Apple car will launch later than we thought, report claims

If there’s ever a reward for the most mythical gadget, the Apple car should win it. The fabled electric, self-driving vehicle has reportedly been in the works for at least six years, and a recent report rekindled hopes that we might see it on the roads fairly soon, as early as 2024. 

However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is here to pour some cold water on those dreams. Kuo’s recent research note (via MacRumors) says that Apple car will likely be launched in the period from 2025 to 2027, and possibly even later. 

The first time frame, Kuo says, is “if development starts this year and everything goes well” which sounds optimistic in a time of a global pandemic (not to mention “this year” only having four days left). Kuo says that “due to changes in the EV/self-driving market and Apple’s high-quality standards,” he would not be surprised if the car were postponed to 2028 or later.

Kuo is also worried about Apple’s ability to produce a competitive car. Even if Apple manages to launch the new car in five years, Kuo claims, other self-driving car brands “will have accumulated at least five years of big data and be conducive to deep learning/AI.” Apple would need to overcome that gap somehow, and it’s unclear whether the company, mighty as it is, can do that. 

It’s worth noting that Kuo himself previously predicted that Apple would launch the car in 2023 – 2025, which is in line with the recent Reuters report. We’ve also seen sketchy reports about Apple launching the car as early as next year, which sounds near-impossible at this point. 

Notably, shortly after the Reuters report about Apple building a car came out, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had approached Apple about a possible Tesla acquisition, but Apple CEO Tim Cook wasn’t interested.