Apple Postpones Lightweight AR Glasses Indefinitely

It’s been the ongoing story that Apple intends to release its first extra premium mixed reality headset this year, followed by a lightweight pair of AR glasses. It looks like the latter part of the plan has hit a snag, as a recent report points towards the AR glasses being delayed indefinitely.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is shelving the AR glasses because of technical challenges in making a pair that is consumer-friendly. Whether this refers to the cost aspect, or the challenge of making one light and comfortable enough that it can be worn all day, is unclear. But either way, it looks like it won’t be happening anytime soon, if at all.

In its place, the report notes that Apple will instead shift to making a lower-cost mixed reality headset. It is already in development, with the fruit company planning to have this ready in 2024, or early 2025. As for what will be the difference between the two, this lower cost headset will reportedly use chips on par with those that the company uses for its iPhones. This is as opposed to the “Mac-grade M2”, as well as a dedicated chip to handle AR and VR visuals, that the high end version will have.

That being said, while the lower-cost device will indeed be more affordable than the initial premium model, the phrase lower-cost is very relative. Compared to the latter and the US$3000 (~RM13010 ) figure that has been floating around alongside it, the report claims that Apple means for the former to compete with “Meta’s mixed reality headset, which costs US$1500 (~RM6505)”. This is likely referring to the Meta Quest Pro, which does indeed have a price of US$1499 (~RM6500). So while it would cost half as much as the premium model, it’s not exactly what the average person would call low-cost.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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