Apple’s mixed reality headset is expected to cost a hefty $3,000.
American tech major Apple has lowered sales estimates of its much-awaited mixed reality headsets, according to a Bloomberg report. The company is expected to unveil the MR headset at its annual developer’s conference on June 5.
The Cupertino-headquartered company has lowered its forecast by about two-thirds. The iPhone maker hoped to sell about three million units per year. However, Apple now sees to sell about one million headsets a year and then to 900,000 units.
Last month, an Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the company is not very optimistic about the latest device announcement due to the “economic downturn.” Kuo added that the mass production has been pushed back to the mid-to-late third quarter of 2023, adding uncertainty to whether the new device will appear at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple’s mixed reality headset, which would combine both augmented and virtual reality, is expected to cost a hefty $3,000 (around Rs 2,48,000) due to “the use of advanced and high-resolution displays, more than 10 cameras, sensors to determine where a user is looking, and both a Mac-grade M2 processor and a dedicated chip for handling AR and VR visuals,” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously reported.
The headset is expected to be the first step towards Apple’s highly-anticipated AR glasses. Combining the capabilities of virtual reality and augmented reality, the mixed-reality headset resembles ski goggles and requires a separate battery pack.
The mixed reality headset includes a custom SoC (system-over-chip) similar to M1/M2 on the newest Macs, an A16 Bionic chipset on iPhone 14 Pros, and an S7 chip on Apple smartwatches. The advanced goggles will feature custom glasses for customers with prescriptions and a lightweight carbon fiber body.
MR headsets blend virtual objects and environments with the real world, allowing users to interact with both physical and digital elements simultaneously. These have various applications in fields such as gaming, education, architecture, design, and healthcare. They enable users to visualize and manipulate virtual objects in real time, interact with virtual characters or simulations, and explore virtual environments while still being aware of their physical surroundings.
Another tech giant Meta Platforms unveiled its high-end virtual and mixed reality headset – Quest Pro for $1500 at its annual Connect conference in October last year. Meta Quest Pro is said to be the slimmest and most balanced VR device the American multinational tech giant has made so far.
