Apple Reportedly Suspends Work on Vision Pro 2

[ninecows]

Fewer features? The only feature I can think of that’s unnecessary is the weird external eye screen

Apple can probably surprise us. Maybe a mono eye version? 😂
I’m imagining low resolution and less immersion. Fewer sensors and cameras. Less field of vision and that you can only interact with it with your hands in front of it. 30 min battery life.

I bet they are having lots of brain storming sessions on how to limit the user experience and make a nice ladder of customization that will lead customers to the conclusion that they need the pro instead.

Basically think AirPods vs AirPods Pro

 

[Kylo83]

That’s so sad, I love it but the fov could be better. I feel the price is the major let down. This means we won’t get anything better than what we have now, this is sad news. It should be £1999 max or even £1499 to sell well. £3499 is way to much for a headset no matter how good it is

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Have you used it? If you dig through my profile, I've called it a meme, laughed about it and was a total non-believer. But then I used it. It's an amazing device and have had the most incredible experiences with technology with it.

I've used it a few times, and it's simply not worth the price. A close of friend of mine owns one and told me he hasn't picked it up since early May...he got bored with it and couldn't find a use case. My cousin owns one too, but he works at the Spaceship.

My buddy and his kids love their Quest, however.

 

[RowellE]

I would like a version that’s made just for watching 3D movies.

 

[MarkDeMoss]

As a Vision Pro user, all I want them to do is release a USB-C Magic Keyboard and trackpad. And hurry up with the dual 4k display.

 

[vertsix]

$2999 is the sweet spot.

If they don't gimp any important feature and upgrade the CPU (a Pro-based M-series chip on it would be cool), add more memory (32GB minimum for Apple Intelligence), and ramp up the display brightness and refresh rate to 120 Hz at least, sure.

I'd say $2499 honestly.

But weight and comfort need to be at the top of the list for improvements for the more affordable and Pro models.

 

[StellarVixen]

I hope they won't start resembling Microsoft, just jumping on a hype for a few years, then the next hype comes along, and then they jump on to that, totally dropping whatever they worked on before.

Apple used to have a vision (no pun intended). Set the path and follow it.

 

[TigerNike23]

Buy a Mac.

Yeah I agree. All I want is a better Files app, and Xcode on iPad with Apple Silicon. I don’t want macOS on there.

 

[Surf Monkey]

If the cheaper version will make Apple way more money then the expensive one then I could see them doing this.

You can’t make any money on a product no one wants.

 

[TigerNike23]

Get rid of that display (that shows the eyes) on the front, and that should easily knock $500-$700 off the price.

 

[hans1972]

Apple needs to make them as spectacles instead of causing a spectacle when you see someone wearing it.

 

[Mr_Ed]

You can’t make any money on a product no one wants.

Still waiting for someone to show me a compelling use case for increased productivity, or basically anything beyond media consumption for the average consumer. It’s a dud, and we didn’t have to “wait for it to come out and actually see it” to know this.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Everyone seems to be focused on price, but any VR/AR headset is a super niche product in search of a problem at any price point. It's not like the Quest2 at $200 is outselling AirPods.

It doesn't matter how technologically advanced it is, it doesn't matter how affordable it is. If it's not a significant improvement with few downsides over whatever people have now, it's not going to sell. And right now, VR/AR does not offer a significant improvement for a plurality of activities and workflows. Where VR/AR does offer a significant improvement, it comes overriding downsides most of the time.

Sure the VR stans will come back with a dozen niche examples of where VR is great. But they never mention the downsides, nor admit how niche those examples are.

 

[satchmo]

I'm curious at what price point will people say, okay I'll take a flyer on this and give it a try.

I almost think it has to hit that $999 price to really get sales volume. Maybe $1299, but not at $1499, it's still too expensive in terms of what you can use it for.

You can buy a very nice iPad Pro for $1299 or MacBook Pro for $1599, both of which are much more productive devices today.

