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During Apple’s annual WWDC event for 2023, the company announced several features for iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, then unveiled its new Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. It was exciting until we all heard the $3,500 price tag. So, when is a cheaper Vision headset coming?
Apple enthusiasts and virtual reality fans have waited years for Apple’s highly rumored gadget to finally arrive. Now that it’s official and coming in 2024, potential buyers have a lot of questions. According to Bloomberg, Apple is already busy working on two additional headsets that’ll hopefully be far more affordable.
The all-new Vision Pro is a powerhouse machine unlike anything else we’ve seen in the competition. It’s also nearly 7x as expensive as Meta’s Quest 3 and more than double the Quest Pro.
Obviously, with “Pro” in the name, it’s safe to assume Apple will eventually release a cheaper model for mainstream users, similar to all its other products, and now we might have an idea of when.
According to Bloomberg’s Apple analyst Mark Gurman, even though the new Vision Pro isn’t coming out until early 2024, the company is already working on at least two more mixed-reality headsets. He suggested that a streamlined Apple Vision (or Vision One) will hit the market at the end of 2025.
Yes, that means we’ll all be waiting quite a while for a cheaper headset. No matter how amazing the Vision Pro ends up being, $3,500 isn’t a realistic price tag for the general public. Even Apple is well aware of that problem. And while Gurman suggests a few ways to lower the price, like ditching the built-in speakers and lowering both screens’ quality, it’ll take a lot to get Apple’s headset into a price category to move enough units.
Additionally, Gurman suggests that a Vision Pro (2nd Gen) is already underway, which could have several changes to the design, features, specs, or internals, and it’ll likely be more affordable too.
It’s worth mentioning that this is a brand-new product category, at least according to Apple. The company calls it “Spatial Computing” instead of just another virtual reality headset. Things are expensive with anything fun and new, but eventually, they get more affordable. Expect the same type of evolution here.
Unfortunately, the Bloomberg report talks about how some of these big hardware changes could reduce the price by “several hundred dollars,” but that’s not enough. In my opinion, it’ll need to get a lot closer to sub-$1,000 before most people will buy one. Either way, more affordable Apple Vision headsets are coming if you’re willing to wait a few years.
via Bloomberg
