Apple Stops Work on Lighter Vision Pro to Fast-Track AI Smart Glasses

[CrysisDeu]

Tim Cook turns 65 this year. He needed a halo product to mark his legacy. Apple was betting on high risk, high reward. They loaded Vision Pro with tech with the hopes competitors wouldn't be able to match it. While that was true, Apple failed to realize people don't want to be loners wearing a headset with no killer app.

The Apple advantage no one can match was their ecosystem, and Vision pro has none of that. Okay, none was probably too much, but the most important ones are not there.

For one: they don’t even mirror iPhone automatically when you look at your iPhone and expect pass through to work instead.

 

[Rychiar]

Why the hell can’t a high value company do both Jesus . The glasses practically design themselves and shoulda been made years ago if there not even gotta copy the display ones 🙄🙄

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Crazy how ahead of the curve Google Glass was. I wonder why Sundar doesn't have his people dusting that project off.

 

[JPack]

Why the hell can’t a high value company do both Jesus . The glasses practically design themselves and shoulda been made years ago if there not even gotta copy the display ones 🙄🙄

Because anybody who works in project management knows when leadership says a project is being "shelved" or "paused," the project is actually dead.

The only reason those words are used are for morale and optics. Nobody wants to hear they spent a couple years of their life on a dead end project or that leadership made a mistake.

 

[Sputman99]

Well putting a giant heavy display on the front was a stupid idea to begin with

 

[dumastudetto]

This the same source that said there wouldn't be any AirPods updates this year?

Bloomberg is not reliable.

He did say previously they could come out in 2025 and so he was kinda right.

 

[bLackjackj]

Once again, Apple plays follow he leader. In front of the camera's Tim says we go at our own pace and behind the cameras,..its a mad dash plugging all the holes and continually moving staff to various projects to rush to market as Apple fall behind. The failed Car, AI, Glasses,..the buck stops with TIM.

 

[kiranmk2]

If this is true, what was the point of the Vision Pro? Why release a headset priced beyond the means of most potential buyers if you're not committed it its future? And what does it say about Apple that it's now basically just chasing after any idea its rivals come up with, like folding phones and glasses that can record things?

I can't help shake the feeling that the AR glasses team at Apple was told they had to release a product within 3 years to justify their existance and they diverted into VR. Remember all through the late 2010s Tim Cook always played down VR and said their was more opportunity in AR, but then Apple launch a VR headset...

I think it's likely that Apple was trying to develop a set of all-singing, all dancing AR glasses, complete with transparent displays the size of the lenses, eye tracking and more, but the tech just wasn't there. Meta has basically created a simple system with basic compute, camera, microphone and speakers, supplemented by AI which is seeing rapidly increasing sales and has actually surprised people by getting a second generation with a sinple display and wrist-control out very quickly, catching Apple napping, to the point where we are potentially still 18 months away from the non-display Apple glasses. By that point, who knows where Meta, or other companies will be in this product category.

 

[deconstruct60]

Plot twist: perhaps the next Vision Pro will be shoe-horned to fit into the abandoned Vision Air form factor.

How do you shoehorn into a form factor that doesn’t exist yet ?

The current Vision Pro basic form factor exists. The headband was a modular replacement in the first place. A new circuit board with updated chips does require hanrdy any “product design” contributions at all .
The “Air” thing does require lots of product external design of the basic chassis.

Some clone of the Meta Ray-bans does not need huge product design either. There are hundreds of existing eyeglass frames out there . The design team doesn’t have to go off wandering on a dream quest as to what should go into the design.

Make the rims/frame incrementally thicker to hold battery and stuff the rough equivalent of some AirPods in there . And basically almost done. Pull a small selfie camera from an old phone and put into the temple area . There is no display. Most compute can be pushed to watch or phone.


Apple isn’t coming for Meta Display. It is the version that has been out for a long while now .

 

[klasma]

Crazy how ahead of the curve Google Glass was. I wonder why Sundar doesn't have his people dusting that project off.

They are working on it: https://blog.google/products/android/android-xr-gemini-glasses-headsets/

 

[Corefile]

It feels like Apple are just running in random directions some of the time. Do they even have a business strategy? Tim Apple, what will YOU be doing in five years time?

 

[stlredbird]

The least surprising news i’ve heard all day.

 

[zenmacx]

Finally a move from Apple that makes sense.

Vision Pro has been a train wreck from the start. There's no killer app, it's expensive, and most importantly, it failed the social acceptance test. Nobody wants to walk around wearing scuba goggles. A lighter version of Vision Pro still has the same problems - hip battery back, loner experience, lack of social acceptance. Nobody wants to pay $1,999 for that.

Glasses are at least socially acceptable.

Point well taken. Being socially acceptable is key.

Potential buyers reluctance or downright refusal to adopt Vision Pro reveals several shortcomings of the device.