 

[morphineseason]

It's such a perplexing device. I really don't know who it's for. Professionals aren't begging to add VR to their workflow, average consumers don't want an overpriced VR headset when it doesn't have gaming and immersive social experiences at the forefront, and developers don't want to port their apps to a device that nobody owns. There was a small window of time during the pandemic where this might have gained some traction, but they missed that window by a pretty large margin.

 

[iZac]

By the time a cheaper model gets to market, the BoM of the Vision Pro might end up being $750 anyway.

They could literally sit on their hands, wait a year or two and make the same device unapologetically plastic to appear cheaper.

I guess this will be a HopePod situation where they let the original stagnate, make a 'mini' version for much cheaper then try to re-release the more expensive version for people that still want the bells and whistles.

 

[anshuvorty]

…and the backtracking/ultimately canceling of this product begins…now!!!

 

[lordandrei]

I don’t believe that at all. Apple would not cancel a project like this just after launching the first gen product. I’m sure that they will even release a cheaper version along with the successor of the current one.

I wish that were the case. But it has a strong history of discontinuing products and form factors after they didn't launch. The Apple cube is a notable example. Personally as a happy AVP user I hope the line as a whole isn't dead.

 

[Supercyborgninja]

It's so funny how many people in here only are focusing on the money & not the fact this is a means to an end to smart glasses lol.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Apple needs to make them as spectacles instead of causing a spectacle when you see someone wearing it.

Yeah, but that will never happen. The hardware required is too space consuming and many of the required elements have already reached the end of their potential miniaturization. It may get a little smaller but there’s no way it ever gets as small as sunglasses, and that’s central to why it’s bound to fail.

 

[paradox00]

What upgrades were left out that you are referring to?

They have it backwards, not sure where they planned to take that argument. The first gen iPhone had an expensive upfront cost and was missing key features like 3g internet, a good mapping solution, app store, copy and paste, etc.

That's kind of where the Vision Pro is now, with the added wrinkle that it doesn't replace any of the devices you own, so it's an added cost over everything you already buy. It could have run MacOS apps and let you replace a Macbook Air, but Apple's greed got in the way.

 

[omenatarhuri]

Seems like same same as other VR headsets, people just don’t really mean it. No matter how nicely donez

 

[TigerNike23]

Yeah, but that will never happen. The hardware required is too space consuming and many of the required elements have already reached the end of their potential miniaturization. It may get a little smaller but there’s no way it ever gets as small as sunglasses, and that’s central to why it’s bound to fail.

Right, and this is why there were stories of executives being torn on this project.

 

[gatorvet96]

It's not atypical for dramatic strategical changes to happen like this. The price needs to be dropped fast for adoption to become mainstream. Apple did the same* with the iPhone (1st generation) and iPhone 3G.

iPhone (1st generation)'s price was dropped* within months. https://www.macrumors.com/2007/09/05/8gb-iphone-price-drop-4gb-iphone-discontinued/

And iPhone 3G started at $199*. A lot of upgrades were left out for it to focus dropping the price.

* UPDATE: I want to correct and state that the price was subsidized by carriers, but customers saw a decreased upfront cost which was effective in increasing adoption.

To be fair the price of the iPhone at that time was subsidised by Cingular (now AT&T). I remember when they dropped the price I got a rebate from Apple to lessen the sting a bit for those of us who paid higher price. (I fell like it was about $600)

 

[Surf Monkey]

Everyone seems to be focused on price, but any VR/AR headset is a super niche product in search of a problem at any price point. It's not like the Quest2 at $200 is outselling AirPods.

It doesn't matter how technologically advanced it is, it doesn't matter how affordable it is. If it's not a significant improvement with few downsides over whatever people have now, it's not going to sell. And right now, VR/AR does not offer a significant improvement for a plurality of activities and workflows. Where VR/AR does offer a significant improvement, it comes overriding downsides most of the time.

Sure the VR stans will come back with a dozen niche examples of where VR is great. But they never mention the downsides, nor admit how niche those examples are.

Many of us have been saying this from the very beginning. The price is the LEAST of the Vision’s problems. The primary one is that it goes on your face. The next major problem is that it lacks any kind of compelling use case. Then come at least a dozen other serious issues before we even get to price.