Vision Pro Future Uncertain as All Headset Development Is Seemingly Paused

[winder99]

What actual data are you using beyond rumors, leaks and speculation to refute what the article is saying?

I'm skeptical of the article for the reasons I stated.

It means something that these stories are popping up.

An insatiable media looking for a horse race to drive clicks?

[ Vision OS and Spatial computing are here to stay]

That is in no way whatsoever a given.

Whatsoever? I disagree. It's a given that:

- Apple has several products in development in the Vision product line (this is not a rumor, this is confirmed by interviews with Mike Rockwell and/or John Ternus and/or Tim Cook)

- Supply chains take several years to plan, and orders have been placed with suppliers to prepare for at least two models of glasses, one with and one without a display, and three models of headsets (M5, Vision Air, and Vision Pro 2). Whether these release on time or get cancelled remain to be seen, but clearly they exist and are being planned for.

- Vision Pro M2 will be in support given Apple's typical 6 year timeline, until early 2030.

- Vision Pro M5 is likely imminent before the end of 2025, given the FCC filing. That brings us to late 2031.

 

[winder99]

I'm looking forward to someday using a (perhaps future) AVP letting me explore (as if I were there) 20,000+ year old cave paintings in Lascaux, France. Or perhaps wandering around the Louvre.

The possibilities are endless for those who are curious and have a healthy imagination.

And even better, there are apps that approximate this today (Museas, Explore POV, Mindscapes, etc.) though the sky is the limit on their improvement.

 

[Mr_Ed]

So if people really think Apple would spend billions and years on a next level OS and drop the whole thing because of 1 hardware iteration (that they know is insanely expensive) then they are kind of crazy. Dropping a “speaker” or a charging mat is one thing, dropping an OS.. Apple doesn’t do things like that ever.

Didn’t they drop the “Apple Car” (for lack of actual product name) after years of effort and heavy investment, after 0 iterations? If that doesn’t qualify as “next level OS” effort, I don’t know what does, yet it got dropped.

I don’t fault any business that decides to cut their losses due to their own analysis of future market expectations and risks. Some of us are baffled that Apple’s analysis didn’t show the AVP in its present form, should have been shelved, and internal R&D iteration continued instead. Imagine how much further along the path to glasses they might have been.

 

[turbineseaplane]

- Apple has several products in development in the Vision product line (this is not a rumor, this is confirmed by interviews with Mike Rockwell and/or John Ternus and/or Tim Cook)

When?

That's pretty relevant here.

Supply chains take several years to plan, and orders have been placed with suppliers to prepare for at least two models of glasses, one with and one without a display, and three models of headsets (M5, Vision Air, and Vision Pro 2). Whether these release on time or get cancelled remain to be seen, but clearly they exist and are being planned for.

That stuff gets cancelled and changed all the time.

If the plans change, so do the Orders and Apple is well known for ensuring contractual leverage on their supply chain orders.

- Vision Pro M2 will be in support given Apple's typical 6 year timeline, until early 2030.

- Vision Pro M5 is likely imminent before the end of 2025, given the FCC filing. That brings us to late 2031.

This has nothing to do with anything moving forward on new models.

Your post is ultimately a lot based upon known existing/upcoming models, information and desires that predate the rumors and information from what we are discussing in this thread.

I fully understand that you don't want the future of product line to be in jeopardy.

 

[inlvnv]

Oh boy, another Apple Vision Pro is dead rumor thread. Long live the AVP.

Samsung Galaxy XR headset is expected to be released this year, likely this month with price tag between $1,800 and $3,000, so I’m looking forward to comparison reviews and what new things it can do.

As for me, I’m happy with my AVP. Watching 4k movies, 3D, VR and insta360 videos streaming from my plex server, as well as watching live TV have been such an amazing experience that I decided not to upgrade my 65” TV to a larger screen. Working in Mac virtual display is another great feature, and I love surfing the net and watching YouTube in extra large safari screen. Viewing up to 70 year old family photos in spatial format has been absolutely satisfying; so much more details you can see and seem so real.

No issue with weight using a $20 Anna pro type head strap that is comfortable enough that I’ll sit back in my recliner to take a nap while in a night virtual environment staring at moon and stars. Sky Guide app is even better with shooting stars going across the sky.

Would be great if price came down so more people can experience and enjoy this great tech.

 

[Downundermac]

Give me a more affordable, dialed in AVP product over ‘augmented reality’ glasses any day of the week. Tech bro sunglasses feel like the last frontier before implants and therefore 100% unappealing to me 🤣

 

[citysnaps]

Didn’t they drop the “Apple Car” (for lack of actual product name) after years of effort and heavy investment, after 0 iterations? If that doesn’t qualify as “next level OS” effort, I don’t know what does, yet it got dropped.

Apple Car was dropped due to 100% import tariffs imposed on all EVs manufactured in China back in early 2024.

 

[Ghost31]

Yeah, I love my Apple. Vision Pro and I really doubt Apple is so reactionary to slight market pressure that they would abandon a product they sync billions of dollars into just to make some glasses with Siri in it.

