Analyst: Apple’s second gen AR/MR headset will be offered in two versions

On his Medium blog, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterates and expounds on reports that Apple’s second-generation augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) headset will be offered in both high-end and low-end versions.

From his report: The 2nd generation Apple AR/MR headset is expected to go into mass production in 2025. There will be two versions, a high-end and a low-end. Shipments of the 2nd generation in 2025 are expected to be around ten times those of the 1st generation in 2023.

The first version of the “Reality Pro” headset is expected to be previewed at next months’ Worldwide Developer Conference. It will almost certainly be a head-mounted display. 

Reports say the RealityPro will resemble a pair of safety glasses, use an external battery, and connect to a base station “to offload the heavy amounts of computation it requires.”

Other rumors say that it could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.” Or perhaps “xrOS” for extended reality operating system. In fact, as noted by MacRumors, Apple has registered a wordmark for “xrOS” in New Zealand.

The follow-up to the RealityPro, which I’ll call Apple Glasses, is reportedly not likely to arrive until 2026 at the earliest. It’s expected to look more like regular eyeglasses than a head-mounted display.