Apple’s 2023 Product Roadmap Leaked: ‘Reality Pro’ Headset Coming

In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman detailed what he expects to be Apple’s product roadmap for 2023.

“2023 is set to be the year of Apple’s mixed-reality headset and not much else,” the renowned Apple analyst wrote.

Apple is due to unveil its first AR/VR headset soon, but the company will have “an otherwise muted 2023.” Gurman has narrowed the announcement timeline of the headset, which will likely be named “Reality Pro,” to sometime this spring, ahead of the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

Apple has already shared the device with a small number of high-profile software developers for testing, letting them get started on third-party apps. The device’s operating system, dubbed “Borealis” inside the company, will be publicly named xrOS.

By debuting the headset prior to WWDC, Apple could use the latter as an opportunity to familiarize developers with its software features. Per Gurman, Apple won’t start shipping its mixed-reality headset until later this year in the fall.

Gurman’s launch timeline for the Reality Pro headset falls in line with information from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who reported earlier this week that Apple’s foray into AR/VR was facing development hiccups and would now be unveiled at WWDC, if not sooner at a spring media event.

“While Apple still has many kinks to work out with the device —involving hardware, software and services, as well as how it will be marketed and sold — the company is banking on the product as its hot new introduction for this year,” Gurman added.

That being the case, the analyst believes the rest of Apple’s 2023 product roadmap will be rather uneventful — barring, of course, the iPhone 15 lineup.

Gurman noted that the iPhone 15 series could still get “impressive” hardware updates, possibly including the new Dynamic Island on all four models, a titanium frame for the Pro models, solid-state buttons with haptic feedback, and USB-C ports. Reports from other sources have also hinted at a periscope lens and other major camera improvements.

As for the Mac lineup, Gurman still expects refreshed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips sometime in the first half of this year, followed by the company’s first Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro, and potentially a 15-inch MacBook Air.

However, the analyst noted that Apple has had to temper plans for its highest-end Mac. The upcoming Mac Pro is now slated to feature the same design as the Intel-based model from 2019 and an M2 Ultra chip instead of a now-axed, more powerful chip with 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics cores.

Gurman added that the company won’t be releasing a new 12-inch base MacBook anytime soon and a larger iMac Pro, while in the works, is unlikely for 2023. Furthermore, no new AirPods or Apple TV models are coming this year either.

On the software side of things, Gurman speculated that iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, codenamed Dawn, may have fewer major changes and new features than Apple originally planned as a result of the company’s focus on readying xrOS.

What Apple product are you most excited about in 2023? Let us know in the comments below.

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