Apple is supposedly working with unnamed third-party brands to release its rumored augmented reality headset accessory in the second quarter of next year.
That’s according to revered Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, who wrote in a note to clients Wednesday, seen byMacRumors, that the oft-rumored accessory will enter mass production as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.
That would suggest that the product’s technical specifications and design have been locked for several months now. The report also corroborates or at least validates prior rumors that called for an augmented reality glasses or a similar head-worn device with the shiny Apple logo on it.
Changying Precision is tipped to be the main chassis supplier.
Apple currently supports HTC’s Vive headset for VR content creation through SteamVR, Unity or any other development environment on the Mac, but the new iOS 13 and macOS Catalina updatesfeature expanded supportfor third-party AR headsets and controllers.
Similar evidencewas also foundin the final golden master builds of iOS 13 and Xcode.
Confirmed, there’s no artifacts on Xs/Xr, and whole experience is a lot smoother. It appears that I’ve launched StarTester mode on my X in spite of all hardware locks:)pic.twitter.com/cAjmmbFbxG
— Slava Gilevich (@__int32)July 01, 2025
Kuo previously reportedthat a first-party AR headset from Apple would be entering mass production in this holiday quarter ahead of early-2020 launch.CNET thinksthat the accessory may be a standalone device with some crazy tech specs but Kuo isn’t so convinced as his predictions so far have described basically an advanced head-mounted display requiring an iPhone for computations, positioning, networking, location services and so forth.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1121259775403208709
One developer was even able to use anAR headset test mode in the iOS 13.1 beta.
According toBloomberg’s write-upfrom November 2017, an Apple AR headset should be powered by a custom, in-house designed processor and a brand-new operating system.
Apple’s understood to haveshifted its software executive Kim Vorrathover to the team in charge of building the rumored AR headset, with a report from The Information speculating that his inclusion on the AR team is meant to “bring some order” to the proceedings.
Would you consider an AR headset from Apple?
