stop talking about it for a bit. We’ll see how the stories go.
