We’ve identified in regards to the Imaginative and prescient Professional for greater than half a yr now (to not point out the years of rumors), however Apple’s first “spatial computing” system is one among client electronics’ greatest query marks heading into the brand new yr. The $3,499 headset was given an “early-2024” launch time-frame when it was unveiled at WWDC in June, however since then, the corporate hasn’t gotten extra particular.

Apple oracle Ming-Chi Kuo supplied an early vacation present on December 24, narrowing down what he believes might be a “late-January/early-February” launch date for the system. The analyst says that the primary wave of Imaginative and prescient Professionals are being shipped to Apple in a couple of month, with complete shipments numbering round 500,000 for the complete yr.

The corporate’s exact goal for the yr stays an open-ended query. A few month after the system was revealed, reviews instructed that Apple has scaled again expectations from round a million to “fewer than 400,000.”

Even the up to date 500,000 determine is small for a corporation of Apple’s huge dimension and affect. Understand that the corporate needs to be delivery greater than 200 million iPhones this calendar yr.

The Imaginative and prescient Professional, nevertheless, is extensively thought to be the most important gambit of Tim Cook dinner’s 12-year tenure as CEO. Not solely is it a wholly new class and type issue for the corporate, it’s additionally prohibitively priced, even for purchasers accustomed to shelling out further for apple merchandise. Add to that VR’s decades-long failure to dwell as much as expectations, and also you’ve received a giant uphill combat in your palms.

Kuo refers to Imaginative and prescient Professional as “Apple’s most essential product of 2024.” Given the years of hypothesis and all of the money and time the corporate has little question poured into the headset, it’s a tricky assertion to argue.