Here's another sign the Apple VR headset is coming soon

(Image credit: AppleInsider)

published 20 January 2023

There have been lots of rumours flying around about Apple's AR/VR headset recently, but a new report offers concrete evidence that the much-anticipated facehugger is moving into the final stages of production.

According to trade magazine DigiTimes, as spotted by MacRumors, one of Apple's key suppliers says it is preparing to ship some of the headset's most crucial components – and it's planning to start shipping them as soon as next month, which of course is just weeks away. That doesn't mean the Apple headset launch is quite so imminent, but it's clearly on the horizon.

What's Apple been ordering for its AR/VR headset?

According to the report, the supplier concerned is GSEO – short for Genius Electronic Optical – and the product it makes for Apple is the lens module for the AR/VR headset. According to the report, "Genius Electronic Optical (GSEO) will supply lens modules for VR head-mounted devices, to be launched by Apple in 2023, with shipments to begin in February-March 2023, according to GSEO's supply chain makers."

I wouldn't describe this as a rumour – it's more a PR brag, I think – and it fits with the timescale that multiple reports have described: a big reveal this summer, most likely at Apple's WWDC conference, with early adopters getting their headsets in late summer or early autumn.

The first generation Apple AR/VR headset is expected to be a high-end model with a price tag to match; a more affordable second generation, designed for more mainstream use, is expected in 2024 or 2025.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).