According to a Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman, Apple is changing things up with the creation of a new Vision Products Group (VPG), which is tasked with developing the company’s recently unveiled mixed reality headset, Vision Pro.

The report maintains that with the creation of VPG, Apple is departing from its “functional” management structure, which was introduced by Steve Jobs in the early ’90s.

Effectively, Jobs distributed the company’s product development efforts across more general departments, such as hardware, software, design, services, etc, instead of sectionalizing hardware development into individual product teams, like Mac, Watch, iPad, iPhone, etc.

Apple Vision Pro | Image courtesy Apple

The so-called Vision Products Group is reportedly independent from Apple’s main software and hardware engineering and other departments, including its own internal versions of those teams which report to unit head Mike Rockwell.

SEE ALSO
These Third-party Vision Pro Controllers Just Hit Kickstarter, Promising to Unlock VR Gaming

Gurman maintains that VPG still collaborates with other parts of Apple though, including design and operations teams overseen by COO Jeff Williams, Johny Srouji’s chip unit known for the company’s M2 and R1 processors, and iOS/macOS frameworks headed Craig Federighi’s software engineering group.

Some reportedly believed the dedicated group would be disbanded, making it follow the company’s functional management structure. It has however both persisted beyond the Vision Pro’s June unveiling at WWDC and was branded to reflect that the group is tasked with creation of Vision Products, implying the team will be sticking around for multiple product cycles yet to come.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Nevets

    Pretty straightforward roadmap to me. Just alter the form factor of the AVP to resemble a pair of spectacles (no idea why they chose that big clunky design to begin with), reduce the price to max 1500, make it genuinely transparent so it can be worn outdoors, produce it in large numbers, and then Bob’s your uncle.

    • ViRGiN

      Yup, it should also have full-day battery life and be able to charge wirelessly through solar panel when worn outside.

      • Nevets

        Thank you. I forgot to add those ;)

      • Thud

        obsessive-compulsive adjective
        ob·​ses·​sive-com·​pul·​sive äb-ˈse-siv-kəm-ˈpəl-siv

        Synonyms of obsessive-compulsive
        : relating to or characterized by recurring obsessions and compulsions

        “ViRGiN is obsessive compulsive in the way that he feels he must immediately respond negatively to any mention of any headset other than the Meta Quest in a positive light.”

        • ViRGiN

          Excuse me? You’re the one bringing up Quest to Vision thread.

          is it because your valve index was abandoned 4 years ago?

          • Thud

            Pretty sad when you have to resort to “Guest upvoting” yourself.

        • VrsLuT

          It may seem like OCD but Valve is draining his employer’s profits more than any other company. It is their own fault they are dumping hardware that runs Valve’s software.

        • James Cobalt

          There’s another, much more common disorder than OCD that involves obsessive thoughts and rigid values more in line with what you’re describing: OCPD

          Not saying Virgin here has it. I don’t know the guy and I’m not qualified to explain his behavior. But OCPD is super common – affecting at least 1 in 30 people, so it’s good to be aware of it generally speaking.

          • xyzs

            Yes he’s definitely cognitively impaired.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            I’ve been diagnosed with OCPD a couple of years ago, and it shows in my rather lengthy posts stuffed with details that at the time I consider to be indispensable and a general obsession with numbers, which for others mostly seem to make them harder to read. Obsessive thoughts and rigid values are indeed typical for OCPD, can be extremely annoying and debilitating, and are driven by a more pathological and less productive form of perfectionism that is ultimately doomed. The obsessive part has some advantages, I’m excellent at bug hunting, fixing things and researching details due to a (rather unhealthy) inability to stop at a point were most people would simply decide it is no longer worth the trouble.

            I’ve read a couple of people “diagnosing” ViRGiN with OCPD, but the behavior doesn’t really match. Someone with OCPD is usually extremely afraid of getting things wrong and will often triple and quadruple check everything obsessively. ViRGiN very obviously has no problems with twisting and turning any situation just to allow him to postulate his pre-existing opinion, no matter how unrelated the subject or how objectively false the statement is, accepting to say something obviously wrong just to make his point. People correcting his mistakes and providing actual proof are blatantly ignored. His behavior is basically way too “immoral” for a personality disorder obsessed with getting things “right”. So obsession with a subject/compulsive behavior yes, OCPD probably no.

            [I’m also not sure if this ViRGiN is even the original/only ViRGiN, as there was at least a second person that created another ViRGiN account mainly to annoy the original one, and I blocked them all a long time ago.]

        • ViRGiN

          And what’s even sadder for him is that he’s in his 50s at least…

        • xyzs

          And what’s even sadder is that he’s in his 50s at least… poor lonely old guy.

          • ViRGiN

            I’m in my early 100s, I’m veteran of both world wars and Vietnam

          • xyzs

            That would explain why you repeat the same shit over and over like a weirdo:

            PTSD + alzheimer

          • ViRGiN

            You are the one saying the same shit in every comment.
            How you got time for any of this?
            SteamVR is in maintenance?

    • Daniel Dobson

      The first mobile phones were big and clunky – I agree with your roadmap, long term, and love the idea of it working outdoors

  • Julian Gomez

    “introduced by Steve Jobs in the early ’90s”
    Jobs wasn’t associated with Apple in the early ’90s.

  • Brian

    VR/AR/XR will never be an outdoor product for some time . Think of it as replacement for your tv/computer. This is best in class and Apple spent a decade waiting for technology to develop and or fail before launching this. The price is absurd but so is the iphone, tablets and macs.

    • … and just like iPhone, iPad & iMac, AVP will *also*
      shrink in size/shrink in price/grow in usefulness.
      ♥️

      • Brian

        I misspoke a bit. Apple glasses will have that form factor in 2026 but nowhere near the performance of vision pro now and will have to be tethered to iphone…

  • sebrk

    I just came here to say that the best headset is the Valve Index. Also PCVR is where it is at! Amirite?

  • I wish Apple’d start an XR company: a new Oculus arises from the ashes ….
    A company that ONLY deals with XR hardware & software.
    I’d make it my Life’s mission to somehow be a part of that company.
    ♥️

  • Till Eulenspiegel

    This shows that Apple is still not confident in XR’s future.

    If the headset is an independent product – not fully integrated with the rest of Apple’s eco-system, they can easily pull the plug and let it go without disrupting the rest of their products. It’s like Google, they launched a product and if it’s not successful – they will end it without a second thought.

  • Jim P

    If the QUEST 3 had OLED screen it would destroy the competition. XR is not there yet for everyday wear. Meanwhile QUEST 3 could be great for XR INSIDE. BUT NOT WITHOUT OLED.

    • ViRGiN

      Quest never had any competition and never will. Existence of other headsets doesn’t mean they are competing, it just adds to illusion of choice.

      And yeah I’d love my oled back.

  • Daniel Dobson

    1) Could the display panels could be lower res – the ones they are using in Pro are about 3,600 by 3,600 by my calculations. This could go down to 2,880 by 2,880 in a non pro version?

    2) Could the forward facing LCD could be removed entirely in a non pro version?

    3) Could an M1/M1+ chip be used at this lower resolution, for a non pro version?

  • andyoo

    VR…. 4 years too late. all those out there before had all busted.
    Apple will be no difference.. especially with high price and low buyer number and low support expected. Basically like new Disney failures. Even apple can’t bring bad idea into success.
    A sub 200 (or free) Samsung VR had failed.
    all other expensive VR had failed. Playstation, Nintindo, Xbox…
    Why apple will be exception?

  • I guesss it’s necessary because XR needs a special treatment now being a nascent technology