San Francisco, Jan 6 (IANS): Mass shipment of tech giant Apple's upcoming augmented reality (AR)-- mixed reality (MR) headsets will reportedly be delayed to the end of quarter 2 (Q2) or quarter 3 (Q3) this year.

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

As a result, it is unlikely that the tech giant will hold an event for its new headset this month.

Kuo tweeted on Friday: "At this point, it seems more likely that Apple will announce the AR/MR headset at a spring media event or Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) based on the current development progress."

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, he had said "My latest survey indicates that the mass shipment schedule of Apple's MR headset may delay to 2H23 because of software-related issues (vs. the previous estimate of 2Q23)."

In November last year, it was reported that the iPhone maker was planning to start mass production of its MR headsets in March this year.

The initial production was rumoured to be very limited with a high price tag, which would restrict the tech giant's first headset mainly to commercial customers.