Julie Clover
There were plenty of signs that Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset was having trouble getting off the ground, both due to its sky-high price tag and its heavy design that limited wear time for most people. What does the Vision Pro's failure mean for Apple's work on future VR and AR projects?
Interest in the Vision Pro
Interest in the Vision Pro was high in February when the device first launched, as it was a completely new product category for Apple, but that didn't last long. The Vision Pro is certainly impressive, and it's simply stunning to watch a butterfly fly so close you feel like you could reach out and touch it, or to see the rough skin of an elephant walking right past you, but for most, the magic wears off quickly.
Early reviews found the Vision Pro difficult to wear long enough to incorporate into a real-world workflow, and it was difficult to find a use case that justified the $3,500 price tag. The Verge’s Nilay Patel found the Vision Pro uncomfortably isolated, and The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern felt nauseous every time she watched the limited amount of Apple Immersive Video content available. Reviewers agreed that watching TV shows and movies was one of the best use cases, but it makes for an expensive TV that you can’t watch with someone else.
A few months later, the sentiment hasn’t changed much. When the Vision Pro launched, there was a lot of demand at Apple Stores, with long lines of people wanting to try it out. However, after the demo ended, interest waned. As early as April, there were reports that enthusiasm for the Vision Pro had waned significantly, and by July, there were reports of sales fading.
At MacRumors, several of us bought the Vision Pro at launch, and the headsets are tucked away in their cases and essentially never taken out except to watch the latest immersive Apple video or update the visionOS software. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera uses his Vision Pro about once a week to watch content, but only for about two hours because it’s too much to continue using after that. MacRumors Editor-in-Chief Eric Slivka and I haven’t found a compelling use case, and there’s no content compelling enough to warrant even weekly use.
I still can’t wear the Vision Pro for more than two hours or so because it’s too uncomfortable, and I’m prone to motion sickness, so I sometimes feel nauseous if there’s too much movement. The main reason I don’t use the Vision Pro, though, is because I don’t want to be able to block out what’s going on around me. Sure, it's great for watching movies, TV shows, or YouTube videos on a screen that looks 100 feet tall, but I have to isolate myself to do that. I can't watch with other people, and I feel genuinely guilty when my cat comes up and demands attention while I'm distracted by my headset.
Watching movies on the Vision Pro isn’t any better than using a 65-inch TV in front of my couch. I’m a gamer, but there aren’t a lot of interesting games, and most of the available content feels like I’m playing a mobile game in a less intuitive way. Using it as a display for my Mac is the best use case I’ve found, but it’s limited to a single display, and it’s not enough of an improvement over my dual-display setup to justify the discomfort while working.
Aside from our own experience with the Vision Pro, MacRumors’ traffic indicates a lack of interest in the headset. When we publish an article about the Vision Pro, people don’t read it. For example, I wrote a Vision Pro article about the first short film on the headset just yesterday, and it was our lowest-traffic article of the day. It probably wasn't worth my time, and it's not an isolated incident.
There are enterprise use cases for the Vision Pro, and there are people who really like the headset, so it has some promise, and Apple is pushing it for businesses. Here are some examples from Apple and others:
- Porsche— Porsche engineers use Vision Pro to visualize vehicle data in real time.
- KLM — KLM uses Vision Pro to train technicians on new engine models.
- Law enforcement — California police departments are testing Vision Pro for surveillance work.
- Medical — A medical group in the UK has used Vision Pro for two spinal surgeries. Doctors in India are also reportedly using it for laparoscopic surgeries, and an orthopedic surgeon in Brazil used it during shoulder surgery. The University of California, San Diego is testing the use of Vision Pro apps for minimally invasive surgery.
- Science — MIT students have written an app to control a robot using Vision Pro’s gesture support.
Tim Cook said in May that “half” of the Fortune 100 companies had bought the Vision Pro, but whether those Vision Pro headsets are actually being used or for what purposes is unknown.
Uncertainty About What’s Next
With Vision Pro sales falling short of what Apple expected, we’ve seen some confusing rumors about what Apple’s next move will be. Initially, rumors suggested that Apple was working on two new versions of the Vision Pro, one that would be cheaper and one that would be a direct successor to the current model.
In April, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that Apple wouldn’t release a new version of the Vision Pro until late 2026, as Apple struggles to find ways to lower the cost of the headset.