Living in a world of abundance for those with large financial reserves, very few have chosen to purchase and advocate for Vision Pro. Others in the mainstream demographic that purchase lots of Apple products have largely forgotten about VP.

Those who have enjoyed the novelty like many of their other toys, cast them aside once the newness wore off.

Glasses are another matter, and now that Meta has primed the market Apple has taken notice and responded. Time will tell how these are accepted.

 

[deconstruct60]

I love my Vision Pro but AR glasses with two displays running a version of VisionOS are much more likely to be a bigger hit with consumers than goggles that make you look like a dork when wearing them outside of your home ever will be.

Two displays likely will not be “glasses” anymore. The weight+battery trade off will likely limit solution yo one , smaller display for foreseeable future .

Most folks don’t even want to wear glasses with ZERO. Electronics/battery weight in them . A single dispaly will always weigh 50% less than two . That weight gap likely will substantially matter.

I do think both have a place and I concur with others who say it’s a trillion dollar company so you can’t sell me that they can’t do both at the same time.

Apple does not have $1T . Apple stockholders collective have that much on paper , but there is no stack of actual money that deep on liquid deposit anywhere at Apple.

Purely throwing money at projects doesn’t make them happen well . The book ‘ Mythical Man Month’ was written several decades ago . It is still basically true now.

 

[klasma]

but the best thing about Vision Pro is watching movies on huge screens in some ways better than your home set up, so with ar glasses you loose the best part of what made Vision Pro good

The market for watching movies with a VR headset on is fairly small, however.

 

[eifelbube]

Damn I was hoping for a version of the Vision Pro that would let me drink from a cup at the same time without the huge headset blocking it...

The real selling point of Vision Pro is the virtual Mac desktop though. It's amazing and a gamechanger!

Although I would appreciate something that could take first-person photos and videos while I do something, like cook food or sports.

I wonder how much lighter and cheaper they could make the AVP, if it just had the virtual Mac desktop function … for $999 and half the weight, I would go for it.

 

[swm]

smart glasses are a broken concept, a nightmare for the logistics side, and probably the most disturbing thing when it comes to privacy. enjoy your retina projected advertisements wherever you go.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yep ... Not surprised in the least.

They are late and lost in the VR & AR space.

But hey, definitely rush out and buy the chip bumped M5 Vision Pro!
💵🔥

 

[turbineseaplane]

So they are already 2 or 3 years behind and haven’t really started yet…

"yes" is the answer, it would appear.

 

[rp2011]

Bad idea. This is not only just a silly niche item, it could quickly turn into a huge liability for Apple. Red Flags all over it. Could even imagine such a product category being banned from all the RED FLAGs scenarios you can think of. Foolish actually, which is why it is associated with Meta.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Why the hell can’t a high value company do both Jesus . The glasses practically design themselves and shoulda been made years ago if there not even gotta copy the display ones 🙄🙄

Just how I feel about the complete disinterest in releasing ANY kind of sub 6" screen iPhone every 3-4 years.

Just SOMETHING for those of us who want & need slightly smaller iPhones.

 

[chars1ub0w]

but the best thing about Vision Pro is watching movies on huge screens in some ways better than your home set up, so with ar glasses you loose the best part of what made Vision Pro good

That's like tell me you're single without telling me you're single.

Let's see. 4 pairs of Vision Pros, one for dad, one for mom, two for the kids. Nah. Vanishingly small market for that.

 

[falainber]

Facebook is only alive due to Facebook Marketplace.
Instagram is slowly cratering and is getting its lunch eaten by TikTok
Whatsapp is only alive due to the difficult nature of moving contacts and groups to another platform.

As soon as a competitor comes up , the lack of loyalty towards meta will destroy its product

That's just wishful thinking on your part. Here is simple fact: Instagram currently has 3 billion monthly active users. Almost dead, right?

 

[falainber]

This is venturing off-topic, but have you actually been to any of those platforms? For one, they're still the most popular because of lack of real true alternatives. But secondly, and more importantly, maybe go check on the predominant demographics, especially for Facebook and Instagram. It's mostly boomers (particularly Facebook), Gen-X, and to some smaller extent older Millennials.

WhatsApp is only popular outside the US because it's the main messaging service in many countries. iMessage (Apple) is not widely used in many countries outside the US, as Apple, in general, is not nearly as popular as inside the US. So, WhatsApp is not exactly popular because people love it. But because people don't particularly have alternatives. And that's not even touching on the fact that WhatsApp was widely used well before Meta has acquired it, so that doesn't exactly have much of anything to do with Meta itself.

So, you explained well why they remain the most popular platforms. What exactly is your point?

 

[richinaus]

AR glasses and headsets do 2 different things. They should exist in parallel rather than making staff jump ship from one to another. Sounds like leadership have no idea what they are doing at Apple. Spatial computing is the future, and glasses are part of this, but not the replacement........