Last year, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg noted in his weekly Power On newsletter that Apple’s efforts to make a more affordable version of the Vision Pro will still see said headset bearing a heavy price tag. At the time, Gurman estimated the price to sit somewhere between US$1,500 and US$2,500. Now, the range estimate has been narrowed down to the middle to about US$2,000 (~RM8,586).
The latest entry of the newsletter reiterates the cost-cutting measures mentioned a year ago, so these should sound familiar. If not, Gurman claims that this more affordable Apple headset is said to lose the marquee feature, EyeSight, which lets other people see a projected image of the wearer’s eyes. It will also likely be made using cheaper materials, which probably more plastic. This will probably also alleviate the weight issue of the headset.
An “inferior processor” will also be taking the place of the M-grade chip of the Apple Vision Pro. No specifics was mentioned, but with the new entry to the A range being the A18 of the iPhone 16, the headset will probably use this or its Pro version.
Which brings us to when Apple intends to unveil this headset, which is affordable only relative to the Vision Pro. Gurman says that this can happen as soon as early next year. The bitten fruit brand also supposedly expects to sell twice as much as the base model owing to the lower price. A second generation Vision Pro, which analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts will sport the yet-to-be-announced M5 chip, will appear in 2026. And finally in 2027, the fruit brand is said to have smart glasses ready, as well as AirPods armed with cameras.
(Source: Bloomberg)
