Lighter Apple Vision Pro expected by early 2026

AppleInsider

The next lighter iteration of the Apple Vision Pro will be arriving either towards the end of 2025 or in early 2026, a leaker claims, as Apple continues to try and make its headset a bigger success.

Apple Vision Pro

Apple is believed to be working on multiple future revisions to the Apple Vision Pro, with the expectation of an updated model arriving before a full-blown sequel. The current rumor mill belief is for something lighter and more consumer friendly to be the next release in the range.

In Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about two successors to the Apple Vision Pro. One is a mode that is lighter and cheaper than the current model.

The other is a tethered model that connects to a Mac. The intention of that model is to offer maximum responsiveness to users, with the Mac handling all of the processing.

According to Gurman, it seems the lighter model will be the one out the gate next, and will arrive between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026.

He adds that there is some uncertainty about the model, namely whether it should be considered a replacement for the Apple Vision Pro, or as a cheaper non-Pro model.

Titanium switch

Rumors of a lighter Apple Vision headset have been around for a while, with it recently resurfacing on April 16. At that time, it was proposed that the new lighter model could be called the Apple Vision or the Apple Vision Air.

To make the headset lighter, and therefore easier to wear for longer periods, a leaker said that Apple would switch from aluminum to titanium for the internal structures for strength. However, the outside would still use aluminum.

The leaker also said at the time that the lighter model could end up with a color scheme akin to the iPhone 5-era black. This could be to allow for a clearer visual distinction between the Pro and non-Pro headsets.

Rumor Score: Possible

Read on AppleInsider

carmb

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

macxpress

CarmB said:

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

I think it will get there. It again reminds me of the very first iPhone. It was an awesome new piece of technology that did things like nothing else on the market, even if it was entering a space already occupied by others beforehand...however it was very expensive at the time ($700-800 with a contract), was sorta thick and while it was awesome technically, it was also feature limited which I think is to be expected for a 1st gen product. AVP is no different here. 

Everyone is just way too god damn impatient and think everything Apple releases today needs to have the success of the iPhone of today straight out of the box, when even the original iPhone wasn't as successful as the iPhone of today. The MacBook Air is another good example. It was awesome for what it was in its original form, but was too expensive (cost upwards of $2100) and feature limited. Today, it's much cheaper, has great features for its intended market and is one of the best selling laptops, not only in the US, but the entire world! 

I would give AVP a few more years to mature, get VisionOS updated with more features and fixes, with a lower price it could be a successful product in the future. Too many people are taking the Steve Ballmer approach on this and don't see the same vision (no pun intended) as Apple does for this product. 

edited April 27

bohler

The AVP is a really strange device. It is by far the best Apple device I ever posessed and when I use it I wear it for 3-4 hours straight….but I use it maybe 2 or 3 times a week only. It is always a treat , almost like a reward . After several months I used it for Facetime the first time this weekend and it was really astonishing. I never liked video telephony but experiencing it handsfree and allowing to share what I see with others (while they look at my avatar) is really something different. With lightweight glasses starting from 2027 on, this will be a big seller. I also like very much the mirroring of my work ipad (under MDM) + a bluetooth keyboard. I still think that its successors are the future of computing…

edited April 27

macgui

bohler said:

The AVP is a really strange device. It is by far the best Apple device I ever posessed and when I use it I wear it for 3-4 hours straight….but I use it maybe 2 or 3 times a week only. It is always a treat , almost like a reward .

YES! I'm on the fence about to jump off into an Apple Store parking lot. Every time I read a negative opinion about the AVP it's always from someone who doesn't own one. More often they've never even used one.

Then I'm heartened  by posts like the above from an actual owner who has time on the clock with it. I stumbled on a r/AVP with more actual owners with time on the clock with a lot of good info. There were a couple of ex-owners who weren't happy, but it was great to read about how its used, hints and kinks, etc.

I don't understand the haters. Maybe they were abused children I don't know. I realize it's not everyone's cuppa but FFS, why hate? 

My main reason for not waiting (yet still on the fence) is that subsequent iterations may not have as high quality displays in order to reduce the price. Moving to Ti will be more expensive I'd think. Then there is the uncertainty of the tariff situation.

My time would be much the same as bohler's, 3-4 hours straight, maybe 3 times a week maybe more. I really need to bust a move.

dewme

Why would anyone ever hate a product that is a discretionary purchase? If they don’t like it they don’t have to buy it. If they don’t like it after buying it they can bring it back, sell it, or chalk it up as a costly purchase that didn’t deliver for them. 

Maybe it’s just the use of the word “hate” being used as hyperbole for something that is far less triggering. If wearing an AVP caused irreparable harm to a buyer then maybe we’re getting into hate territory. Having a personal dislike for something isn’t hate. It’s only when you try to force your own beliefs on someone else that things can become offensive. But that’s not hate, it’s being a douchebag. 

