Apple to launch Apple Car and AR headset by 2025 - report

Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) will launch an augmented reality (AR) headset and an Apple Car by 2025, according to a report by a company analyst.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a veteran Apple analyst for TF International Securities, has told investors that he expects to see Apple launch a car sometime between 2023 and 2025.

Apple's self-driving car programme, known as Project Titan, has been rumoured for years, although the company has never publicly acknowledged the project.

The car would be positioned as Apple's "next star product" according to Kuo (Taiwan OTC: 1757.TWO - news) , whose note was seen by Apple news site MacRumours.

The site explained that Kuo anticipates the Apple Car will have as disruptive effect on the car market when it is released as the iPhone did to the mobile phone market in 2007.

As published by MacRumours , Kuo's note states: "We expect that Apple Car, which will likely be launched in 2023, will be the next star product."

Among the reasons for this according to Kuo is the "potentially huge replacement demands ... emerging in the auto sector because it is being redefined by new technologies.

"The case is the same as the smartphone sector 10 years ago," wrote Kuo.

He added: "Apple's leading technology advantages (e.g. AR) would redefine cars and differentiate Apple Car from peers' products."

Google halted sales of its AR headset , Google Glass, back in 2015 after the product failed to meet internal targets for consumer interest.

However, within the last year Apple and Google have been preparing to go head-to-head with their development of competing AR platforms.

AR apps have begun to be rolled out on Apple devices since the release of iOS 11, while Google's AR technology was first made available on the Samsung Galaxy S8 as well as its own Pixel phones.