There have been rumors flying around about Apple’s plans with AR headsets for some time, with some rumors suggesting that the powerhouse company could release a set of glasses as soon as 2002. 9to5mac.com has released a report with some credible sources stating that the company won’t plan on releasing ay AR or VR hardware or software until the year 2022.
The term of which the AR glasses are going by in Cupertino is Apple Glasses, and it is anticipated the company will be releasing this product in two different stages. The exact quote from the sources can be found below.
“Apple is aiming to release an augmented-reality headset in 2022 and a sleeker pair of AR glasses by 2023, the Information has learned.”
“Apple executives discussed the timelines, which haven’t been previously reported, in an internal presentation to employees at the company’s Cupertino, California, campus in October, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple vice president Mike Rockwell, who heads the team responsible for Apple’s AR and virtual reality initiatives, led the meeting, which included new details about the design and features of the AR headset, these people said. The product timetables run counter to recent analyst and media reports that said an Apple AR device could arrive as early as next year.”
If you are curious about the size of the AR team at Apple that was supposedly “disband” (they weren’t), the source says that “The group presentation was attended by enough employees to fill the 1,000-seat Steve Jobs Theater at Apple headquarters, suggesting Apple has a sizeable team working on AR projects”
The product will likely first launch in 2022, and the sleeker and more powerful version of the AR glasses will likely make an appearance the following year. As for production, it is looming. 9to5mac.com says that “Today, Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple’s first augmented reality product will go into mass production as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, but hedges the timeframe slightly and says it will be mass-produced by the second quarter of 2020 at the latest.”
This is some pretty big information coming from a source that clearly knows what they are talking about. If this holds to be true, we could see some of the best AR tech ever just a few years away. For more VR and AR community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
