Apple headset release date is coming in months and will change the industry, report claims

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Apple is preparing to release its augmented reality headset in a matter of months and it will be a “game-changer” for the industry, according to the new report.

The headset has a release date of January 2023, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst with a strong track record of leaks from within Apple’s supply chain.

He also said that the release will be a “game-changer for the headset industry”, in a report he released publicly on Medium.

The headset will not be purely about virtual reality but will have the option to feed video from the outside world into its screen, he said. That should allow for augmented or mixed reality experiences that will impose virtual objects on top of the real world.

Apple has long been focused on augmented reality more than the virtual reality that has occupied some other competitors such as Facebook-owned Meta. Apple’s iPhone and iPad already include a variety of tools that can be used to add digital objects onto physical spaces, such as testing out furniture inside of a room.

The inclusion of such features will make the headset the “most complicated product Apple has ever designed”, even compared to its high-end iPhones and Macs. That could be in keeping with reports that have suggested the first version of the headset could be expensive, and intended only for premium applications.

The report also indicates that Apple’s headset is likely to help bring up the rest of the industry. While companies from Meta to Microsoft have detailed their ambitions for virtual reality, the technology has still remained largely specialised.

Tim Cook and other Apple executives have hinted that Apple has been working on augmented reality products for years, with the chief executive having hinted to The Independent that it was examining hardware all the way back in 2017. But Mr Cook has become less coy in recent weeks, and remarked to China Daily that the world should “stay tuned and you’ll see what we have to offer”.

The headset also seems to have been shown off more within Apple, as the likely release date approaches. Prototypes have been demonstrated to the company’s board, Bloomberg reported, in what it said was a sign that Apple was nearing a more complete version of the hardware.