Apple has “suspended” work on a high-end Vision Pro successor to focus on releasing a cheaper Vision headset by the end of 2025, according to The Information.
The Information’s Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu report that Apple told “at least one supplier” this, according to “an employee at a manufacturer that makes key components for the Vision Pro”. In the past Ma reliably reported many details of Vision Pro before it was officially revealed or even acknowledged to exist by Apple.
Starting at $3500, Apple Vision Pro is well out of reach of the vast majority of consumers and widely regarded as absurdly expensive, as well as too heavy.
Ma and Liu say Apple originally planned to have two models in the Vision headset line, regular and Pro, similar to iPhones, and is still working to release the first regular model, which will have “fewer features” than Vision Pro, by the end of 2025.
This regular Vision headset will still use high resolution micro-OLED displays, they report, and weigh “at least” one-third less than Vision Pro.
Apple’s aim is to make the headset “as affordable as a high-end iPhone”, they claim. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $1000 and the highest-end iPhone 15 Pro Max sells for $1600.
As Ma previously reported, Apple is mostly hoping to achieve this via bringing down the cost of micro-OLED by bringing in new suppliers from China, BOE and SeeYA Technology. The latest report doesn’t mention BOE, but says SeeYA has “so far struggled to meet Apple’s standards and the effort might fail”.
Apple Testing New Micro-OLED Suppliers For Vision Headsets
Apple is reportedly testing new OLED microdisplay suppliers to increase the production scale of future Vision headsets.
When it comes to the Vision Pro line though it’s important to note that “suspended” isn’t the same as canceled, so it’s possible Apple will resume work on a high-end successor after the cheaper headset ships.
Many Reports Now Point To Cheaper Vision Headset
This is far from the first time we’ve seen a report describing Apple’s plans for a cheaper non-Pro Vision headset.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first reported that Apple was working on a cheaper headset a full year before Vision Pro was even revealed, with Kuo at the time also saying Apple aimed to launch it in 2025.
Last year Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reliably reported many details of Vision Pro before it was officially revealed or even acknowledged to exist by Apple, too reported on the existence of this cheaper headset, saying it will feature an A-series chipset (used in iPhones) instead of an M-series chipset and is “likely” to lack the EyeSight front display. The A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro models has a GPU with 6 cores that’s roughly 60% as powerful as the M2’s GPU, so it seems reasonable an A18 Pro or A19 Pro might close the gap.
Cheaper Apple Vision Could Use iPhone Chip And Lack EyeSight
Apple’s in-development more affordable Vision headset could use an A-series chipset and lack EyeSight.
In that same report last year, Gurman said Apple “discussed prices ranging from $1500 to $2500”. And in April Gurman reiterated that Apple plans to launch a cheaper headset before a high-end Vision Pro successor, but said the company is “still flummoxed by how exactly to bring down the cost”.
In May Chinese news outlet WallStreetCN made the extraordinary claim that the supply chain is preparing for scale “at the level of tens of millions” for the cheaper Vision headset. Given Gurman and Ma’s doubts though, that may be simply the most optimistic scenario.