Apple to Start Producing Its Headset in Large Quantities in March.

 It has been rumoured that Apple intends to begin mass manufacturing of its AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality) headsets in March of 2019.

Media claims that Apple is “pushing ahead on development” of its MR headset, with Pegatron serving as the company’s only partner in terms of final assembly. The headset is expected to go into mass production in March 2023 and be introduced the following year.

It is speculated that the tech giant’s first headgear would be available to just a select group of business clients due to its prohibitively high initial price point and restricted supply.

According to the news sources, the tech giant’s manufacturing partners are willing to work with the corporation on the project despite the headset’s low profitability to showcase their technological prowess and position themselves for future AR and VR (augmented reality) gadgets.

Back in June, word got out that the firm was considering a January 2019 delivery date for its AR-MR headgear. Expert Ming-Chi Kuo said,

A Taiwanese news site, claims its sources “hinted” that Pegatron, also located in Taiwan, would be Apple’s sole assembly manufacturer, with manufacturing ramping up “by the end of the first quarter of 2023.”

According to Tech industry sources, the primary market for this device will be “commercial markets,” and “rough estimations” place the 2023 manufacturing run at roughly 750,000 units. Previous reports said the device will cost between $2,000 and $3,000.

A business with ties to Apple filed to trademark “Reality One”, “Reality Pro” and “Reality CPU” in August, raising the possibility that Apple may use its name for the headgear and its accompanying processor.

RealityOS was trademarked by Shell business with ties to Apple earlier this year, and the term has since appeared in App Store upload logs and Apple source code. Bloomberg claims that Apple is developing a reality (ROS) client for FaceTime that will include features such as face tracking to power Memoji avatars, a VR version of Maps, spatial versions of Notes and Calendar, the ability to view Mac’s display in a headset, and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools for developers.

The Information reports that it will be powered by the same M2 chip found in the newest MacBooks and will include hand tracking, eye tracking, face tracking, leg tracking, and iris scanning for logins and payments, while supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims it will weigh noticeably less than current VR headsets and feature high-resolution OLED microdisplays.

So far, the rumours have indicated that Apple’s device would have better specs than Quest Pro, including a higher resolution display, faster CPU, more features, and a thinner body, but at a higher price. For a release before WWDC 2023, Kuo believes Apple will have a media event in January, ship developer kits two to four weeks later, and begin taking pre-orders in the second quarter of 2023. Annually in June, Apple has its annual software conference known as WWDC.