Apple’s had a history of making certain controversial decisions backed by design approvals. One of the few times that that might not be the case, might be with the rumored AR/VR headset set to launch at WWDC in June.

The famous design team of Apple, previously led by Jony Ive, was used to having the last say. The engineering followed design. However, under pressure to leave a legacy, Tim Cook reportedly wants to push out the AR/VR headset with an average design that headsets of similar kind have.

As reported by Financial Times, the headset has been in the making since early 2016, soon after the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015. However, the launch date has been pushed back one too many times for Cook, who is working with Jeff Williams, the Chief Operating Officer to get the device out this year. The design team falls under Williams since the parting of Jony Ive in 2019.

They have huge pressure to shit the headset. They have been postponing the launch each year for the past [few] years.

said a former Apple engineer who worked on the product’s development.

Currently the device is supposed bulky, as opposed to how the design team wants it to be. However, a lighter design is expected to take perhaps a few more years, and Apple is. unwilling to wait that long, at least for an initial launch.

The AR/VR headset is reported to be going for $3,000, a hefty for a first-generation product, and Apple is not expecting to draw in any significant sales. Being first in line has never been important to the company as it believes in arriving in their own way. How the headset does in the market, will be an instant comment on Cook’s attempt at a legacy product, even if it doesn’t touch their financials.

There are no examples of categories that Apple has been first for, but they currently dominate across all them. The company is known for winning across product lines in the long term rather than with their initial launch version. The Apple Watch wasn’t the first watch, when it launched in 2015, Android had already launched Android Wear watches from LG and Samsung in 2014. But Apple Watch currently dominates the smartwatch market with a 26% market share as of Q3 of 2022, as reported by Statista.

Once the product is out, and enough people have it in their hands, the feedback and criticism will likely drive them to iterate on it better, where the design team may just come out stronger. But that is all in the long run. If announced at WWDC, the AR/VR headset may just be seen as a rather expensive public beta test for Apple.

The market excitement and expectation also puts significant pressure on the company. The launch, and current market share of Apple Watch and AirPods, both products that launched, but weren’t designed, under Cook’s regime are sky-high; but no one has forgot the promise and failure of AirPower.