Apple shifts focus to AR headset, may not bring major changes with iOS 17

Tech giant Apple's upcoming major update, iOS 17, will reportedly not bring any major changes as its engineers are focusing more on its upcoming augmented reality (AR) -- mixed reality (MR) headset.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, iOS 17 which is codenamed 'Dawn' and macOS 14 which is codenamed 'Sunburst' are likely to have "fewer major changes than originally planned" because the iPhone maker is focusing more on xrOS for the upcoming headset, reports MacRumors.

Gurman also said that the tech giant is not planning major updates for its iPad, AirPods, Apple TV, or Apple Watch product lines for 2023.

Moreover, he said that there won't be any "of note" improvements to the AirPods lineup this year, which might rule out the possibility of the release of a new version of the AirPods Max.

Talking about the Apple Watch, Gurman said that he does not expect major hardware changes this year, except for some small performance improvements to Apple Watch models, the report said.

Meanwhile, last week, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the mass shipment of the iPhone maker's upcoming MR headsets would be delayed to the end of quarter 2 (Q2) or quarter 3 (Q3) this year.

According to Kuo, the reason for the delay is that the development of the headsets was behind schedule "due to issues with mechanical component drop testing and the availability of software development tools."