Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said Apple’s mixed-reality headset may not make an appearance at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC23), as the Cupertino firm has once again pushed back mass production of the headset.
Kuo tweeted that Apple “isn’t very optimistic” that the headset will be able to create an “iPhone moment,” resulting in the company choosing to delay the device’s mass production kickoff to the middle to the end of the third quarter of 2023. Kuo says the delay adds uncertainty around “whether the new device will appear at WWDC 2023, as the market widely expects.”
While Apple had been expected to ship around half a million units this year, the production delay means a reduction of the shipment numbers, likely dropping to just 200,000 to 300,000 units.
Apple is concerned that it may see poor market feedback, due to hardware specification compromises, the weight of the device, the economic downturn, the headset’s high selling price, and other factors. Kuo says he believes that the headset’s price will come in at $3,000 – $4,000, or even higher.
Apple’s WWDC23 will be held between June 5 and June 9.