Why Apple’s First VR Headset May Not Be the One You Buy

Apple’s long-expected, quite mysterious mixed reality headset seems ready to emerge any month now: Perhaps it’ll be announced as soon as Apple’s next WWDC developer’s conference, in June. The headset, which will enter an emerging landscape of hardware including Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest Pro, the PlayStation VR 2 and a bunch of other AR and VR devices, has been reported to be expensive, maybe have its own tethered processing device and perhaps be very limited in its launch features.

Reports also suggest that Apple’s own staff could be divided on whether this headset should launch now, in a not-quite-perfected state, or held for later on when it may approach a more functional pair of everyday glasses.

I’m not sure it makes a difference, because in all likelihood you’re not going to buy the first version anyway, which is expected to cost as much as $3,000.

I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but it’s true: Barring some sort of miracle, there doesn’t seem to be any way Apple’s first-gen AR/VR device will be anything more than a sort of foot in the door. And, by the way, that’s exactly what Apple’s previous big product line entries were, too.