Sources: Apple is aiming to release an AR headset in 2022 and a sleeker pair of AR glasses by 2023
At an internal October meeting, Apple executives shared the company's product roadmap for two augmented reality devices. The stakes for the closely-watched products are sky-high as Apple hunts …
The Information
Context & Ripple Effects
This roadmap leak lands two years after sources told Bloomberg that Apple had ramped up work on an AR headset with its own display, chip, and OS, targeting readiness by 2019. The October internal meeting now puts dates on that effort: a headset in 2022, sleeker glasses by 2023.
The follow-on coverage frames how fragile those dates were: Bloomberg later documented internal divisions at Apple over the AR/VR headset, and Ming-Chi Kuo's research note pushed the mixed-reality headset to mid-2022 at around $1,000 with glasses slipping toward 2025.
First-order effects
Apple's hardware organization now has committed internal targets — a 2022 headset and 2023 glasses — forcing decisions on displays, silicon, and the new OS flagged back in the 2017 reporting.
Suppliers and component partners get a dated demand signal for two distinct products, not one, with the glasses positioned as the mass-market follow-on.
Second-order effects
The aggressive timeline immediately strains the program: within months, Bloomberg reports factions inside Apple disagreeing over the headset's direction, and analyst timelines begin stretching — Kuo moves glasses to 2025 and floats 'contact lens type' devices for the 2030s.
A roughly $1,000 first device, per Kuo's estimate, positions the headset as a developer-and-early-adopter product, deferring any consumer-price competition until the glasses generation.
Third-order effects
The pattern holds through 2023, when sources say Apple indefinitely postponed the lightweight AR glasses due to technical difficulties and pivoted to a lower-cost MR headset for 2024 or 2025 — evidence that Apple's wearable-AR endgame runs through successive headsets rather than the single leap to glasses this article sketched.
If the slippage cycle repeats across the industry, AR timelines become credibility tests: each missed date raises the bar for what suppliers, developers, and investors will fund against future roadmaps.
The trend: Apple's spatial-computing strategy is converging on an iterative headset-first path, with each slipped glasses deadline pushing true consumer AR further out.
Apple plans to release a AR/VR headset in 2022 and a sleeker pair of AR glasses in 2023. The timelines run counter to recent reports that suggest a 2020 ship year. That and more details about Apple's AR hardware efforts here, with @waynema & @nickwingfield https://www.theinformat…
@rstephens
Robert Stephens on x
Missed opportunity if Apple doesn't brand them “eyePods” https://twitter.com/...
@benbajarin
Ben Bajarin on x
Just about a month ago, I wrote for subscribers why you shouldn't believe the 2020 timeline. The dates here line up more closely with my analysis of the technology timeline and the market readiness timeline. Apple's Rumored 2020 AR Glasses https://techpinions.com/... https://twit…
@andrewprojdent
Andrew Hart on x
2023 for consumer AR glasses seems like a realistic timeline. Read the whole thread 👇 - some interesting early details about the UX, such as darkening lenses for AR usage, to indicate the wearer is distracted. Things which I'm sure at some later point will seem “obvious”. https:/…
@jessicalessin
Jessica Lessin on x
Exclusive: Our team just published the fullest picture of Apple's AR plans yet including devices, features and target release dates. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@reneritchie
Rene Ritchie on x
Oculus Quest is legit terrific and a headset is more deliverable short term. If they can solve for glasses even by 2025, I'll be impressed. “Apple Eyes 2022 Release for AR Headset, 2023 for Glasses” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@reckless
Nilay Patel on x
“Replace the iPhone in a decade with cameras mounted on people's faces” is one of those world-scale culture shifts that maybe we ought to be more careful about
@lucasmtny
Lucas Matney on x
Big report on Apple AR from The Information. AR-focused Oculus Quest-ish headset reportedly coming in 2022 and sleeker glasses in 2023 — “current prototypes look like high-priced sunglasses with thick frames that house the battery and chips” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@scobleizer
Robert Scoble on x
New report says Apple is coming in 2022. I am bummed but there aren't any that consumers find attractive yet, me included. https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach
Steve Kovach on x
Apple's AR headset looks like Facebook's Oculus VR headset, The Information reports. So much for sleek glasses. (For now.) https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@appleinsider
@appleinsider on x
Apple's long-rumored #AugmentedReality headset and #SmartGlasses could be on the way, with an internal company presentation revealing an initial launch in 2022. https://appleinsider.com/... pic.twitter.com/sKTfJ55Wgn
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
@waynema @nickwingfield The AR glasses are in the earlier stages of development, but Apple is working on lenses that darken when the wearer is using AR, a way of letting others know the wearer is distracted. They are meant to be worn all day, & execs think they could replace iPho…
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
@waynema @nickwingfield For the AR/VR headset, Apple plans for the device to have an ultra high-res display, the ability to detect people in the field of vision, and the ability to map the surfaces/edges of a room. Apple wants the device to be more lightweight and easy to wear th…
@bdsams
Brad Sams on x
@Techmeme There's an Apple AR headset launching every year for the next 4 years. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
@waynema @nickwingfield One more thing I want to call out towards the end of the story: Snap is developing a 4th gen version of its Spectacles camera glasses, codenamed Hermosa, with smart lenses capable of showing AR effects. Facebook already working on similar hardware too. The…
@cnbctech
@cnbctech on x
Apple's smart glasses said to launch in 2023, three years later than originally expected https://cnb.cx/2NYr81v
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
@waynema @nickwingfield Execs discussed the roadmap for the AR devices during an October meeting at the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple's campus. Sources said it's highly unusual for so many employees to be briefed about such secretive projects (though they were made to put tape over…
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
@waynema @nickwingfield Here's some of what we know: - There are two Apple AR devices in the works: a mixed reality headset that looks somewhat like Facebook's Oculus Quest, & more futuristic AR glasses. - Apple plans to reach out to developers in 2021 to encourage them to build …
@backlon
Dieter Bohn on x
Choosing to present this to a reported 1000 people is a MOVE. Seems either a test to see if it would leak or designed to leak. Either way, Apple execs felt at least a little comfortable with it leaking. Good scoop from @theinformation https://www.theinformation.com/ ...