The AR headset is said to be Apple’s most ambitious product, but with those ambitions are a ton of development hiccups, launch delays, and a myriad of other problems that the company has to face. According to a new report, the people behind the mixed-reality headset advised CEO Tim Cook not to proceed with a launch, but the chief executive went against their advice.

Apple’s COO sided with Tim Cook with the AR headset launch happening on schedule, the design team wanted to wait several years

If Apple’s CEO had heeded the warning of the AR headset’s design team, it is likely that the company would have launched the product after several years. However, a paywalled report published on the Financial Times and spotted by MacRumorsstates that Cook wanted to launch the device as quickly as possible. To make matters worse for the design team, Apple’s Chief Operations Officer, Jeff Williams, agreed with the company’s head.

Naturally, this difference of opinions caused a rift in the company, but none of them will likely be deterred from their original goals. The AR headset is rumored to be called Reality Pro, and it was expected that the device would be announced during Apple’s WWDC keynote. However, the launch timeline has been pushed to June, and there is no telling if the head-mounted wearable will see another delay.

The headset’s design team wanted to launch the device several years after the technology and the market had matured enough to accommodate a pair of AR glasses. Unfortunately, Apple has reportedly paused development on its AR glasses indefinitely as it was experiencing technical problems with them. For the time being, Tim Cook and Jeff Williams are apparently willing to sell consumers a bulky and pricey headset as, to them, this is the opportune period, otherwise, they risk competition from the likes of Samsung and Google catching up.

Even with their lofty ambitions, the AR headset will sell nowhere close to the number of iPhones that Apple has sold in recent years. According to one report, the technology giant is only said to ship one million units in 2023, and with one unit rumored to cost $3,000, Apple could only generate $3 billion in revenue for the entire launch. Of course, the company will follow up with a cheaper versionof the AR headset, but this is not the ideal start to a product’s inception.

News Source: Financial Times