Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release its next-generation Vision headsets as early as 2026, and they will likely be more affordable, according to TrendForce.
Consistent with previous rumors, a Taiwanese research firm today said Apple plans to introduce both a next-generation Vision Pro headset and a regular headset, which will likely be called the “Apple Vision” without the “Pro” suffix.
TrendForce reported that for the next-generation Vision Pro, Apple will likely consider sourcing components from suppliers other than Sony to reduce manufacturing costs, a move that could help lower the headset's price. The Vision Pro currently starts at $3,499 in the US, a price that has naturally limited sales of the device.
In an interview earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the Vision Pro is not a mass-market product due to its high price.
“At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product,” Cook said. “This is an early adopter product right now. People who want tomorrow's technology today — that's who it's for. Luckily, there are enough people in that camp who are excited.”
In July, research firm IDC estimated that Vision Pro sales would total less than 500,000 units this year.
While the next Vision Pro may be at least a little more affordable, TrendForce assured that the device will still have high-end specs, including display technology with a resolution of over 3,000 pixels per inch.
In addition to the Vision Pro price cut, a cheaper model is also expected to eventually be released.
The research firm said that for this popular Vision headset, Apple is expected to focus on “affordability and ‘cost-effectiveness’ as top priorities, which should make visionOS available to more customers at a significantly lower price compared to the Vision Pro. She said the device could feature less advanced displays to keep costs down.
“Possible display options for this model include glass OLED displays and LCD displays with LTPO backplane technology, both of which strike a balance between performance and cost,” TrendForce said in a press release.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said last month that the next Vision Pro would actually launch in 2025 with an M5 chip instead of the current M2 chip, but he said Apple had delayed its plans to release a cheaper Vision headset until after 2027.
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