Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

[Rafagon]

Took them long enough to figure it out!

No wonder Siri is still sitting waiting to get improved. Resources were being wasted on this junk. I mean you need to carry a battery pack for this thing! Who wants that?

Might as well get rid of that iPhone Air while you're at it, Tim. Do one good thing before you retire.

 

[AstroRob]

Final thought of the day:

I am thoroughly dumbfounded that Apple decided it's first entry to try to sell folk on the innovative new concept of "spatial computing" was to make its first and ONLY offering in the field one that is virtually impossible to share with anyone at all.

They were so focused on high margin profit aspects like the custom face-fitting interfacing they missed out on the "make it easy and fast to share this with all of your friends so they want one" logic.

 

[tarkeybear]

A lot of naysayers on this thread. Not sure how many actually use it.
I love mine as a ginormous high-resolution portable monitor for my MacBook Pro. I can't take a physical monitor on a plane or a hotel, but the AVP delivers and when one values that, $3500 is not too crazy when one compares to Apple professional displays.
Yeah AVP is not a professional display, but for the portable high quality display use case, I love it.
As an owner (original pre M5) my only dread is when does Apple quit supporting it from a software perspective and when does it become a paper weight.
As long as it is supported, I will continue loving it until something better comes along for my use case.

And for the consumptive uses of Video, I love being able to have a high quality immersive video experience I can take anywhere in my house or when traveling. Would I pay $3500 to watch movies? NO, but to have a high quality portable monitor AND watch movies, that is gravy!

 

[I7guy]

Tim is a smart beancounter. He hoovered up all the $$$$ from the early adopters and then came back for seconds with the M5 model. But the well was dry. This product is now dead and was called a dud by many of us from the start.

When it comes to the definition of what is a successful product, definition of innovation, definition of apples success - MR members miss it by a country mile.

 

[MarkNewton2023]

Apple has all but given up on the Vision Pro after the M5 model failed to revitalize interest in the device, MacRumors has learned. Apple updated the Vision Pro with a faster M5 chip and a more comfortable band in October 2025, but there were no other hardware changes, and consumers still weren't interested.

The Vision Pro has been criticized for its high price tag and its uncomfortable weight. The device is over 1.3 pounds, and even with the more comfortable Dual Knit Band that Apple added to redistribute weight, it continues to be hard to wear for long periods of time. The M5 chip added a 120Hz refresh rate, 10 percent more rendered pixels, and around 30 additional minutes of battery life, but the price tag stayed at $3,499, and it ended up not selling well.

The Vision Pro has been unpopular since it first launched, and Apple only sold around 600,000 units in total. Insider sources told MacRumors that Apple has received an unusually high percentage of returns, far exceeding any other modern Apple product.

Apple has apparently stopped work on the Vision Pro and the Vision Pro team has been redistributed to other teams within Apple. Some former Vision Pro team members are working on Siri, which is not a surprise as Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell has been leading the Siri team since March 2025.

There have been mixed rumors about a new Vision Pro over the last couple of years, with Apple rumored to be working on a lighter-weight Vision Air that's much cheaper, but the project was stopped last year. If Apple finds a way to create a much cheaper, more comfortable VR headset in the future, the Vision Pro line could be revived, but right now, the company has no plans to launch a new model. Apple has not discontinued the Vision Pro and is continuing to sell the M5 model.

Instead of continuing to experiment with virtual reality, Apple is working on smart glasses that will eventually incorporate augmented reality capabilities, but the first version will be similar to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with AI and no integrated display.

Apple has not been able to use the technology developed for the Vision Pro in its smart glasses because that tech draws too much power for a smaller, lighter device.

Article Link: Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

I am glad to hear Apple finally sees the reality after giving the product a second chance. Smart glass development is a realistic move.

 

[Rafagon]

They really should have sold this at a lower price and incurred a slight loss just to get it in more hands and build the ecosystem.

Exactly!

Like HP does with their printers. Entice you with a low-priced printer then recoup the losses with the ink.

In this case, the ink would have been the apps and subscriptions.

They're going to have to reduce the price now to sell whatever stock they have left. Or dump the unsold units into a landfill.

 

[Brother Cavil]

A lot of naysayers on this thread. Not sure how many actually use it.
I love mine as a ginormous high-resolution portable monitor for my MacBook Pro. I can't take a physical monitor on a plane or a hotel, but the AVP delivers and when one values that, $3500 is not too crazy when one compares to Apple professional displays.
Yeah AVP is not a professional display, but for the portable high quality display use case, I love it.
As an owner (original pre M5) my only dread is when does Apple quit supporting it from a software perspective and when does it become a paper weight.
As long as it is supported, I will continue loving it until something better comes along for my use case.

