With the years-long Apple AR/VR headset about to finally be put to bed, we're all expecting Reality Pro to be announced at WWDC23 in June. But a new report suggests that anyone expecting to be keeping their head warm with this thing shortly afterward will likely be left disappointed.
WWDC23's opening keynote is on June 5 of course, but it sounds like iOS 17 and the other software updates won't be the only announcements that take months to ship.
If the report is accurate we can expect to wait a good long while before Apple's $3,000 headset is available to buy.
Better wait than never
That report comes via the usually well-connected Mark Gurman. Writing for Bloomberg, Gurman says that "the roughly $3,000 headset is set to debut at an event in June, with the product going on sale months later."
It's thought that Apple is already hard at work trying to get first-party apps ready for the new headset and it's thought to be retooling existing iPad apps for the job. But the delay between announcement and release could well be to allow third-party developers to get their ducks in a row as well.
The headset will of course need an App Store full of apps if it is to succeed anywhere near the level of an iPhone or an Apple Watch, and by announcing at WWDC and launching months down the line Apple buys developers time. Time to build the apps that early adopters will need when their headset lands on their doorstep.
Apple is expected to give the headset all of the tools needed to make a great place for apps to be, too. It's getting high-resolution displays, multiple cameras, and silicon to rival even the best Macs.
At least we should get so many of our questions answered when Apple announces the headset in June — starting with whether it really is going to charge $3,000 for it or not.
