Next Apple Vision headset may use titanium to cut weight
A new leak claims that Apple's follow up to the Apple Vision Pro will switch from aluminum to titanium to reduce weight, and will come in a black or dark blue color.
The next Apple Vision headset could use titanium, and come in a dark blue
Following a dubious report that Apple Vision Pro 2 will come out in April 2026, a new leak claims that the next headset may not be called Apple Vision Pro at all. It may instead be just called Apple Vision, or possibly Apple Vision Air.
Without specifying a release date, leaker Kosutami has also tweeted that the next headset will be this lighter model.
Our next friend in the Vision lineup is so thin, features titanium to reduce weight, including the connectors and the battery, and all comes with iPhone 5-era black- which looks like graphite dark blue. And be noted: this might not called as ---Pro but you can Air it out.
-- Kosutami (@Kosutami_Ito)
In the thread that follows that tweet, Kosutami further walks this back a little, saying that "most of the outside would be still [sic] aluminum." He or she insists, though, that titanium will be used for a "few of [the] internal structures."
Kosutami is also specific that the move from aluminum to titanium is in order to reduce weight. Titanium is stronger than aluminum, although it's also more expensive.
And, Titanium alloy is denser that Aluminum. A cubic centimeter of titanium comes in at about 4.4 grams. The same volume of Aluminum is 2.7 grams.
Apple does now have more than a year of details about the wear and tear on the Apple Vision Pro headset. So it's feasible that the company has determined it can mix materials to get an optimum mix that sees a lesser volume of titanium doing the job that aluminum does now to achieve that lower overall weight.
As for the "iPhone 5-era black" color that looks like a dark graphite blue, it's also feasible that Apple would want to make a clear visual distinction between its headsets. It does already do so with distinguishing between the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro range, for instance.
Note, though, that Kosutami has a mixed track record. This Apple Vision Pro leak sounds like a bit of wishful thinking, but he or she has previously shown some HomePod pre-production images -- and also entirely inaccurate leaks about the Apple Watch.
Rumor Score: Possible
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Comments
To this day I have no idea why Tim Cook let himself by led into this technological dead end called the Vision Pro. i remember him clearly stating that Apple's next big thing would be AR glasses. Somehow he got convinced by someone that these devices must be standalone products rather than an iPhone dependent one like Apple Watch and AirPods. Unfortunately, that decision meant the future devices needed to cram a lot of CPU power and battery capacity into what needed to be a very light, small device - glasses! The AVP VR headset became their first stab at it. But it seems obvious that they will never be able to shrink that down to glasses anyone is willing to wear.
Google produced useful AR glasses TWELVE years ago. If Apple hadn't gone down the wrong path, I'm sure they could have developed a sleek, much better product given all the miniaturization that's taken place win a decade.
Their best option imo is to use an A19 Pro, use a more power efficient "R2" packaged inside the A19 Pro, and move it to an audio strap. This eliminates the two fans and a PCB. It might still need a fan to air out the volume between your eyes and the headset. If so, I'd out it in the other audio strap. This will make it thinner and lighter, and needs less pressure against your face.
They still need to double the resolution of the cameras, increase the PPD of the display by about 50%, increase FOV to, what, 150° (?), and put a battery into the unit. These pass-through headsets won't be mature for a long ways still.
The glasses form factor is still 10 years away, and it will be worse than the current AVP for everything but the wearability. See-through headsets will come with a whole set of issues. It's not a replacement. It's just another form factor that enables a different set of applications.
I tend to agree that there'll be a new processor in whatever the next one is. Which, we'll have to wait and see. I don't think double camera resolution, or a pixel density increase are coming soon, though.
A report from the Financial Times isn't part of Apple's calculus here. Something I've noticed is that people tend to declare something a failure simply because it is a product they aren't going to buy, or have bought and regret.
apple most definitely views it the way everyone else does - a flop. Of course apple won’t publicly state that. They still have to sell the thing snd don’t want to be viewed as having made another mistake.
so later when is quoted saying "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. 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."
that seems very much a supportive clarification of what was said at launch than admitting defeat like many doomsayers want to bill it as.
Apple TV was a “hobby” according to jobs.
In the end, VR HMDs need to get ultralight. There are tons of people who hate googles, headphones, anything that binds or pinches their head. Heck, I wear eyeglasses and periodically take them off for some relief; they weigh 30 grams. I also own an Oculus Rift S HMD and I can't wear it more than 40-45 minutes tops. The Rift S is *WAY* lighter than the Apple Vision Pro.
It'll be years before the technology is to the point where we'll have a useful pair of AR glasses with decent battery life at a consumer-friendly price (let's say comparable to Apple Watch).
You really need nearly all day battery performance from AR glasses particularly for those with prescription lenses. No one who wears glasses likes shuffling between various pairs which is why we have bifocal, trifocal, and progressive lenses (and photochromic lenses).
The same comfort shortcomings for VR HMDs thirty years ago are still serious impediments to widespread adoption of today's devices. And some of the basic requirements of VR HMDs (like a light tight seal to improve immersion) don't seem to have any obvious solutions. There are also issues with air circulation, eyestrain, and more. VR pundits always say that newer technology that fixes these shortcomings is right around the corner and they've been saying that for decades.
But companies should keep trying even if they fail like Google Glass did. There are serious implications about privacy and security with smart glasses that society needs to understand and figure out for we see widespread acceptance because we've already seen the petulant entitled behavior of "Glassh-les". Remember that AR glasses and VR HMDs have completely different primary goals.
How many theaters in your neighborhood still screen 3D movies? And you still using that 3D television set? Yeah, I thought so.
At some point VR HMDs will largely go away because a better VR experience will be some sort of holographic environment instead of a head mounted visual display. And something will need to be done about haptic feedback, tactile response, etc. A cybersuit is limiting and restrictive like a VR HMD. Just ask anyone who has worn a wetsuit. And how easy is it to launder a cybersuit? I know how easy it is to wash a wetsuit. And like everyone else who owns a wetsuit, I know what getting into a clammy, cold, and damp wetsuit feels like.
Most likely AR glasses, VR HMDs, and holographic environments will all co-exist in some way. Some of these technologies will be better for some situations than others in the same way that speakers, headphones, earbuds, etc. are used in various ways.
But for sure the comfort and battery issues must be addressed. One reason why we all have smartphones is because they fit in our pockets and they run all day. They're not like the early cellphones of the Eighties that were the size of a lunchbox. Many of them hogged up so much power that people just kept them in their cars.