Gurman: Apple AR/VR headset to be announced in the spring, before WWDC

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple intends to announce its long-awaited AR/VR headset product in the spring, before WWDC in June. The device would go on sale later in the fall of 2023, matching analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s timeline.

Gurman says prototype hardware has already been seeded to a small number of developers for testing. However, he says the device is far from finished and Apple still has to work out several “kinks” in the hardware and software.

Gurman says that previous reporting that the device was originally set to be unveiled in January (this month) was accurate — but that timeline slipped.

With an introduction to the world in the spring, Apple would then likely follow up with detailed resources and tooling for developers at the WWDC conference in June.

To squash all the outstanding bugs and todo’s, Gurman says Apple has “roped in resources” from other departments. This means some other projects inside the company have suffered delays as a result.

Gurman does not anticipate major changes for AirPods and Apple Watch lines. The Mac roadmap includes an Apple Silicon Mac Pro, M2 spec bumps for the MacBook Pro, and a possible 15-inch size of the MacBook Air. A new big HomePod should launch this year, largely resembling the 2018 model in design.