Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple ‘Well Prepared’ for Headset Announcement at WWDC

Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors:

In a brief report posted to Medium on Monday, Kuo wrote that the headset’s announcement next month “bodes well” for the supply chain share price, with the analyst touching on five of the device’s components that — apart from assembly — represent its “most expensive material costs” in his view.

Those include the 4K micro-OLED displays, dual M2-based processors, the headset casing, 12 optical cameras for tracking hand movements, and the external power supply. These components are being supplied by Sony, TSMC, Everwin Precision, Cowell, and Goretek, respectively.

Pricing on the headset is expected to begin somewhere around $3,000. Perhaps with that in mind, Apple won’t aim it at general consumers to start with, but will instead position it as a device for developers, content creators, and professionals. Apple expects to sell just one headset per day per retail store, and it has told suppliers that it expects sales of seven to 10 million units during the first year of availability.

Kuo doesn’t mention the purported $3,000 price in his report, but a price like that would certainly jibe with an expectation that they might sell only one unit per day per store for this model. One part of me says that’s just crazy expensive for an entertainment gadget. Another part of me says that if it really is going to cost that much, it must be much more than an entertainment device — it must be useful for some forms of work too.

The original Macintosh in 1984 cost $2,500 — inflation-adjusted that’s about $7,500 today. If it’s amazing, $3,000 isn’t absurd.

But I also keep thinking back to rumors that the original iPad was going to start at $1,000, and it instead debuted with an entry price of $500.

★ Monday, 15 May 2023