Apple AR headset will wirelessly connect to iPhone, production in late 2022

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterates that production of the first Apple AR headset will begin in the fourth quarter of 2022, with the headset featuring Wi-Fi 6e connectivity.

Backing up a claim by Bloomberg that Apple's AR/VR headset will launch in 2022 as a premium device, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will begin being made in Q4.

In his note to investors, seen by AppleInsider, Kuo does not say when he expects the device to either be announced, or shipped. However, he does have new details of the device, and also of its competition.

Kuo reports that Apple is aiming to avoid the need for a wired connection between headset and computer. While the note addresses Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e technologies, Kuo specifies in the note that Wi-Fi 6e will be used in Apple's headset.

Wi-Fi 6, or 802.11ax, is also optimized to work with a higher number of connections. According to Kuo, the same technology is going to be adopted in 2022 in devices from both Meta and Sony.

Separately, the first Apple AR headset is still expected to be a comparatively large head-mounted display, rather than the lighter and more consumer-friendly "Apple Glass."

6 Comments

crowley 10431 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

I’d expect Wi-Fi but why would it have 5G?

Kuyangkoh 838 comments · 7 Years

crowley said:

I’d expect Wi-Fi but why would it have 5G?

Plus wired….ehehehe, “all of the above”

AppleZulu 2159 comments · 8 Years

As an Apple device, it presumably won't be the cludgy sort of thing pictured at the top of this article. I wonder what it would actually be, and what the use case for it would be. As a thing you need but didn't know you need, I think most people are still pretty firmly in the 'don't know that you need' end of the equation.

Or, alternatively, is it the thing that you really don't need but that has been "leaked" to Ming-Chi Kuo just to waste his time and challenge his hyped reputation?

hmlongco 571 comments · 9 Years

If it has the resolution that it's teased to have, I can't wait to get one and try doing a virtual desktop / workspace / monitor setup like IMMERSED.

dewme 5713 comments · 10 Years

AppleZulu said:

As an Apple device, it presumably won't be the cludgy sort of thing pictured at the top of this article. I wonder what it would actually be, and what the use case for it would be. As a thing you need but didn't know you need, I think most people are still pretty firmly in the 'don't know that you need' end of the equation.

Or, alternatively, is it the thing that you really don't need but that has been "leaked" to Ming-Chi Kuo just to waste his time and challenge his hyped reputation?

Agreed. The one in the picture looks like some sort of torture device that they'd strap on a suspect to force them to confess or else have to watch a never ending stream of medicare supplement plan advertisements. I'm also waiting for a reason why I'd want to strap this sort of contraction on my face. I do understand that it could be tightly coupled with remote robotic manipulators to perform dangerous tasks like underwater welding, telepresense emergency surgery, satellite repair, nuclear accident cleanup, etc., but the closest thing I've seen so far to a consumer focused VR/AR headset was Google Glass and it kind of flopped.

Hey, maybe Apple will succeed where many others have floundered and failed, like they did with the iPod. If anyone is going to convince consumers to buy something they've overlooked or ignored up to this point, it will be Apple.