If the rumored $3,000 price tag for Apple’s mixed reality headset sounds high, there may be a lower-end variant available come 2025.
Per noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s second-generation AR/VR headset will be offered in high-end and low-end versions. Shipments of the second-generation model are expected to be around ten times those of the first-generation model.
Multiple rumors have indicated that the first-gen units of the AR/VR headset will ship later this year, be priced somewhere around $3,000, and will be positioned as a device for developers, content creators, and professionals. Apple expects to sell just one headset per day per retail store, and the company has told suppliers that it expects sales of seven to 10 million units during the first year of availability.
The high price point is due to the high-end hardware that Apple is thought to be using, but the company reportedly wants to make a future version more affordable by using less pricey components such as lower-resolution lenses.
That could see Apple offer a two-tiered series of the second-generation device to appeal to a wider customer base, similar to the way it offers both standard and more premium Pro-branded iPhones each year.
According to one report, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn is already developing a cheaper second-generation version of the headset, but it is still believed to be in the early stages. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said the second-generation headset could arrive in 2024 or 2025, whereas Kuo’s sources suggest to him that a 2025 release is more likely.
The first generation model of Apple’s mixed reality headset is expected to be announced during Apple’s WWDC opening keynote on Monday, June 5.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors, Medium, The Information, and Bloomberg