Apple may be taking a beat before it releases a cheaper follow-up to Vision Pro, which would more broadly appeal to consumers, instead releasing a hardware refresh next year that includes the new M5 chipset.

According to independent tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has delayed the cheaper version of Vision Pro “beyond 2027”. Kuo, who is a respected figure in Apple supply chain leaks, claims in an X post that “Apple’s only new head-mounted display device in 2025 will be the Vision Pro with an upgraded M5 processor.”

“I think what really drove Apple to delay the cheaper Vision Pro is that simply reducing the price wouldn’t help create successful use cases,” Kuo maintains. “It’s similar to the HomePod situation—even after launching the cheaper HomePod mini, Apple’s smart speakers failed to become mainstream products.”

Image courtesy Apple

This comes in sharp contrast to a previous report from The Information in June that alleged Apple was charging ahead with a single, more affordable headset for release in 2025—let’s call it ‘Vision SE’, and leaving a more powerful ‘Vision Pro 2’ for later release.

Granted, there’s no way of knowing exactly what Apple is planning to do, as the Cupertino tech giant is famous for seeding would-be leakers with misleading bits of information in effort to catch them, so reports of the ilk should be taken with a heaping handful of salt.

Still, Kuo’s claim that Apple is pushing forward with what will surely be an equally expensive hardware refresh to the $3,500 Vision Pro may not be so farfetched.

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In the midst of recent supply chain rumors claiming Apple has sharply slowed Vision Pro production, Apple CEO Tim Cook was keen to remind doubters in a concurrent Wall Street Journal interview that Vision Pro isn’t “a mass-market product.”

“Right now, it’s an early-adopter product,” Cook told the WSJ. “People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for. Fortunately, there’s enough people who are in that camp that it’s exciting.”

Provided Kuo’s claim is true, it would signal a decisive shift in the company’s release strategy, leaving the next Vision Pro to carry on its legacy, again putting the headset in the odd position of being both too expensive for general consumers, and too niche for a large swath of third-party developers to consider it a viable money-making platform, like Meta’s Quest platform is today.

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Meanwhile, the XR competitive landscape is changing at a pretty fast clip. After the release of Meta’s $300 mixed reality Quest 3S, we’re still waiting to hear more about the company’s next big move to release a fleet of third-party OEMs running Horizon OS, which is ostensibly in service of Meta’s bid to become the “open” XR platform to Apple’s closed garden XR ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Google has signaled its preparing support for XR headsets on Google Play, which could portend the long-awaited Samsung/Google/Qualcomm headset that rumors suggest may try to compete with Vision Pro.

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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.
  • ZeePee

    I wish I could get excited for Vision Pro headsets, but I cannot think of anything I'd really use it for.

    Until that thing is significantly smaller and lighter, it doesn't quite cut it, personally. Meta is probably going to release their ultra lightweight MR headset in 2027, so Apple need to be targeting that time-frame to get it done.

    • sfmike

      If you consume media with a headset you would find this product to be the top-of-the-line thing it is.

      • Zantetsu

        But it's very uncomfortable, which is a problem. Consuming media with such an uncomfortable device is not a top-of-the-line experience.

    • jos f

      I extended myself way far and bought one. Every day I put it on im wowed. It's worth it to me if even just for a few amazing things. Drinking my coffee sitting on my couch reading email on a huge screen and surfing the net or reading news is something I really look forward to. If you like tech, just the quality of this impresses me everyday. 3D photos and memories is insanely moving and valuable. Liken it to jumping from radio to color tv when there was only radio. Its reliving moments, what pictures were meant to do but never have actually captured until now. And converting 2D to 3D literally feels like magic and brings you exponentially closer to the real moments of the past. Throw in 3D movies and its worth the price by far for an elite, before its time experience. I literally have watched movies only because they are available in 3D. Movies that I would not have given a chance. Im literally impatiently waiting for them to put out more 3D movies and content out for the headset. The 3D experience is unmatchable, actually even the movie theaters don't even come close. More use cases apps and games are VERY welcome, that cant be overstated, however.. I am not sorry for my huge overstretched investment as is. Having 3D memories of my daughter and family only makes me wish this was available since she was born and before other people have passed. Until you have one, and use it, you cant really assess it as well as extrapolating from what you already know, its just not the same. I hope the direction apple is taking continues…. and adding full games AR and VR in addition would be great.

      • Arno van Wingerde

        Fascinating story, good to hear! Have you also had experience with or interest in other VR sets, like Quest 3 to play games and stuff, just for comparison?

        • jos f

          Yes I also have a quest 3 which is a great machine and great value that I also use daily for games. For me they dont compare to each other as much as they complement each other. I use them for different things.
          I bought an add on for the AVP to make it more comfortable, its a connector that allows both included straps to be used at once. It helps a great deal. However its still not ideal. There are other probably better solutions available that i didnt try because they are bulkier and wont fit in my case.

  • Unity

    Eye-tracking is an epic fail!

    • Zantetsu

      Not true. If there is one problem the device does NOT have, it's an epic fail with eye-tracking.

  • I think we would all like to believe
    that Gorman's right on this one …. lol
    []^ )

  • MosBen

    Apple is as much a lifestyle brand as they are a tech company. They want people to use their products in public and for the people using their products in public to look cool or enviable to the onlooker. When someone sees a pair of Airpods Max or Beats on someone they see someone that spent a fair amount of money for a stylish produce (whether those products are the best performers for their price isn't relevant). The Vision Pro is a neat piece of tech, but it's not something that people want to wear at work or on the bus with the form factor that it currently has. It seems clear that the "looks like a pair of glasses" level of AR isn't ready for primetime yet, but the major players in the industry are working towards it and have made a great deal of progress in moving towards real products.

  • kraeuterbutter

    hmm.. the big thing – besides "Apple-Universe" the AVP has over Quest3 is: Quality of the displays (in regards of resolution, colors, oled)
    (not so much lenses.. lenses of the Quest3 are even better)

    so: when now waiting till 2027 or beyond.. hmmm
    this benefit of display superiority will vanish
    the next Quest4 will – hopefully – have also high resolution, maybe even micro-oled
    but for sure not for 2000Euro (which Apple thinks is a low price)
    so i think the difference will become smaler..
    the Quest4 will (again: hopefully) cross some lines regarding resolution, color..
    so that the only reason not watching a movie with it is: "i dont want to wear the headset today" and noch – like today: "the colors are not so good as on my television, the resolution is not so good, i can still see SDE and pixels"

    thats where the AVP shins today over the Quest3…
    but as said: that will become less and less a problem for future Quests..
    so: in 2028: will i buy a Quest4 (or 5) for 1000 Euro
    Or will i buy a "cheap" Vision SE for 2000Euro ?? – when the difference in image quality whatching movies, fotos, using as monitor are not so big anymore

  • xyzs

    Just make a version with a simpler shell and no front screen, give up on your 50 percent absurd margins and vision line will maybe have a chance.
    You could waste billions in an aborted car project, you can spend a couple years selling vr products with low margins. What this humongous amount of cash for if you don’t use it to push adoption of your latest project ?

  • xyzs

    To make it mainstream, they need to make it much lighter first, much more socially acceptable through smaller size, and increase fov because it’s way too shallow currently.

    They claim they want productivity but you don’t get productivity looking through a scaphandre…

    Then a price around 2k and not 3.5k would help a lot, because it would put it in the macbook pro range, instead of the “are they serious ?” range.