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Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop
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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 $3,499, and it ended up not selling well.
The Vision Pro has been unpopular since it first launched, and Apple only sold around 600,000 units in total. Insider sources told MacRumors that Apple has received an unusually high percentage of returns, far exceeding any other modern Apple product.
Apple has apparently stopped work on the Vision Pro and the Vision Pro team has been redistributed to other teams within Apple. Some former Vision Pro team members are working on Siri, which is not a surprise as Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell has been leading the Siri team since March 2025.
There have been mixed rumors about a new Vision Pro over the last couple of years, with Apple rumored to be working on a lighter-weight Vision Air that's much cheaper, but the project was stopped last year. If Apple finds a way to create a much cheaper, more comfortable VR headset in the future, the Vision Pro line could be revived, but right now, the company has no plans to launch a new model. Apple has not discontinued the Vision Pro and is continuing to sell the M5 model.
Instead of continuing to experiment with virtual reality, Apple is working on smart glasses that will eventually incorporate augmented reality capabilities, but the first version will be similar to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with AI and no integrated display.
Apple has not been able to use the technology developed for the Vision Pro in its smart glasses because that tech draws too much power for a smaller, lighter device.
Article Link: Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop
Apple$
macrumors 6502a
I tried it in store, the demo was mindblowing amazing, but not $5000 CAD amazing. I'd rather put that money towards a 98" 4K TV for approx half the price on sale.
Given that the profit on those rumoured 600k units sold won’t have covered 1/20th of the rumoured development cost it’s not exactly a success yet is it?
I don't get why Apple didn't launch the Vision Pro as a "Hobby" like they did with the original Apple TV. It is clearly a niche device that will take time to get it right. The fact that they pushed it like it was the next iPhone doomed it by setting expectations way too high.
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.
Really hope John Ternus find another solution for this product because tim this product should been never release if they want release should be next year with price $2k and using own chip instead using M chip
terrapinjess
macrumors regular
Love the idea of the product and all but that price is just not consumer friendly in these times of inflation, especially with that orange bafoon at the helm. Timing was a bit off and it has too many things working against it, rather than with it. 😕
I work right next door to an Apple store and I see it in there all the time and I still haven’t tried it or even held one. The lack of support and buzz screams, “what’s the point?”
I work right next door to an Apple store and I see it in there all the time and I still haven’t tried it or even held one. The lack of support and buzz screams, “what’s the point?”
People are responding to this like visionOS and the whole immersive, 'spatial' computing pathway for Apple is going away. I think all this means is Vision Pro v1 and v1.1 are no longer being developed...the next thing is.
Sallah
macrumors newbie
I don’t know what your definition of a “really nice home theater setup,” but you’re not getting one for $3500. That’s MAYBE the cost of the TV, maybe if you get a good sale.
Secondly, the AVP will produce a $1M home theater environment. You literally feel like you’re in a movie theater. Just for the movie watching experience, the $3500 value is already there. But it offers way more.
For Apple Care, you can bundle it into AppleCare One, which is $20 for 3 Apple products, including the AVP.
And Meta Quest is straight trash compared to the AVP. You get what you pay for.
I’d say the 3D TV never offered a compelling upgrade in experience at any price.
If the Vision Pro was £200 they’d have sold
Millions of units. The product is good but is not good value (usefulness) for money.
Apple either need to make it much more useful, this is hard to envisage in the short term. Or make it much more affordable.
A vision air could be a compelling product, strip out all unnecessary bloat.
And that's the only compelling use case. All of the "spatial computing" stuff is nonsense. Get rid of the spatial computing stuff and unnecessary hardware, shrink the device, make it more comfortable, and turn it into an amazing remote screen for entertainment purposes under $1K. That would sell. No one wants "spatial computing". It's silly.
As someone who loves VR, I was very unimpressed with the AVP. Frankly the Quest 3 is 90% of the AVP functionally and is more comfortable. The Steam Frame is what the AVP should have been. Comfortable, lightweight, no brick needed, with the full MacOS desktop in augmented reality. The obsession with building an Apple Watch/iPad operating system for the AVP was a colossal misstep. That said, the hand and eye tracking interaction model was brilliantly executed.
I haven't tried one myself so I really can't judge, but I feel like I already expose myself to more screen time than I probably should. The idea of literally tying a screen to my face doesn't appeal to me.
hansmoleman
macrumors regular
The shame of it is the *software* is damn brilliant.
It's honestly what the macOS Liquid Glass interface should look like.
The windowing, the transparency, the buttons etc are all drop-dead gorgeous on visionOS.
If macOS 27 would just adopt that, they could can visionOS and yet salvage the good bits.
It's honestly what the macOS Liquid Glass interface should look like.
The windowing, the transparency, the buttons etc are all drop-dead gorgeous on visionOS.
If macOS 27 would just adopt that, they could can visionOS and yet salvage the good bits.
