Rumors suggest that WWDC will bring more product announcements, perhaps even Apple’s first augmented reality (AR) headset. However, after being absent from the conference, the Apple AR headset will now be delayed until the second quarter of 2022.
According to reports, Apple was planning to introduce its own AR equipment, following Facebook and Sony. The company announced that it will launch its first “mixed reality” device in 2021 or 2022, followed by AR glasses around 2025.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicted in March that Apple’s AR headset could launch “in the next few months.” However, the lack of an update from Apple and an absence from yesterday’s WWDC keynote has caused delays.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s initial prediction, Apple’s AR headset was scheduled to be available for purchase in 2021, but the date was changed to 2022 in March this year.
At the time, he said, “We expect Apple to release an AR HMD device in 2022. Since this device will provide AR experiences in videos, lenses are also needed, and Genius is also a key supplier.”
The unusually long gap between announcement and launch can be explained by the fact that this is Apple’s first attempt at AR. Since the company is new to this space, they want to give developers time to prepare for a completely new platform. According to the report, this will be a premium product aimed at developers rather than a consumer device.
Kuo’s report on Apple’s AR headset also mentions a promising future for Genius Electronic Optical, one of Apple’s key suppliers. Talking about the iPhone 13, it was mentioned that Genius will be the sole supplier of wide-angle and telephoto camera lenses. Largan was another major supplier to Apple, but a recent mistake Largan made led Apple to temporarily suspend its shipping contract with them. The mistake on Largan’s part means that Genius exclusively ships around 65% to 70% of these parts, which means Genius has a whopping 40% to 50% of the aftermarket share.