It’s always been clear that Vision Pro was simply Apple’s first step into the AR/VR headset world, and that a lower-priced Apple Vision product would follow, but there have so far been mixed reports on when we might expect to see it.
We’ve so far seen reports variously suggesting that the non-Pro Apple Vision headset would launch in 2025, 2026, and 2027 – with the latest of these saying the company is “ramping up” development work …
Lower-priced Apple Vision timings
As recently as October of last year, Bloomberg was reporting that work on the device was on-track, and set to launch “as early as 2025.” Admittedly Mark Gurman’s trademarked phrasing allows for a lot of leeway; any year from 2025 onwards would technically qualify.
Ming-Chi Kuo disagreed shortly afterwards, suggesting that Apple was prioritising an updated version of Vision Pro, and that a lower-cost model had been pushed back to 2027.
By yesterday, Gurman was disagreeing with both Kuo and his own earlier prediction, saying that there’s no sign of an updated Vision Pro in the works, but a more affordable headset isn’t likely until 2026.
What to expect from a non-Pro Apple Vision
Apple will have to tread a careful path in launching a lower-cost model. On the one hand, it absolutely has to bring the price down to a more realistic level for something beyond very niche early-adopter take-up.
On the other hand, it can’t throw away too many of the reasons anyone would opt for an Apple Vision product over any of the existing competitor products, like Meta’s Quest headsets.
EyeSight will be dropped for sure
EyeSight was one of the headline features of Vision Pro, with Apple claiming it had practical benefits in letting people know when a user could see them, as well as psychological advantages in reducing the isolation experienced by someone using the spatial computer.
However, it’s an expensive feature, requiring an additional display, and the evidence is that very few people seem to think it adds much value. Users report that it fails to live up to the marketing materials, and that was very much backed by my own hands-on experience.
For both reasons, it’s safe to expect this to be absent from a lower-cost model.
Lower-resolution displays also a certainty
A much bigger benefit of Vision Pro over lower-cost competitors is the quality of the displays, thanks to a type of OLED technology known as OLEDoS, aka OLED on Silicon.
Conventional OLED has a glass substrate; OLEDoS in contrast mounts the display directly onto silicon containing the drivers for the pixels. This allows for much smaller pixels, increasing the maximum pixel density to several thousand per inch. The tech also supports the very high refresh rates needed to avoid motion-blur.
Vision Pro not only has OLEDoS displays, but exceedingly high-resolution ones of 3,660×3,200 pixels per eye. These produce incredibly life-like images, but manufacturing them is an extremely delicate and expensive undertaking. Currently only Sony is capable of producing OLEDoS at this resolution, and even then it is limited to making around 1M units per year, thus enough for only 500k units.
Apple will almost certainly stick to OLEDoS technnology for a lower-priced product in order to retain the very low latency, but it’s equally certain that it will reduce the resolution to make the displays more affordable, as well as enabling manufacturers to hit the necessary yields for a more popular product.
Apple has reportedly been seeking samples of OLEDoS displays from both JDI and Samsung with around half the resolution, meaning somewhere in the 1,500 to 1,700ppi range. This would likely also be reflected in a narrower field of view in order to protect the realism of the images.
Less aluminum, more plastic
Vision Pro contains a lot of aluminum, which adds to the premium product feel, but also makes it more expensive to produce.
Additionally, even a relatively lightweight metal like aluminum is considerably heavier than plastic, which is one of the reasons users say it can only be worn comfortably for short periods of time.
For both reasons, we can expect a more affordable model to have a mostly plastic construction.
Possible iPhone tethering – but probably not
While I’d put money on the above predictions, a far less certain one is that Apple could require the device to be tethered to an iPhone. This would offload much of the processing power, again reducing the manufacturing cost of the headset itself.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said last summer that Apple is “considering” this approach, but we haven’t heard anything more about it since then.
This would be quite a radical change, especially as it already needs a tethered battery, and it’s unlikely an iPhone could provide the power needed. Double-tethering feels like a very clunky approach to me, so for now at least I’m going to file this one under ‘possible but unlikely.’
Pricing in the $1500-2000 range
If there’s one thing that has led to more criticism of Vision Pro than anything else it’s the $3,400+ price tag. Even CEO Tim Cook admits this makes it a niche product.
“At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product,” Cook says. “Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for.”
Many have suggested that Apple needs to hit a price of around $1,500 to make it viable as a somewhat popular product, while others have argued that $1,000 is the critical price.
This was my own view until I tried it, at which point I decided that if Apple can crack the all-day comfort problem (which is a very big if), then I’d probably be tempted at $2k.
Right now, the smart money is on something in the $1500-2000 range.
Would you buy this?
Let’s leave aside iPhone tethering and assume it still works as a standalone device. Let’s also split the predicted price range down the middle, and assume $1,750.
Given no EyeSight, a lower-resolution (but still OLEDoS) display, and plastic casing – would you buy one? Please take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.
Photo by Bram Van Oost on Unsplash
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