Seems like they would just stay the course and see where this product goes. It’s obvious they were going to play the long game anyway. Tim Cook himself said this is a product for early adopters meaning that this is the future.

 

[Ghost31]

I cannot believe so many people are taking this article seriously.
So…um… in 2024 Apple completely paused all development on a second generation AVP… but the FCC within the last two weeks revealed the existence of a second generation AVP likely to be released by the end of the year? OK, so they didn’t cancel it last year.
And work on the more affordable Apple vision Air (which was always expected to release in 2027 or later) was paused, but it’s still likely it might release in 2027 after the glasses? Huh?

The easiest answer is probably the most likely, which is that apple is *both* working on glasses for 2027 and new headsets for 2027, but is unclear how dramatic of a change they will be.
either way, no matter what the product is it will likely be visionOS powering it.

It’s always impossible to navigate the rumors that conflict with other rumors that we get all the time. My own personal theory? Someone heard from someone else that a couple people from the Apple Vision Pro project was going to work on the Apple glasses project for a little bit. That it doesn’t mean anything about Apple Vision Pro slowing down development or pausing at all it’s just a couple people got transferred when there’s probably thousands working on anyway.

 

[vantelimus]

we all agree that its biggest problem is the price, right?
If it wasn’t a fortune, it could have sold in huge numbers.

And apple could afford to bring its price down for a couple of years, just to give AVP momentum…

Just imagine, this device for <1000$

As a portable 10ft curved computer monitor to use with a laptop or desktop–I use mine for multiple hours a day as the primary display on my Mac Studio and have used it around the house and in hotels with my laptop–the Apple Vision Pro is worth the price. Cue the pixel-counting naysayers, who can quote pixel densities, color gamuts, etc., while ignoring that the Vision Pro provides a superior display experience for 99.999% of actual users, as opposed to the handful of specheads who care about measurable differences 5 sigma beyond normal human sensory perception.

 

[bmark]

Apple Visionless Pro continues to be paperweight like usual!

 

[citysnaps]

It’s always impossible to navigate the rumors that conflict with other rumors that we get all the time. My own personal theory? Someone heard from someone else that a couple people from the Apple Vision Pro project was going to work on the Apple glasses project for a little bit. That it doesn’t mean anything about Apple Vision Pro slowing down development or pausing at all it’s just a couple people got transferred when there’s probably thousands working on anyway.

An excellent assessment. And makes a lot of sense.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Apple Car was dropped due to 100% import tariffs imposed on all EVs manufactured in China back in early 2024.

We've covered this before. Your timeline is inaccurate.

 

[Ctrlos]

Something priced the same as a Mac Pro should be marketed as such. There are so many incredible opportunities in education, industry and health for Vision Pro. Apple need to kill it as a consumer entertainment product and sell accordingly.

Chasing Meta on the glasses is a little short sighted (lol) The Displays are essentially an Apple Watch for your face at 3 times the price and double the hardware. Impressive tech but no problems to solve.

I bet they’d sell more than a few hundred thousand of a scaled down Vision Pro that was just a big display for a MacBook, tethered by USB-C. A competitor to the X-Real Airs.

 

[citysnaps]

We've covered this before. Your timeline is inaccurate.

No, it's not.

1) In late 2023 from discussions between Biden and others in government it became clear a 100% import tariff would be imposed by the US govt. on Chinese EV imports in 2024.

2) Apple, recognizing the upcoming consequences of such a huge tariff cancelled their car project in February 2024.

3) The US govt. officially imposed the tariff in May 2024.

 

[platinumaqua]

If true: Vision Pro's last gasp is dragging the rest of the lineup's UI down with it by the visionOS inspired (based on the reports posted earlier in the year) Liquid Glass

 

[Mr_Ed]

Apple Car was dropped due to 100% import tariffs imposed on all EVs manufactured in China back in early 2024.

If this were true, it does not in any way counter what I said about companies cutting their losses in the part of my comment that you conveniently excluded.

But on your point regarding tariffs, I’ll just leave here what I posted about it back in March. Want to guess who I was replying to back then about the tariffs argument?

I’ve seen posts similar to this related to the Apple car, and I see couple of issues with this line of thinking.

1. IIRC, Apple announced the fate of their car project around Feb ‘24, but was likely cancelled well before that. The Biden administration announced 100% tariffs impacting Chinese vehicles almost two months later. The timeline is off.
2. Any corporation investing in pretty much anything first undergoes a risk analysis process where risks are identified and analyzed across multiple aspects of the business. A critical part of that process involves risk mitigation. I have to believe that for a multi-national corporation like Apple, something like changing political or tariff environment is an easy risk to identify and mitigate, since they probably deal with this all the time across their product lines.

I’ve had my doubts about Apple’s decision-making of late, but I seriously doubt Apple would have put all their EV eggs in a Chinese basket if even a rudimentary level of risk analysis was conducted. There were probably multiple reasons, likely including technological challenges, behind their decision to cancel the car project. Given where they seem to be on the AI front, I feel technology was the bigger factor. My $.02

 

[turbineseaplane]

If true: Vision Pro's last gasp is dragging the rest of the lineup's UI down with it by the visionOS inspired (based on the reports posted earlier in the year) Liquid Glass

What a great point!!