I personally feel that the AVP is a technological marvel. I simply don’t have a personal need for one at the moment. It’s hard enough for me to use my AirPods Pro as much as I’d like to because I’m around others too often to allow me to be isolated and unresponsive. When I was doing long haul flights, noise cancellation headphones were my savior. 

xed

CarmB said:

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

Can you explain that scenario in more detail? Are you suggesting that the tethered AVP simply be googles with the Mac mini be the processing unit?

If so, the last  News I read was that the Sony displays are $300 each so we’re already at the cost of a Mac mini that can handle the processing and $600 for displays. Adding the cost of the other hardware, production, shipping, and Apple’s profit margin doesn’t seem like it would be any cheaper than the current AVP. 

Sure, you would also have the Mac mini to use as a desktop PC, but when compared to having an AVP you can’t even take on a plane it doesn’t seem like a good deal. 

On top of that we’ve rarely seen Apple create hybrid devices that span product categories.

Finally, I see tether issues. Let’s assume it’s using Thunderbolt 5 since that is the latest or, more accurately, I can’t info on what TB6 specs might be.  The current length is 1 meter unless you use an optical-based cable which can allow up to 328 feet. That adds even more cost to this budget variety AVP.

Then we have to consider the transfer speeds and data loads involved. So let’s say you’re wearing your headset and turn your head. Then AVP’s motion sensors detect this change and send the data down through the TB5 cable and into the Mac mini. The Mac mini then processes the info and then sends the new display data back through the TB5 cable to the AVP to be displayed. With a resolution of 3,660 x 3,200 pixels or 23 million pixels per display, how much data would that be? What is the latency of that  process? I don’t know, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a good experience. I think that’s a main reason the processing is done next to the displays and not in the battery pack.

tht

Who was it that rumormongered that the tethered model was cancelled a few months ago? Or was that talking about a different glasses form factor? I recall it was a tethered "glasses as monitor" type of device, basically this "tethered to a Mac" model Gurman is talking about? So, whoever rumored the cancellation will say it is uncancelled now?

This is different from the Meta Ray Bans form factor that is also being rumored or wishfully thought to be something Apple is working on. The Ray Bans are not a virtual display form factor, or VR or AR, or monitors in your glasses. It's just sunglasses that have a camera, speakers, microphone and camera in it, right? A very small SoC inside to perform various functions.

Gurman is only rumoring about a lighter and cheaper Vision headset here, right? No mention of titanium in his post? Titanium and cheaper don't go in the same sentence here. Just doesn't make sense. It's even worse when they say it is used as an internal support structure and aluminum is used on the outside. That's insane along multiple axes.

If there is going to be a cheaper model, that really means going to a ~1500 PPI OLED, or even ~1500 microOLED, reducing the number of cameras and sensors by half, getting rid of the speakers, finding a cheaper supplier for the lens. They can get rid of the fans by using an iPhone SoC. So imagine the current Vision Pro and taking half the parts, half the performance out. Well, an A18 Pro isn't that far away from an M2 in a lot of cases, so perhaps not that bad, and an improvement in some ways.

carmb

macxpress said:

CarmB said:

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

I think it will get there. It again reminds me of the very first iPhone. It was an awesome new piece of technology that did things like nothing else on the market, even if it was entering a space already occupied by others beforehand...however it was very expensive at the time ($700-800 with a contract), was sorta thick and while it was awesome technically, it was also feature limited which I think is to be expected for a 1st gen product. AVP is no different here. 

Everyone is just way too god damn impatient and think everything Apple releases today needs to have the success of the iPhone of today straight out of the box, when even the original iPhone wasn't as successful as the iPhone of today. The MacBook Air is another good example. It was awesome for what it was in its original form, but was too expensive (cost upwards of $2100) and feature limited. Today, it's much cheaper, has great features for its intended market and is one of the best selling laptops, not only in the US, but the entire world! 

I would give AVP a few more years to mature, get VisionOS updated with more features and fixes, with a lower price it could be a successful product in the future. Too many people are taking the Steve Ballmer approach on this and don't see the same vision (no pun intended) as Apple does for this product. 

Without question the Vision Pro is a first step towards developing a compelling product. Really it makes sense for a first effort to be a pricey low-volume product in that getting a few of these into the hands of the general public is important in Apple securing feedback. When we reach the point that far more users get involved, it will be a more refined product that they will be experiencing. If Apple had chosen to not launch the pricier product, these past couple of years valuable feedback would have been missed. If past efforts is something to go by, a product like the Vision Pro will be regarded some day as invaluable as an Apple Watch. When that was first launched, I din't see it as an item I would seek out but today I'm on my second iteration and now I regard it as a must-have. 

xed

CarmB said:

macxpress said:

CarmB said:

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

I think it will get there. It again reminds me of the very first iPhone. It was an awesome new piece of technology that did things like nothing else on the market, even if it was entering a space already occupied by others beforehand...however it was very expensive at the time ($700-800 with a contract), was sorta thick and while it was awesome technically, it was also feature limited which I think is to be expected for a 1st gen product. AVP is no different here. 

