The Apple Vision Pro didn’t sell well and two major reasons for that were its $3,499 price tag and its comfort level for extended use. Apple insider Mark Gurman reveals in his newsletter Power On that the company is now working on two successors to the Vision Pro, one of which addresses the aforementioned complaints.
The XR (Extended Reality) industry is relatively much smaller compared to other tech niches. As such there aren’t a lot of enthusiasts willing to drop thousands of Dollars on a headset that lacks dedicated controllers and content. In-store demos also showed potential customers that the Vision Pro felt heavy and hot after around 30 minutes of continuous use.
Apple is now apparently working on a successor — perhaps named the Vision Air — that will be lighter and more affordable. Both goals can be achieved by removing extra hardware from the headset that wasn’t needed but was added to make an impression. As former head of Oculus Hugo Barra said: the Vision Pro is an over-engineered devkit.
Extras include EyeSight, the exterior display that shows the user’s face, and the premium aluminum and glass chassis. Opting for plastic instead as well as removing redundant sensors and displays will drastically reduce cost as well as the weight. Adding a more comfortable head strap, as Apple did later on for store demos, will also make a much more positive first impression.
The Vision Pro is quite the looker. | Image credit — PhoneArena
A second successor to the Vision Pro is also in the works. Some time back Apple cancelled a pair of AR glasses that it was working on. These glasses were designed to plug into an Apple device and act as an external display. The company is now reportedly working on a headset that can do the same instead.
This Vision Pro headset that needs to be plugged into a Mac or another device is apparently for professionals who require a Mixed Reality headset with minimal latency. The concept is similar to AR glasses offered by Xreal that can also plug into third party devices. Sightful’s Spacetop G1 took it further and made a laptop based on the same principle.
Though that specific model of AR glasses was cancelled, Apple is still working on a true pair of smart AR glasses. In fact Apple CEO Tim Cook is obsessed with beating Meta to the market with an industry-leading product.
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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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