Summary
- Apple has reportedly delayed its cheaper Vision Pro headset "beyond 2027."
- An upgraded Vision Pro with an M5 chipset could be on the way.
- Tim Cook acknowledges the $3,500 Vision Pro is for early adopters and not a mass-market product yet.
Apple's Vision Pro headset launched earlier this year, marking the Cupertino-based company's entry into the VR/AR market. With its pair of 3,600 x 3,200 pixel resolution displays, the headset lets users enjoy an immersive AR/VR experience through interactive appsand has the ability to watch TV shows, movies, and even browse the web in AR. But, at a $3500 price tag, the headset is out of reach for most consumers, and it seems a cheaper version is reportedly not coming anytime soon.
In his latest newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple is still committed to a cheaper headset with "scaled down technologies," but there's no indication of a time frame for release.
Vision Pro
- Brand
- Apple
- Resolution (per eye)
- 3660 x 3200 per eye
- Display Type
- Micro-OLED
- Storage
- 1TB / 2TB / 4TB
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Battery Life
- 2-2.5 hours (estimated)
Apple's Vision Pro VR/AR headset features impressive hardware and innovation, but it comes at a high price tag.
- Tracking Technology
- LEDs and infrared cameras
- Audio
- Two speakers with spatial audio
- Weight
- 22.9 ounces (650 grams)
- Refresh rate
- 90Hz
- Processor
- Apple M2 + Apple R1
- RAM
- 16GB unified memory
Watching movies and TV shows in Apple's Vision Pro is mesmerizing and tiring
The Vision Pro straps a movie theater to your face, but comfort and eye strain issues almost ruin the experience.
Apple needs successful use cases for the Vision Pro
Consumers will want a good reason to buy any headset from Apple
Kuo suggests that the reason the cheaper Vision Pro is delayed isn't because Apple is having trouble getting the price of it down by changing its hardware, it's because the company needs stronger use cases for the device to market it. "Simply reducing the price wouldn't help create successful use cases," Kuo said on X.
Kuo compared the situation with the cheaper Vision Pro to Apple's HomePod, "even after launching the cheaper HomePod mini, Apple's smart speakers failed to become mainstream products." This is a fair point by Kuo, and Apple really needs to show how the Vision Pro can be a practical everyday device before more people will be willing to fork out potentially thousands of dollars for it.
An upgraded Vision Pro headset is on the way
If you're looking to get a Vision Pro soon, you may want to wait for the M5 version
While it's disappointing news that consumers won't be able to get a cheaper Vision Pro anytime soon, Ming-Chi Kuo's report on X also states that "Apple's only new head-mounted display device in 2025 will be the Vision Pro with an upgraded M5 processor."
A Vision Pro with an M5 processor may interest those who have held off getting the headset this year or who are still saving for it. But even Apple CEO Tim Cook admits the $3,500 headset won't appeal to everyone in its current state.
"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," said Cook in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow's technology today -- that's who it's for. Fortunately, there's enough people who are in that camp that it's exciting."
If you were excited about picking up a cheaper Vision Pro headset in the near future, it seems you'll be waiting quite a long time. It appears Apple is concentrating on updating the current iteration of the Vision Pro and developing more successful use cases for the AR/VR headset before launching a cheaper model.
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