Apple Suspends Work on Next High-End Headset, Focused on Releasing Cheaper Model in Late 2025
The Takeaway
Apple is suspending work on its next high-end Vision headset as sales of the $3,500 Vision Pro slow, focusing instead on releasing a cheaper model by the end of 2025. The shift could spark a similar pullback by competitors building expensive headsets.
Apple has told at least one supplier that it has suspended work on its next high-end Vision headset, an employee at a manufacturer that makes key components for the Vision Pro said. The pullback comes as analysts and supply chain partners have flagged slowing sales of the $3,500 device.
The company is still working on releasing a more affordable Vision product with fewer features before the end of 2025, the person involved in its supply chain and a person involved in the manufacturing of the headsets said. Apple originally planned to divide its Vision line into two models, similar to the standard and Pro versions of the iPhone, according to people involved in its supply chain and former Apple employees who worked on the devices.
Apple’s decision to halt work on the next version of its high-end headset is the latest example of the company reshuffling priorities. Apple has ramped up work on AI-powered features while paring back money-losing projects like its self-driving car, which it canceled earlier this year after spending nearly a decade on development. Augmented reality is one of Apple’s biggest bets. The company aims to eventually replace the iPhone with lightweight glasses, and the Vision Pro is the first step in building consumer and developer interest in that effort.
Although it’s possible that Apple could resume work on a high-end Vision product down the road, suspending development of the next high-end headset for now could have repercussions for the rest of the AR and virtual reality industry, which views the headset as a litmus test of consumer appetite for a premium device. Meta Platforms, for instance, started work in November on a new high-end headset, internally code-named La Jolla, according to multiple current and former Meta employees, five months after Apple announced the Vision Pro. Before that, in January 2023, Meta had axed plans to build a more expensive Quest headset after it saw weak sales of its $1,500 Quest Pro. A Meta spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for comment.
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
After the Vision Pro’s U.S. launch in February, independent reviewers criticized its lack of content, poor comfort and limited use cases, while bloggers and columnists have flagged examples of owners that have stopped using the device because of these issues. The device is set for an international launch in countries including China, Japan, Australia and major European countries at the end of June, and Apple earlier this month announced a new version of the Vision Pro operating system to address user complaints and rejuvenate interest in the device.
Even with a looming international launch, one supplier that makes components for the Vision Pro cut production by half in May after receiving a forecast from Apple predicting weaker demand through August. The supplier, which has no competitors, made parts for about 460,000 Vision Pros as of April, one of its employees said, and planned to make enough parts for another 100,000 headsets between May and August. The numbers suggest that Apple has at most produced about half a million units this year and doesn’t expect to make significantly more than that through August.
Apple had been deprioritizing the successor to the high-end Vision Pro for the past year, over time assigning fewer employees to work on the second-generation model, according to one person who worked on the device until earlier this year. Within Apple, the focus last year shifted to reducing the cost of the first-generation model’s components, although development did start on an upgraded Vision Pro display, the person said.
Cutting Costs, Shedding Weight
Apple began work in 2022 on a cheaper Vision product, internally code-named N109, The Information previously reported. The company’s aim is to make this version as affordable as a high-end iPhone, which retails for up to $1,600. At the time it started the work, Apple aimed to release the more affordable product at the end of 2024.
As of earlier this year, Apple still didn’t have a firm prototype of N109, according to a person involved in its manufacturing. And the company has been struggling to find ways to cut the model’s cost without losing too many key features, which means the product could likely slip beyond its revised release date for the end of 2025.
One issue is that Apple wants the more affordable model to keep the Vision Pro’s ultra-high-end displays, which are among the most expensive components in the device, according to the person who worked on it and the people involved in its manufacturing and supply chain. Apple had been working with a Chinese company, Seeya Technology, to produce cheaper displays by next year that could supplant those of Sony, which until now has been the sole supplier of displays for the Vision Pro, those three people said. The person involved in its manufacturing said Seeya has so far struggled to meet Apple’s standards and the effort might fail. MacRumors reported on some of the cheaper model’s features last year, saying it would keep its high-end displays but include fewer cameras, a simpler headband and smaller speakers.
Apple is also trying to make N109 at least one-third lighter than the Vision Pro, according to the person involved in its supply chain. Some users have complained that the Vision Pro, which can weigh as much as 650 grams or 1.43 pounds, is too heavy to wear comfortably for long periods of time.