They've canned (or at the minimum paused) the product which this all new awful UI is "inspired by".

UGH.

 

[turbineseaplane]

If this were true, it does not in any way counter what I said about companies cutting their losses in the part of my comment that you conveniently excluded.

But on your point regarding tariffs, I’ll just leave here what I posted about it back in March. Want to guess who I was replying to back then about the tariffs argument?

I'd missed that post (or forgotten about it). Excellent.

There's no way at all the Apple Car cancellation was a tariff decision, not at all.
Like zero chance.

I can't even believe that's being suggested.

 

[smulji]

There are so many incredible opportunities in education, industry and health for Vision Pro. Apple need to kill it as a consumer entertainment product and sell accordingly

That's exactly the strategy Microsoft took with their HoloLens product and we know how that ended. It's in the trash bin of history

 

[Virinprew]

I guess you could say Apple has lost its vision...

 

[Ethosik]

That's not Tim's Apple and won't be, unfortunately.

To me iPhone should come in just two models: a slightly thinner than iPhone 17 named "iPhone" and a thicker than iPhone 17 Pro named "iPhone Ultra". Only Ultra would have camera control (without touch functionality) renamed QuickSnap aimed at quickly taking photos and videos from within any app—the user could choose for a single press to open the camera app (before pressing again to take a photo) or have that single press both open the camera app and snap an initial photo, a half-press would show the user a peek through the lens (QuickView) where letting go exits this view. Both models would come in three sizes: 5.6", 6.2", 6.8" without numbering or sub-naming. Simple, clean lineup of iPhones that would please most people.

The foldable phone would follow a similar naming convention: Apple Fold (medium size), Apple Fold Ultra (big and powerful).

In a similar vein the iPad Air should not exist—divide and conquer.

Correction: That is not how a publicly traded company will ever operate.

Those markets (Macs, iPhone, Watch, iPad etc) are all mature products. Apple Silicon already happened. SSDs already happened. There won't be another major revolutionary change to these for a VERY long time. Therefore, their lines won't increase every quarter, therefore, shareholders won't be happy. What makes them happy is hopping on bandwagons like AI (as a protective measure), and getting in to new markets like Vision Pro (new growth potential).

A foldable phone won't make a major difference.

 

[Ethosik]

Thanks. I definitely get the gaming angle. With respect to software development, I think the Mac platform has come a long way. Even Visual Studio is available on the Mac now. I'm not in software development but the majority of developers I know use Macs.

That is no longer the case. Microsoft abandoned Visual Studio for Mac. You can get VC Code, but that is entirely different. I use Rider now for macOS.

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple should receive government subsides for driving innovation.

Apple should PAY government for its record profits and its immense power in market manipulation. Oh and it’s fair share of corporate taxes.

 

[deconstruct60]

I'd like to see Apple make a headset the size of the Bigscreen Beyond, since it's much much smaller and lighter than the AVP but achieves some of the same experience, and maintains the "immersion" of a full seal around the eyes, but to be a proper replacement for the AVP, it would need cameras and its own processor, which the Beyond doesn't have. Apparently Apple decided not to make such a device, maybe because even goggles are somewhat clumsy, and that's why they're now focusing on glasses.

If old reports are accurate:
Mostly Jony Ive killed that long ago ( Cook didn't over rule him, but Ive was 'master taste maker' . The "Cook is the whole problem" haters will push the whole problem for his non veto. ) . An article from 2020.

" ... According to the report, Apple CEO Tim Cook ultimately sided with Ive, who didn't want Apple promoting technology that would take people out of the real world. As a result, the headset no longer communicates with a separate hub, making graphics unlikely to be as good as they might have been, and download speeds potentially slower. ..."

Bloomberg: Apple's AR/VR Gaming Headset Plans Altered By Internal Divisions

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman this morning filed a story detailing the internal divisions at Apple that led it to change the course of its AR and VR headset development. Specifically, the report covers disagreements between former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Mike Rockwell, the executive...

forums.macrumors.com

Apple had a solution that (in same article linked. )

"... 301 was initially designed to be an ultra-powerful system, with graphics and processing speeds previously unheard of for a wearable product. The processing capabilities were so advanced—and produced so much heat—that the technology couldn’t be crammed into a sleek headset. Instead, Rockwell’s team planned to sell a stationary hub, which in prototype form resembled a small Mac, that would connect to the headset with a wireless signal. In Rockwell’s early version, the headset would also be able to operate in a less-powerful independent mode. ..."

Wouldn't be hard to extend that short range wireless tethered hub to a device that actually was a Mac. (or even make it wired ... The Ive driven design politburo is very anti wires so that likely would have been squashed as an option.)


something the is pargmatically really just an external display, I serious doubt Apple wants to do. Maybe two display docking stations ( XDR and Studio Display) but some wide variety of niche external displays is something that Apple his highly likely just leaving as a 3rd party opportunity.