Kuo: Mass Production on Apple's AR/VR Headset May Be Delayed Until End of 2022

Apple may not begin production on its upcoming AR/VR headset until the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a note sent out to investors. That would likely result in the device launching late in 2022 or in early 2023.

Before launching the headset, Apple wants to have "complete software, ecosystem, and services," so Apple could be planning to delay mass production from the second quarter of 2022 to the end of 2022.

According to Kuo, Apple has the "best industrial design solutions" for an AR/VR headset because of their complexity and the need for a comfortable fit. Kuo also believes that Apple has more of a design challenge in front of it because the company wants to go beyond games with AR/VR software.

The AR/MR HMD requires much more industrial design requirements than smartphones because the comfort of wearing them involves so many design details. Therefore, we believe Apple continues to test the best industrial design solutions so far.

The key to the success of the HMD lies in the software, ecosystem, and service. We believe that Apple is positioning its HMD for various applications, not just gaming applications, so the challenge of building software/ecosystem/services is significantly higher than current products/competitors.

In general, Kuo expects head mounted displays to lead to the "next wave of user interface revolution" much like multi-touch on the iPhone. Apple will be able to change the market consensus that these kind of AR/VR devices are mainly for gaming, as the company "is the most capable of developing and promoting diverse applications."

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