According to the latest edition of Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple is still on track to launch the lower end Apple Vision headset as early as next year. He says it’ll cost around $2000.
Apple debuted Apple Vision Pro earlier this year at $3499, but it seems the company is still quickly trying to figure out a successor. Some reports earlier this year suggested that Apple had halted Vision Pro development to focus on the cheaper headset, and that still seems to be the case – likely because Vision Pro’s premium price tag puts spatial computing out of reach for many.
Gurman says that the lower-end headset will probably use an inferior processor and cheaper materials. Vision Pro is currently equipped with an M2 chip, so I could see Apple equipping an A series chipset on the cheaper headset, like the A18 Pro – which is about as fast as an M1.
As for materials, there’ll likely be more plastic involved, rather than fully being aluminum and glass.
The report also says that the headset will likely drop the EyeSight feature introduced on Apple Vision Pro, which uses lenticular displays to pass through the users eyes to the outside of the headset, allowing people around them to still “see” their eyes. It was a little gimmicky in my opinion, but an interesting feature. However, it was costly to have another display on the outside, and that display will be gone on the cheaper headset.
Apple reportedly expects the cheaper Apple Vision headset to sell twice as well as Apple Vision Pro, which isn’t saying much. Apple Vision Pro 2 is also on track for 2026 with a faster chipset.