Gurman: Apple Could Release $2,000 'Apple Vision' Headset Next Year

[Newbee2025]

Glad to see the project won’t be abandoned by apple if this is true that a low end version is in the works.

I think this product died as soon as it was released however I got mine for all the 3d movies and I think the immersion content is excellent but such a new category that it’s such a small tease for now.

Why are more movie titles not in 3d yet? Seems odd that apple releases such a potentially great product yet falls short on content for it. All the titles on iTunes that supported 3d releases should already be available yet maybe 5% or less are.

This is one reason folks have claimed this to be a failed apple product.

 

[Dadcelo]

This does look insanely priced on the surface, but keeping in mind that most folding phones *start* at $1800 without tax…
Yeah, this is a folding phone that can unfold to 120+ inches, not from six to eight.

I just got an amazing Moto Razr+ 2024 for $899 so not sure where "most folding phones *start* at $1800" comes from.

 

[CBlakeston]

MR claimed in a previous VR article, that nobody reads VR articles and it wasn't worth their time writing them. However, this VP article has more comments than all other articles since the last VP article. So nobody is reading the articles but everyone is commenting whereas all the non VP articles are being read by everyone but far less is commenting. Perhaps clicking on an article doesn't mean you actually read it. Perhaps commenting on the article means you did read it.

That’s funny 😅

 

[CBlakeston]

Glad to see the project won’t be abandoned by apple if this is true that a low end version is in the works.

I think this product died as soon as it was released however I got mine for all the 3d movies and I think the immersion content is excellent but such a new category that it’s such a small tease for now.

Why are more movie titles not in 3d yet? Seems odd that apple releases such a potentially great product yet falls short on content for it. All the titles on iTunes that supported 3d releases should already be available yet maybe 5% or less are.

This is one reason folks have claimed this to be a failed apple product.

There’s like 200+ movies in 3D? Some never available in this quality and format before to watch at home. They just don’t make movies in 3D much any more as the craze burnt out. But of what there is, the VP has the biggest selection as far as I can tell.

 

[CBlakeston]

I just got an amazing Moto Razr+ 2024 for $899 so not sure where "most folding phones *start* at $1800" comes from.

I spent £3500 on my last TV. Nvidia sell graphics cards for £2000. The price is just the price for cutting edge tech. I think what people are missing is this was never going to be the nas market versus just like it’s the MacBook Air most people buy not the Mac Pro.

 

[CBlakeston]

I think it's safe to say that this is going the way of the HomePod and AppleTV hardware - soon to be forgotten by Apple and everyone else but us enthusiasts with some weak low-cost updates every few years. HomePod, AppleTV, and Vision Pro all have the same problem in that they ignore the Apple formula of take what the competition did and make it way better. None of those products are better than the competition and lack the "Apple Magic"/polish expected.

The Apple TV was released in 2007 and a new one is imminent. It’s not exactly forgotten about. A new home pod with a screen is imminent. Just because they don’t sell like the iPhone doesn’t mean they’re not a thing.

I don’t get this binary - has to be the next iPhone or it’s a failure - thinking.

 

[CBlakeston]

$599 in 2007 is equivalent to $911 today. You also got yourself the flagship and not a second tier phone, but I don’t know why this is relevant to VPro.

Because of the context at the time everyone bought phones on subsidies for very low cost per month or generally free. Apple entered a market that gave you the phone for free and charged £600 a mark up of 600% from free if I got the math right.

 

[CBlakeston]

And it would most likely last less than an hour unless you also used the AVP battery pack, as that is 9498mAh vs the iPhone 16 Pro Max 4685mAh, assuming my search gave correct results. Either way, the largest iPhone battery is much smaller than the AVP external battery, so with the additional hardware plus iPhone it shouldn't get anywhere near the AVP result with a larger battery, and the AVP itself is only advertised as 2 hours (though I see some reviews say it lasts a bit longer).

They could make a combo work well as the tech progresses, but having tried the old "Cardboard VR" software, it is a bit of a pain tying up your phone as a VR device. A plugin headset would be much less cumbersome than trying to use the iPhone screen as your display like Cardboard did, but would still be an extra load on the CPU and a drain on the battery. The CPU will likely be sufficient soon (although there is also a R1 VR chip in the AVP that I expect is important to include), well before the battery, and once they both improve enough an add-on headset would be great, but the whole display paradigm may change and a headset might seem archaic (or a phone). We are barely out of the horse and buggy stage with VR so it is hard to say exactly where it will go (or if it will go mainstream, at least anytime remotely soon).

That’s a great point but comparing the phone in cardboard to an AVP is like comparing an Atari 2600 to a modern Mac and saying- I tried a computer with a screen once. The experiences are fundamentally different.

When you use your phone with car play it doesn’t tie your phone up. I suspect that’s what a cheaper version would work like. Just be a wireless display you wear while the phone does the work.

 

[svish]

Don't think it will have many takers even at around $2000

 

[coolfactor]

Exactly. I wouldn't call $2000 "more affordable". It would still be a high-priced luxury item. I expected Apple to eventually get the Vision Pro down to that price.

The Vision "Pro" will always be higher-priced. It's not the consumer version.

A non-Pro model is coming.

But the technology is not cheap. I wouldn't expect anything lower that $1600 USD.

 

[coolfactor]

Give it up, Apple... you aren't making 'Vision Pro' or 'VR' happen to a mass market.

Think Bigger.

