Apple Inc. will unveil its long-anticipated augmented reality glasses and a successor to the budget-friendly iPhone SE in the first half of 2020, according to the latest report about its product roadmap.

The information comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo by way of 9to5Apple, which published a summary of the respected market watcher’s Chinese-language report today. Kuo is a reliable source of news about the iPhone maker’s product roadmap who has predicted many of its device launches. 

The AR glasses, which have been rumored for years, will reportedly arrive in the second quarter of 2020. Kuo’s sources indicated that the spectacles will pair with the user’s iPhone and rely on the device for the bulk of its processing power. That means that the glasses will likely be lighter, and possibly more convenient to wear, than standalone AR headsets such as Microsoft Corp.’s HoloLens 2 that feature a bulky built-in computing module. 

Apple’s unveiling of the AR glasses will reportedly be preceded by the introduction of the iPhone SE 2 in the first quarter. Launched in 2016, the original iPhone SE was a cheaper, smaller version of that year’s flagship models, which proved quite popular among users.

Kuo’s research note was light on specifications, but it serves to reaffirm an earlier Nikkei report that had more information. Sources told the Japanese paper that the iPhone SE 2 will ship with a 4.7-inch screen and the same A13 processor powering the latest iPhone 11. The A13 features 8.5 billion transistors that give it 20% more performance than Apple’s previous mobile chip and, according to the company, put it well ahead of the Snapdragon 855 chip powering most flagship Android phones.

The company is also said to be readying several other devices for the first half of 2020. They reportedly include an updated MacBook with a more reliable keyboard and new iPod Pros packing a rear time-of-flight sensor for measuring depth. This latter addition could help improve the graphic fidelity of AR apps, which need to know how far an object is from the phone to blend it into a digital scene. 

Google LLC’s upcoming Pixel 4 flagship phone hasn’t been immune from leaks either. Nikkei separately reported today that device, which is expected to make its debut next week, will come in a 5G version. 

Photo: Apple