And for the consumptive uses of Video, I love being able to have a high quality immersive video experience I can take anywhere in my house or when traveling. Would I pay $3500 to watch movies? NO, but to have a high quality portable monitor AND watch movies, that is gravy!

These are essentially the only two use cases that seem relevant and none of the "spatial computing" nonsense is needed for either of them. Remove the cameras and sensors, shrink the device, make it more comfortable, and turn it into a wireless remote screen for one's other Apple devices and it would be a huge hit.

 

[Sallah]

It’s a really cool device. The in-store demo was great and no VR/AR headset comes close.

But paying nearly $4,000 for an abysmal battery, a headset that is not as light/comfortable as it could be, and you have to carry around the battery in your pocket, you have to get measured before you can even buy it, in addition to 0 killer apps was all an inevitable failure.

Meta Quest is far greater value at $350 even though the Vision Pro is a much better product. Apple was arrogant with this product.

It has several killer apps. Immersive content in AppleTV. Simply amazing. IMAX movie experience and in 3D. Amazing. Used as a monitor for your Mac, wherever you go. Amazing. And playing PS5 and Steam games on its massive screen…amazing. You essentially have an extremely portable PS5 and high end PC gaming rig with a massive monitor and speakers in a super compact package.

Just the entire experience in AVP is very polished. You essentially have the Apple ecosystem strapped to your head.

 

[Rafagon]

I'd love to see an immersive maps app. Think of it, they could make those appear at scale and it would be absolutely incredible.

Yeah, you'd probably get immersive ads too.

 

[embraceware]

Overpriced? Yep! Especially if you'd need one for every member of a larger family just to watch a movie together.

For couples, though, buying two wasn't quite as painful. We've been watching all of our movies and TV shows on them for the past year, and we’ve really enjoyed the experience. The Theatre app (https://theater.sandwich.vision) is especially great for putting a Plex library into a proper movie-theatre-style setting.

We hadn't been to an actual movie theatre that whole time until recently, when we went to see Super Mario Galaxy. I have to say, the real theater felt like a downgrade in comparison.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience.

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

It'd be a cool product but the tech obviously wasn't there yet. Too heavy, the battery pack, the really high price, etc.

 

[dbwie]

The price is the biggest obstacle. The comfort is the second biggest obstacle. Lack of software development is a third obstacle. The technology in it is undeniably amazing. I was not interested after an Apple Store demo of the first Vision Pro. They instructed me to strap it so tight to my face, it hurt. They seemed to think the light seal was crucial to the experience. That and the price turned me away. But then, I started following Reddit discussions about it, and found that users were wearing it more loosely, that it was still a good experience without a perfect light seal. And the Annapro strap was better than Apples. I also read about the ways that dedicated users were using it. My interest remained. I did another demo at an Apple Store after the M5 Vision Pro came out. This time, I did not let them direct me on how to fit it on my face. I experimented with what experienced users said. And wow, I found a fit that is comfortable. I was worried about lack of software development, but every streaming platform I have, has a web version, and I happen to like Safari’s go immersive option on the Vision Pro. I also like it as a headless monitor for my Mac Mini, and I can use my iPad Pro while in it as well. And the spatial photos and videos, wow. It is great for meditation and some peace and quiet from this frenetic world. Hence, I have evolved to the point that it is the favorite of all of my Apple Devices. Too bad that I am an outlier, apparently! 500 to 600,000 users is nothing to sneeze at, so I hope that they at least add a few software updates and such for those of us who love it. Getting involved in the online community of dedicated users of it, helped me love it. Apple should have let them do the marketing. And cheers to Apple for having the battery pack external. I don’t have to ditch the whole device when the battery dies. Who cares if it’s external, I’m not that dork who walks around in public with it on. I don’t walk around at home with it on either 🙂

 

[stevefeinstein]

See it for a decent price and it'll sell millions. It has to compete with the Meta Quests.

 

[AppleWes]

You essentially have the Apple ecosystem strapped to your head.

Personally that's exactly why I would never spend thousands to buy one. All of the things you listed are great not strapped to my head, but to each his own.

 

[jole]

Bigger disaster than Apple Maps.

And yet they kept improving. Apple Maps is great today.