It's not just about the finished product. The research and development plays into the advancement of technology as a whole. This is why they started with a Pro version... to break the mold, find out what works, allow the tech to cheapen, and then a consumer model is far more feasible.

They just could not have scaled from a Consumer model to the Pro model. They would have been laughed out of the park, since the market was already defined.

 

[lilkwarrior]

Think Bigger.

It's not just about the finished product. The research and development plays into the advancement of technology as a whole. This is why they started with a Pro version... to break the mold, find out what works, allow the tech to cheapen, and then a consumer model is far more feasible.

They just could not have scaled from a Consumer model to the Pro model. They would have been laughed out of the park, since the market was already defined.

A market with the leader being Meta, a mass market price loss leader who is losing 14 billion dollar year selling hardware at unrealistic prices offset by their advertising dollars to squat on the device category indefinitely.

Apple hasn’t had a foothold in the mainstream market use cases for this device category; on the other hand they have far more success and trust with prosumers—especially in major tech cities where the demand for an actual realistic prosumer option hasn’t materialized yet as far as standalone headsets.

The Meta headsets don’t even have HDR FFS.

 

[lilkwarrior]

This was Tim’s product and rumoured he rushed this to market.

I don’t recall seeing any promotion of it since its release. Very surprising by Apple to seemingly just launch it and ignore it.

Even $2,000 is still too much - who are they trying to reach?

It’s a prosumer product: Did you see mainstream ads for the Pro Display XDR, Mac Pro, Mac Studio, and so on. No.

So why an entry in the most expensive and exclusionary computing platform in the world?

 

[meady100]

Is “inessential” even a word? :-/

 

[lilkwarrior]

Is “inessential” even a word? :-/

…Search engines give you very clear answers about that

 

[CBlakeston]

Don't think it will have many takers even at around $2000

Because Apple don’t sell many MacBook Pros that start at $2000?

 

[CBlakeston]

It’s a prosumer product: Did you see mainstream ads for the Pro Display XDR, Mac Pro, Mac Studio, and so on. No.

So why an entry in the most expensive and exclusionary computing platform in the world?

People just want to hate on something that’s new and they don’t quite understand yet. There’s some revisionist history in this thread. The original iPhone did not launch to rapturous applause. If you go back and read the reviews they were brutal. It was too expensive, too bulky, didn’t do much and didn’t have many apps. Does that sound familiar? It’s the standard review every new Apple product gets. 😀

 

[BlueParadox]

The Apple TV was released in 2007 and a new one is imminent. It’s not exactly forgotten about. A new home pod with a screen is imminent. Just because they don’t sell like the iPhone doesn’t mean they’re not a thing.

I don’t get this binary - has to be the next iPhone or it’s a failure - thinking.

Thanks for your firsthand and very relatable experiences with the Vision Pro.

Can I ask what storage model you have, and did you include Apple Care+ with your AVP purchase?

 

[thatsmyfish]

Can anyone even use headsets like these for longer than 15-20 minutes? I've bought a couple over the years and ultimately always returned them. Could just be me but short of the occasional game or maybe movie something like this even if really high quality just doesn't seem practical for day to day work use.

I used my Vision Pro for over ten hours yesterday. I stopped because it had been ten hours. I could have easily worn it longer. I used the strap that came with it.

 

[thatsmyfish]

So tired of the negativity in these comments. The same rant on every AVP post. Feels like Steve Ballmer trashing everything Apple tries. Yikes.

100%. Fanboys whining that it needs to be $99 and Steve has to personally call and get them to buy it. Top comment said it better include a case. Comment a few up from this one says there are zero use cases. None. In other words, it’s a paperweight and hundreds of thousands of us haven’t realized it yet. It’s so heavy it can’t get used for more than a few seconds, even though I used it for ten hours yesterday with the strap that came with it.

Apple Watch 0 sold like garbage. The people saying they will never buy one will look like the whiners who insisted the iPad was a heavy fad with no use case when future models come out, and by then there will be a new product to hate. It’s cyclical.

Of course it’s possible the product line could be cut, but this is the direction Apple is going in, so it could of course take a turn, go with glasses or contacts at some point, but this will still happen. Apple doesn’t need to build a car to get into cars. It will build a wearable device to get into immersion.

 

[thatsmyfish]

Thanks for your firsthand and very relatable experiences with the Vision Pro.

Can I ask what storage model you have, and did you include Apple Care+ with your AVP purchase?

Oh are we doing a poll? 256gb, yes.

 

[CBlakeston]

Thanks for your firsthand and very relatable experiences with the Vision Pro.

Can I ask what storage model you have, and did you include Apple Care+ with your AVP purchase?

256GB. Still thinking about apple care. I may well go for the £25 a month option just to be safe. It is something I’m travelling around with. Feel free to ask any specific questions.

 

[CBlakeston]

Was it worth $3500 just for this? No, but it sure is fun 😂

Don't know if this pic will load, but I’m watching Tron in the bathroom. Lol

 

[webkit]

Apple should obviously engage in a profitless race to the bottom. Just give away their stuff for free because that’s what had clearly worked so well for Android.

Giving away stuff for "free" or low cost is not necessarily a bad business model as long as it helps get or keep people in an ecosystem, drives usage or purchase of other related products/services, etc. Just as Android is given to phone makers for free, Apple's CarPlay is given to automakers for free.

 

[webkit]

I need to check my calendar, but I don’t think 2026 is “next year”.

"Next year" is referring to a new lower end non-Pro Apple Vision. 2026 is referring to a second generation Apple Vision Pro.