According to DigiTimes, Apple is continuing to work on the creation of its mixed-reality headset with Pegatron likely to be the sole partner for final assembly. According to the report’s forecast, mass production of the headset is projected to start in March 2023, with an unveiling possibly taking place the following month, based on its current status in the manufacturing validation process.
Industry sources stated this XR headset mainly targets the commercial markets. The price is higher and the shipment quantity is limited. Previous estimates said that the annual shipment for this device would reach 2.5 million units. However, right now, rough estimates placed the annual shipment at around 0.7 to 0.8 million units. For supply chain manufacturers that benefit from quantity, this is not a particularly profitable order.
Despite the initial headset’s low profitability, Apple’s manufacturing partners are reportedly prepared to collaborate with the company on the project to demonstrate their technical prowess and position themselves for future AR/VR goods. Because of how well-known Apple is, it is also simpler for businesses to raise financing on the financial markets to finance their operations.
Apple has encountered various development challenges that have hampered its progress in augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality headsets over the years.
Earlier speculations claimed that Apple might unveil the headset at some time in 2022, but analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in June that the company would most likely aim for a January 2023 launch.
Considering that Kuo predicted that shipments would start by WWDC in June and that pre-orders would not start until the second quarter of 2023, today’s news from DigiTimes may not deviate greatly from Kuo’s.
Because of this, Kuo and DigiTimes appear to be citing comparable timelines for mass production, with the differences in anticipated introduction dates (January for Kuo and April for DigiTimes) resulting from Apple’s preference for how much lead time to give developers before the headset starts shipping.
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