When in doubt, there’s always the lower-end version of a device.
Per his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has noted that Apple is on track to release a lower-end Apple Vision as early as 2025. Gurman has stated that the headset will retail for around $2,000.
Apple debuted Apple Vision Pro earlier this year at $3,499, but it seems the company is still quickly trying to figure out a successor. Some reports earlier this year suggested that Apple had halted Vision Pro development to focus on the cheaper headset, which would open it up to a larger market.
Gurman noted that the lower-end headset will probably incorporate an inferior processor and cheaper materials. The current Vision Pro model features an M2 series chip, which could be replaced with the A18 Pro, which is about as fast as Apple’s M1 processor.
It’s also thought that the lower-end headset will use more plastic materials, as opposed to being fully aluminum and glass.
The forthcoming headset may also drop the EyeSight feature introduced on Apple Vision Pro, which uses lenticular displays to pass through the user’s eyes to the outside of the headset, allowing people around them to still “see” their eyes. Given that it proved costly to have another display on the outside of the headset, this display could be removed from the lower-end version.
Apple is rumored to have predicted the cheaper Vision Pro headset will sell twice as much as the original Vision Pro. The Apple Vision Pro 2 is also on track for 2026 with a faster chipset.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.