Everyone is just way too god damn impatient and think everything Apple releases today needs to have the success of the iPhone of today straight out of the box, when even the original iPhone wasn't as successful as the iPhone of today. The MacBook Air is another good example. It was awesome for what it was in its original form, but was too expensive (cost upwards of $2100) and feature limited. Today, it's much cheaper, has great features for its intended market and is one of the best selling laptops, not only in the US, but the entire world! 

I would give AVP a few more years to mature, get VisionOS updated with more features and fixes, with a lower price it could be a successful product in the future. Too many people are taking the Steve Ballmer approach on this and don't see the same vision (no pun intended) as Apple does for this product. 

Without question the Vision Pro is a first step towards developing a compelling product. Really it makes sense for a first effort to be a pricey low-volume product in that getting a few of these into the hands of the general public is important in Apple securing feedback. When we reach the point that far more users get involved, it will be a more refined product that they will be experiencing. If Apple had chosen to not launch the pricier product, these past couple of years valuable feedback would have been missed. If past efforts is something to go by, a product like the Vision Pro will be regarded some day as invaluable as an Apple Watch. When that was first launched, I din't see it as an item I would seek out but today I'm on my second iteration and now I regard it as a must-have. 

Selling a cheaper item would get even more feedback from users. What is more likely is that Apple established a level of quality/functionality and price point that, from a psychological perspective, is much easier to go down in price and reduce in terms of capability than it is to go up in price even with consonant better tech.

Like so many of their products, they came out of the gate as best in show. Meta certainly isn’t but they do have decent amount of content since they’ve been establish much longer with the Oculus acquisition. MS HoloLens started at $1000 more than AVP, never had a consumer version, and have since stopped producing the device altogether from what I’ve read.

Once the content in there and production hiccups are worked out I suspect we’ll see cheaper versions of AVP which will open the doors to a much wider market.

carmb

Xed said:

CarmB said:

macxpress said:

CarmB said:

Who wants a pricey, heavy Apple Vision, Pro or otherwise? No consumer wants to pay more and be less comfortable. I can see a move to bring weight down to allow for a standalone premium Vision and then deliver both lower price and weight with a tethered version for the masses. Considering a capable Mac Mini can be had for well below $1,000, even if you had someone without a Mac to tether to, it might well be cheaper to get said Mini in tandem with the lower-cost Vision. Meanwhile there is an installed base of Mac owners who would be attracted to a far more affordable Vision that could be linked up with an existing Mac. Getting a tethered Vision in at a far more attractive price would be a game changer. 

I think it will get there. It again reminds me of the very first iPhone. It was an awesome new piece of technology that did things like nothing else on the market, even if it was entering a space already occupied by others beforehand...however it was very expensive at the time ($700-800 with a contract), was sorta thick and while it was awesome technically, it was also feature limited which I think is to be expected for a 1st gen product. AVP is no different here. 

Everyone is just way too god damn impatient and think everything Apple releases today needs to have the success of the iPhone of today straight out of the box, when even the original iPhone wasn't as successful as the iPhone of today. The MacBook Air is another good example. It was awesome for what it was in its original form, but was too expensive (cost upwards of $2100) and feature limited. Today, it's much cheaper, has great features for its intended market and is one of the best selling laptops, not only in the US, but the entire world! 

I would give AVP a few more years to mature, get VisionOS updated with more features and fixes, with a lower price it could be a successful product in the future. Too many people are taking the Steve Ballmer approach on this and don't see the same vision (no pun intended) as Apple does for this product. 

Without question the Vision Pro is a first step towards developing a compelling product. Really it makes sense for a first effort to be a pricey low-volume product in that getting a few of these into the hands of the general public is important in Apple securing feedback. When we reach the point that far more users get involved, it will be a more refined product that they will be experiencing. If Apple had chosen to not launch the pricier product, these past couple of years valuable feedback would have been missed. If past efforts is something to go by, a product like the Vision Pro will be regarded some day as invaluable as an Apple Watch. When that was first launched, I din't see it as an item I would seek out but today I'm on my second iteration and now I regard it as a must-have. 

Selling a cheaper item would get even more feedback from users. What is more likely is that Apple established a level of quality/functionality and price point that, from a psychological perspective, is much easier to go down in price and reduce in terms of capability than it is to go up in price even with consonant better tech.

Like so many of their products, they came out of the gate as best in show. Meta certainly isn’t but they do have decent amount of content since they’ve been establish much longer with the Oculus acquisition. MS HoloLens started at $1000 more than AVP, never had a consumer version, and have since stopped producing the device altogether from what I’ve read.

Once the content in there and production hiccups are worked out I suspect we’ll see cheaper versions of AVP which will open the doors to a much wider market.

It also threatens to ruin a product's reputation in that a product still a ways off from providing a thoroughly satisfying user experience can sour consumers on said product. To deliver something priced for volume, at this time, would result in a highly compromised device. Launching such a weak product would have caused harm to Apple's goal of providing something consumers would embrace. At the same time, not launching the Vision Pro because an appealing price point was not doable would have deprived Apple of the feedback it is getting.