(I hope the same would be true for Vision Pro)

 

[visualseed]

Steve Jobs would never have released it like this in the first place.

Steve Jobs released all kinds of half-baked version 1 products and had his share of flops.

 

[stevefeinstein]

Steve Jobs would never have released it like this in the first place.

Steve Jobs is dead. He made a poor decision on how to treat his pancreatic cancer. Let the man rest in peace.

 

[Brother Cavil]

It has several killer apps. Immersive content in AppleTV. Simply amazing. IMAX movie experience and in 3D. Amazing. Used as a monitor for your Mac, wherever you go. Amazing. And playing PS5 and Steam games on its massive screen…amazing. You essentially have an extremely portable PS5 and high end PC gaming rig with a massive monitor and speakers in a super compact package.

Just the entire experience in AVP is very polished. You essentially have the Apple ecosystem strapped to your head.

So basically the killer app is that it's a great immersive screen for content consumption. That's the product. They could deliver that without the unnecessary spatial computing crap that no one wants. They don't need all these cameras and sensors and the front display for any of that stuff. As a wireless wearable screen that pairs to one's Apple devices for gaming, entertainment, and a huge Mac display, it would sell massively. But as a computer? No. The whole spatial computing concept is silly and clearly doesn't resonate with the public.

 

[Juanchi007]

I feel like there's a certain Macintosh problem with the Vision Pro. When playing around with the software, there's clearly something profound there, it does feel like a sneak peak into the future of what could be done with augmented reality (or, as Apple insists on calling it, "spatial computing").

But the price point and the weight kill this thing in the cradle, it feels like buying a prototype that can really only demo something that technology hasn't caught up to yet. Perhaps, when battery density or power efficiency has substantially improved, the battery could be integrated into the body without the need for an inelegant wired battery pack. Perhaps the displays could finally have a wider field of view to avoid the fringing and scuba effects on the current model, perhaps the passthrough cameras could finally have the resolution and high dynamic range of human eyes, and perhaps the engineering team will finally manage to get this into a headset that's lightweight enough to forget it's there. If Apple can manage to do all of that, and lower the price by a substantial margin, there's a real untapped product category here.

For right now though, it weighs too much, has too many compromises, and is priced maybe two thousand dollars above its worth. Then again, though, the Macintosh had similar problems - maybe we'll just have to wait fourteen years until that $1,299 iMac moment when the future we all saw early is finally here for real.

 

[jay-A]

Zuckerberg's metaverse was a fully predictable gigantic flop, but unlike many commenters here I would not say the Vision Pro was one. Apple was smart enough to take an approach different from that of Meta, with AR instead of VR and a headset targeted towards productivity rather than entertainment. Had it not been been that expensive and uncomfortable, the product might have taken off. I feel that the project is frozen rather than trashed now, and might resurface when future tech is ready.

 

[t0rqx]

I told everyone they made these products to deplete leftover M2 stock A-chips and will kill the product. Just like Homepods. Just like the Macbook 12” and soon the Neo.

 

[Cesar Battistini]

It needs to be cheaper and and lighter.

 

[carrrrrlos]

Even at the genious bar putting it on was uncomfortable - like a weighted pair of snowboard lenses that you could kinda see out of, and made your eyes crazy.

 

[Brother Cavil]

Steve Jobs is dead. He made a poor decision on how to treat his pancreatic cancer. Let the man rest in peace.

Thank you! Every time I see a "Steve would have/would never have" post, I just roll my eyes. Let the guy rest in peace! And while he definitely saved Apple, he didn't do it alone. Without the NeXT people, especially Avie, Jean-Marie, and Jon Rubenstein, it's very likely Apple wouldn't have survived. NeXT's tech is what saved Apple. Jobs was a visionary, no doubt, and he knew how to attract and motivate and get the best work out of amazing people, but he wasn't infallible and the tech landscape is so different today. There's absolutely no way to know what he would or would not have done.

 

[Attirex]

Thank you! Every time I see a "Steve would have/would never have" post, I just roll my eyes. Let the guy rest in peace! And while he definitely saved Apple, he didn't do it alone. Without the NeXT people, especially Avie, Jean-Marie, and Jon Rubenstein, it's very likely Apple wouldn't have survived. NeXT's tech is what saved Apple. Jobs was a visionary, no doubt, and he knew how to attract and motivate and get the best work out of amazing people, but he wasn't infallible and the tech landscape is so different today. There's absolutely no way to know what he would or would not have done.

Ternus would have never done this?