Apple Ditching Innovation In Favor Of Pragmatism With MR Offering, Self-Driving Car, Gurman Says

ZINGER KEY POINTS

• Apple has been criticized for being less innovative now, bringing in only modest improvements over previous iterations.
• The company’s two upcoming products, though boasting of advanced technology, may not be innovative enough, says Mark Gurman.

Two products in Apple Inc.’s pipeline have seen delays and a new report suggests that the company is compromising on innovation just to get these two products out of the door.

What Happened: 

Going against Apple’s grain of making its products revolutionary, the company is now willing to make more compromises to quickly bring two of its new products —  a mixed-reality headset and electric car — to the market, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in his weekly ‘Power-On’ newsletter.

Stopgap MR Product With Best Tech: 

The MR headset, according to Gurman, will have high-resolution displays, several external cameras and a new version of iOS, dubbed xrOS, and it will likely sport a sleek design and powerful processor, helping it outshine offerings from Meta Platforms Inc. and Sony Group Corp.

The device, however, isn’t likely to achieve true augmented reality despite the thrust to add data and visuals to real-world experiences without being clunky or overly distracting, Gurman said.

Instead of holding off until 2025, when a true AR glass may be feasible, Apple will likely go the practical route and release a stopgap product that promises the “very best” MR tech available currently, Gurman said. This seems the right approach as Apple doesn’t want to cede a promising hardware market to Meta, he added.

Traditional EV Offering: 

Delving on the Apple Car, Gurman noted that the company’s initial focus when it got into the making of self-driving cars in the early 2010s, was competing with Detroit and Tesla Inc. on design, battery technology, hardware and software integration and premium materials. Subsequently, it became fixated on launching a car with full self-driving capabilities and no pedals or steering wheel.

As this pursuit led to management turnover, layoffs and project resets, Apple struck a compromise and is now looking to build a more traditional electric vehicle with a steering wheel and pedals, Gurman said. Its autonomous capabilities will be geared toward freeway driving, he said. Gurman added that the company may no longer wait to release the car until it reaches Level 5.

Price Action: 

Apple closed Friday’s session down 0.34%, at $142.16, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Originally Posted December 12, 2022 – Apple Ditching Innovation In Favor Of Pragmatism With MR Offering, Self-Driving Car, Gurman Says