In June, The Information reported that Apple had paused work on the second-generation Vision Pro to focus on a lower-cost model. Later that month, Gurman said Apple could make the next Vision Pro dependent on a tethered iPhone or Mac, which could lower the cost, and he said the lower-cost headset could come as early as late 2025.
In late September, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple would begin production of a new version of the Vision Pro in the second half of 2025, presumably for a late 2025 launch. He claims the most significant upgrade would be a new M5 chip for significantly more processing power, with the specs, design, and price remaining largely the same. This contrasts with a February rumor from Kuo, who said Apple wouldn't release a new model until 2027.
None of these rumors are actually true, so Apple’s next step in AR/VR development is unclear. Kuo says a new Vision Pro with a faster chip will be released in late 2025, while Gurman and The Information think we’ll get a cheaper version of the headset. Even Apple may not have made a clear decision on what’s next, so we’ll have to wait and see how the company’s AR/VR strategy evolves.
AR Smart Glasses
Even before Apple released the Vision Pro, there were rumors of lightweight AR smart glasses in the works. AR glasses are Apple’s real long-term goal, and the Vision Pro serves as a stepping stone. Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at length about Apple's interest in augmented reality, calling it “big and deep” and something that people will eventually look back on and wonder how they lived without it.
Apple wanted to release AR smart glasses as early as 2023 before delaying the project to 2025, but unfortunately, development was delayed “indefinitely” in January 2023. According to Gurman, Apple stopped work due to technical difficulties, and some Apple employees don't think Apple will ever release AR glasses.
Later in 2023, Gurman explained that the smart glasses would be released in “at least” four years. Apple realized during the development of the Vision Pro that creating AR glasses with enough power was impractical. To work, the glasses would have to deliver the full performance of an iPhone with a tenth of its power consumption so they wouldn’t overheat. Apple’s work on the smart glasses is being given “limited resources,” with much of the development going into the Vision Pro to lay the groundwork for the future in which AR technology will work.
Serious development of standalone AR glasses is currently on hold, so it’s not entirely clear when we’ll reach the point where hardware miniaturization and chip efficiency will allow AR glasses in the form Apple envisions.
Back in 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the technology didn’t exist to make AR smart glasses “good,” and that doesn’t seem to have changed since then. It’ll likely be until the end of the decade before we start hearing serious reports of Apple working on AR glasses.
If Apple can continue to fund new versions of the Vision Pro and make improvements to that product line, as it did with the Apple Watch, the future looks promising for lightweight glasses that combine the power of the iPhone with the wonder of the Vision Pro.
Meta Smart Glasses
Last month, Facebook parent company Meta showed off its Orion AR smart glasses. The glasses have super thick frames, but they look much more like regular glasses than any mixed reality headset on the market.
Meta Orion
Meta’s Orion glasses have been in development for over five years, and Meta isn’t ready to ship them. They’re still in the prototyping stage, but Meta is testing them with employees and a select external audience to “learn, iterate, and build” toward a consumer AR glasses product line. Meta’s glasses aren’t standalone, and require a wristband and a computing puck that needs to be in the room to operate them.
It costs Meta around $10,000 to make a pair of Orion glasses, so that gives us some insight into the hurdles Apple needs to overcome to bring AR glasses to market. Meta can’t sell the glasses at that price, and it will likely be a few years before they get the price down low enough to attract consumers.
Something in the Middle
Meta also has Ray-Ban AI glasses, which are affordable but don’t have any AR capabilities. Apple has been exploring a similar product, and there's a chance we could get something like Ray-Ban glasses in the future.
Ray-Ban Glasses by Meta
Apple could make simple glasses with a camera, Siri integration, and built-in speakers for listening to music, because sunglasses with speakers have also gained popularity in recent years. Health features could also be included. Right now, Apple is still considering such a product, so it's unclear if it will make it to the actual development stage.
The Far Future
If Apple does master augmented reality smart glasses, the technology could eventually reach a point where something even smaller is possible. Ming-Chi Kuo said in 2021 that Apple could release AR contact lenses in the 2030s, but that prediction sounds unrealistic at a time when the technology can’t be miniaturized enough for even quality AR glasses.
Your Thoughts
Do you have the Vision Pro and still use it? Would you wear AR smart glasses or even glasses with just a camera and speaker? Let us know in the comments.
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