The Apple Vision Pro has been the talk of the XR industry since its release in February. And a lot of this talk has been about its price: $3,499. Now it seems an Apple Vision Pro 2 is in the works and will start from $1,500. Furthermore, Samsung might be partnering with Apple to bring down manufacturing costs.
There were recent reports about poor Vision Pro sales leading to a slowdown of production. This led to Apple making changes to its HMD (head-mounted display) roadmap. Hence, a successor to the Vision Pro had been delayed. The new rumors give us an expected date for the delayed headset.
VisionPro Gen 2, coming in 2026
- The retail price is between 1500 to 2500 dollars. - Entering the Chinese SeeYA supply chain, currently in the stage of sending samples to Apple for evaluation. - Following SK Hynix, Samsung is supplying LLW DRAM.
If the Apple Vision Pro 2 does start at $1,500 it would significantly lower the barrier to entry into Apple’s XR universe. That is less than half the price of the current Vision Pro. However, this new headset will probably not feel as premium either and might even drop the ‘Pro’ from its name.
How can Apple lower costs?
Behind those lenses is a very expensive display. | Image credit — PhoneArena
So how can Apple lower the cost of its XR headset by such a significant amount? We recently saw that the company was confused about how to make a cheaper Vision Pro. Well, there can be a few different ways.
Hugo Barra, former Head of Oculus, called the Vision Pro an over-engineered devkit back in March. This wasn’t a critique as much as a statement of fact. According to Barra, the Vision Pro had a lot more sensors than were needed to provide the same experience. Something he said was typical of first-gen products hitting the market.
Apple wanted to really wow the world with the Vision Pro.
So that’s the first thing Apple can change, in my opinion. Second would be the build of the headset itself. The current Vision Pro is gorgeous to look at and premium to the touch with its aluminum and glass build. But it’s also heavy and this premium construction is costly. I’d wager a cheaper Vision Pro would be more plastic.
And according to the rumors, Apple is looking to contract Chinese supplier SeeYA for the headset’s displays. This also has the potential to cut down manufacturing costs. The current displays on the Vision Pro, fantastic micro-OLEDs, are supplied by Sony.
SeeYA has sent samples to Apple and is awaiting evaluation. Worth noting is that there were similar reports of Apple contracting SeeYA last year too when Sony couldn’t keep up with demand for the headset’s release.
Samsung might provide DRAM for Vision Pro 2
It took a lot of precise engineering to make the Vision Pro this good. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Samsung might also be entering the Vision Pro supply chain. Though rivals when it comes to their flagship smartphones, this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both companies. Samsung is looking to supply the DRAM (dynamic random access memory) for the Vision Pro.
Currently the Vision Pro’s bespoke DRAM is provided by SK Hynix. SK Hynix is also a South Korean manufacturer and the second largest memory chip manufacturer in the world after Samsung. If Apple is looking to partner with Samsung, it might be to reduce costs for future headsets.
A cheaper Vision Pro is unlikely to be this sleek. | Image credit — PhoneArena
This is all very exciting news, personally. Apple’s entry into the XR market was marred by the cost of its offering. Meanwhile Meta opened up Horizon OS for third parties, establishing itself even more across the industry.
The Vision Pro is one of the best AR headsets on the market. And what it does do, it does exceptionally well. But until it’s within reach of the average consumer it’s going to struggle to see widespread adoption. Even if half of the Fortune 100 companies bought one.
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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
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