Apple leak industry guru Mark Garman presented his latest brain dump.

Apple has reportedly been working on a lightweight, all-day-wearable AR glasses for some time. The product was slated to be released shortly after Apple's mixed reality headset, but according to Gurman, it is still slated for release later this year.

According to Gurman, the AR glasses (opens in new tab) have technical challenges that cannot be identified and are "a few years away" from being released, if at all.

According to Garman, Apple believes AR glasses could eventually replace its big cash cow, the iPhone. The ability to bring functions currently displayed on a 2D screen into the wearer's field of vision opens up dramatic new possibilities for the user interface.

Even if AR glasses are no longer an imminent prospect, Garman claims that Apple's premium mixed reality headset with both VR and AR capabilities is well on its way to a 2023 launch.

The first variant of the headset will reportedly be a typical luxury item in Apple's kit and will sell for about $3,000. According to Garman, the device will feature a cable-connected battery and is designed to fit in the user's pocket, which will significantly reduce the weight of the headset itself.

Apple is also said to be working on a lower-priced version of the headset, with ttrademark's filing suggesting that the first premium device could be known as the "Reality Pro" and a lower-priced follow-up could be branded as the "Reality One"

The first device will be known as the "Reality Pro.

Other than that and the fact that Apple has roughly 1,000 employees working on AR and VR technology, few details about the new headset are known.

However, there is little doubt that the company is in some sort of competition with both Meta and Google to define exactly how AR and VR will redefine computing.

Almost certainly, that new paradigm will include gaming. There seems little doubt that traditional 2D panel-based displays will eventually start to look like entirely archaic technology in the ubiquitous world of VR and AR. Just how and when that transition will take place is not yet clear.