Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says mass shipments of Apple’s long-rumored AR/VR headset may be delayed until the second half of 2023 due to unspecified “software-related issues.”
Kup said that he still believes shipping of components for the headset will still begin in the first half of 2023, but that shipments of the assembled headsets may be delayed until the second half of the year.
My latest survey indicates that the mass shipment schedule of Apple’s MR headset may delay to 2H23 because of software-related issues (vs. the previous estimate of 2Q23).
Apple’s headset is expected to be expensive, and Kuo forecasts that the company will ship fewer than 500,000 headsets in 2023.
(4/8)
It's already a market consensus the AR/VR headset device will be the next critical growth driver for optical industry. The market previously expected Apple's MR headset, which will start mass shipments in 2Q23, would be a spotlight in the low season of the optical industry.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
(5/8)
Therefore, the delay in mass shipment of this product may hurt optical industry's near-term market sentiment. Major suppliers of Apple MR headset optical suppliers include Largan (lens), Genius (Pancake), Cowell (camera module), Primax (eyeball tracking module), etc.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
(6/8)
My latest survey indicates that the mass shipment schedule of Apple's MR headset may delay to 2H23 because of software-related issues (vs. the previous estimate of 2Q23).— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
(7/8)
The mass shipment schedule of components is still likely 1H23/2Q23, but due to postponed mass shipment schedule of the end product, Apple MR headset shipment forecast in 2023 will likely be less than 500k units, which is lower than the market consensus of 800k-1,200k units.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
(8/8)
It still needs to be determined whether the media event schedule (previously estimated in January 2023) will also delay, but usually, if the time frame between the media event and end product mass shipment is too long, it's detrimental to promotion and sales.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 4, 2022
Kuo had previously expected Apple to unveil its headset at a January media event, with mass shipments beginning in the second quarter of 2023. While Kuo is unsure whether the delay would result in the January announcement being pushed farther back, he noted that an extended period between a media event and mass shipments can hurt sales.
(Via MacRumors)
