Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts in a new research note that Apple will release a “helmet-type” mixed reality headset next year, augmented reality glasses in mid-2025, and an AR contact lens product by 2030-2040, according to MacRumors.
“We foresee that the helmet product will provide AR and VR experiences, while glasses and contact lens types of products are more likely to focus on AR applications,” Kuo writes in the note.
While several prototypes of Apple’s mixed reality headset weigh between 200 and 300 grams, Kuo says, if Apple can solve some technical problems the headset could end up weighing between 100 and 200 grams, MacRumors reported. He added that the headset will likely be priced in the $1,000 range in the US.
The headset will be able to offer an immersive experience Kuo says will be “significantly better” than those on the market now, with Sony micro-OLED displays, and should be able to run independently of an iPhone, “more like a portable product” than a mobile one.
Kuo’s note is mostly in line with other predictions of a headset hitting the market sometime in 2022, but with the price tag closer to $3,000. The Information reported last month that Apple was using a fabric mesh material to reduce the weight of the headset, and had a rendering based on “internal Apple images of a late-stage prototype” that showed what the headset might look like.
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