Apple’s rumored upcoming headset will weigh 300-400 grams, and the second generation will be “significantly lighter”, according to a note from Ming-Chi Kuo 9to5Mac claims to have viewed.
Kuo is a TF International Securities analyst known for predicting Apple products & moves over a year in advance using his supply chain sources. Apple Track gives him a 76% accuracy rating.
The Information, Bloomberg and Kuo all claim Apple will release a headset as early as 2022 with high resolution color cameras for mixed reality. Kuo previously claimed it will be priced at least $1000. In February The Information claimed to have viewed images of a late-stage prototype “which show a sleek, curved visor attached to the face by a mesh material and swappable headbands”. The outlet drew an impression:
Last week another note from Kuo MacRumors claims to have viewed suggested the headset will have dual 4K OLED microdisplays and a chip with M1 MacBook level performance.
While in March Kuo claimed prototypes weighed 200-300 grams with a target of 100-200 grams, in the new note viewed by 9to5Mac he says the first generation model will weigh 300-400 grams while the second generation will be “significantly lighter”. For comparison, Quest 2 weighs around 500 grams.
Kuo estimates the first generation model will sell around 3 million units in 2023, while the improved second generation will arrive in late 2024 to reach a market of 10 million. Meta hasn’t revealed how many units Quest 2 has sold, but the face foam recall documents and a comment from Qualcomm’s CEO suggest somewhere in the region of 5-10 million already.
But if Kuo’s reports to date are even semi-accurate Apple’s headset will be significantly lighter, more powerful, and higher resolution than Quest 2. It will likely compete with Project Cambria instead – Meta’s own upcoming take on a lightweight high end headset with color passthrough.
