Apple VR Headset Likely Launch Date Identified

Apple VR headset mockup

Apple has announced a "special event," at which it is most likely to announce its highly anticipated AR/VR headset, as spotted by GSMArena.

The event lands on June 5, and its keynote starts at 10am PDT, the classic time window for Apple's big tech launches.

This is at the beginning of the WWDC show, Apple's developer conference. Apple is expected to launch the headset at the show, as reported numerous times by Bloomberg and others.

The latest little morsel on the headset is a tweet from Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR, who posted "the Apple headset is so good" on Twitter, suggesting he has already had a go with the headset. This makes sense, although you have to wonder if Apple would be happy with such a pre-announcement statement, given how closely guarded it is about launches compared to other tech giants.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is "well prepared" for a June launch, despite previously having suggested the company may have to delay production of the headset, leading to an actual retail launch much further into 2023.

This could still happen, of course, and the Apple VR headset is unlikely to be something many will splash out for on a whim.

Early reports suggest it could cost as much as $3000, double the launch price of the Meta Quest Pro. While Meta has not released sales figures of this pricey headset, its its decision to shave $500 off the price just months after launch was taken as an indication it was not selling all that well.

The Sony PSVR 2 has had a similar problem, with sales reportedly not living up to Sony's expectations. These are both excellent headsets from a technical perspective, meaning Apple needs to buck a trend here in order to make its headset a success.

Of course, Apple is working from scratch here. There is no VR ecosystem within Apple's hardware families. And while it has shown off AR apps at various iPhone launches, they are not a cornerstone of the iPhone app store.

Apple has recently registered the "xrOS" trademark, which could be the name of the company's new VR and AR operating system. XR typically stands for extended reality, and is an umbrella term that encompasses virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality.

Apple's initial headset is expected to be made more like a traditional VR headset, where its augmented reality experiences are provided by a series of cameras that reproduce the work around the wearer. However, the company is also reportedly planning to release AR smart glasses in the future.