Not without precedent. See: iPhone mini, Mac Pro (Apple Silicon), iPhone Plus (though it had 3 generations), MacBook 12"
WWDC is not that far away. The last couple years there was decent investment into VisionOS. I guess we'll see if that pace has been pulled back.
AstroRob
macrumors member
This is truly disappointing news as this device really did take a huge swing and does create a truly magical experience.
What people who haven't used it (or other VR headsets) can't really appreciate is what a game-changer it was to have 4K OLED panels in a consumer device. Watching a movie in AVP (especially a 3D movie) is truly a theatrical experience on the headset compared to the same experience on a low-contrast LCD Quest. You can just get lost in the movie as it fills your vision the way it only can in a theater.
Likewise it's virtual monitor capability is striking, but mainly if you have a use case for an extra-wide monitor.
From my vantage point it is very depressing that Apple made the choice of entering this market at the "Pro" level first. Meta totally understood that the way to make the ecosystem work was to get as many headsets out there as possible, probably even selling them at a loss.
The fact that Apple invested so much effort in the experience for other people in the room was dumbfounding to me. I don't know how much the retail price could have been reduced by eliminating the front-facing display and crystal screen, but having a unit with the full OLED experience at a price point $500 - $1000 lower would have doubtlessly drawn in a great many curious folk who just couldn't justify the full pro laptop price.
The other thing that I think Apple missed was the importance of fully immersive experiences for the target market. Hiding from the VR aspect and focusing only on productivity was hugely unexciting.
And as anyone who has used other VR headsets knows, there are whole classes of VR apps that could never have been ported without controllers, but waiting over a year to offer the PSVR2 controller option was a complete loss as that late in the game no developer was going to even bother.
If Apple had just tried to quickly follow up with a cheaper model I think they could have established a real footprint in this new space.
What people who haven't used it (or other VR headsets) can't really appreciate is what a game-changer it was to have 4K OLED panels in a consumer device. Watching a movie in AVP (especially a 3D movie) is truly a theatrical experience on the headset compared to the same experience on a low-contrast LCD Quest. You can just get lost in the movie as it fills your vision the way it only can in a theater.
Likewise it's virtual monitor capability is striking, but mainly if you have a use case for an extra-wide monitor.
From my vantage point it is very depressing that Apple made the choice of entering this market at the "Pro" level first. Meta totally understood that the way to make the ecosystem work was to get as many headsets out there as possible, probably even selling them at a loss.
The fact that Apple invested so much effort in the experience for other people in the room was dumbfounding to me. I don't know how much the retail price could have been reduced by eliminating the front-facing display and crystal screen, but having a unit with the full OLED experience at a price point $500 - $1000 lower would have doubtlessly drawn in a great many curious folk who just couldn't justify the full pro laptop price.
The other thing that I think Apple missed was the importance of fully immersive experiences for the target market. Hiding from the VR aspect and focusing only on productivity was hugely unexciting.
And as anyone who has used other VR headsets knows, there are whole classes of VR apps that could never have been ported without controllers, but waiting over a year to offer the PSVR2 controller option was a complete loss as that late in the game no developer was going to even bother.
If Apple had just tried to quickly follow up with a cheaper model I think they could have established a real footprint in this new space.
It is actually the best product Apple ever released, i love it. When Using these Tips
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:
1) i added the pressure reducing annapro headstrap
2) i got rid of the facial interface
This way the screen hovers in front of my eyes while still seeing my surroundings. This makes me feel less isolated, in other words I am staying much more in contact with my surroundings compared to using the facial interface which shuts me off from the surroundings. With this pressure reducing (it removes most of it) strap the AVP does no longer feel too heavy and I have no pressure weighing on my face. I love it. Also it gives a much larger Field of View (It gets rid of the binocular feel);
I use it daily. Also using it in 2D mode, placing 2D screens in front of me in the air watching “flat” screens which is way better then using it in VR mode. I think it is the best apple product ever (No joke) provided applying modification steps 1 and 2. I would feel very sad if they discontinue the avp. I advise Apple could buy Annapro, include their pressure reducing head strap and completely loose the facial interface. Then reduce the price a little and then I assure you it will skyrocket.
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Techwatcher
macrumors 65816
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.
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.
This didn't work for Meta. Apple was smart to at least not lose so much money on it.
AstroRob
macrumors member
I also had to say I'm so frustrated with the amount of focus on "AVP" vs "AR glasses."
The two have vastly different purposes and utilities and while AVP is still an amazing product to me, I seriously doubt I will ever use a pair of AR Glasses from Apple or anyone else.
The immersion of VR is magical to me, data overlays and constant spying on everyone around me just aren't things I think I need or want.
It should always have been "and" between these two categories, not "or."
The two have vastly different purposes and utilities and while AVP is still an amazing product to me, I seriously doubt I will ever use a pair of AR Glasses from Apple or anyone else.
The immersion of VR is magical to me, data overlays and constant spying on everyone around me just aren't things I think I need or want.
It should always have been "and" between these two categories, not "or."