A lower-cost Vision headset is on the way, but could have tough trade-offs
Apple is reportedly focusing on bringing a cheaper Vision headset to market, but it's unclear what compromises will be made.
The well-informed Bloomberg reporter and Apple analyst Mark Gurman writes in his latest newsletter that Apple is working on a headset codenamed N107 that will be significantly cheaper than the Vision Pro. Apple is targeting a price of between $1,500 and $2,000 for the new headset. It is expected to be released at the end of 2025, confirming an earlier report by The Information.
But cost reduction is reportedly a big challenge for Apple. Prototypes of the N107 have a smaller field of view than the Vision Pro, which already has a narrower field of view than other cheaper VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 (especially in the vertical plane). The company is also considering making the device reliant on a Mac or iPhone to save money on the processing power and components needed to make the Vision Pro a fully standalone product, Gurman reports.
A direct successor to the Apple Vision Pro, codenamed N109, is also in development, but has a lower priority. The earliest possible launch is planned for the end of 2026.
Apple has also revived plans to develop AR glasses, although the timeframe for a launch is unclear, Gurman reports.
A difficult balancing act for Apple
In the wake of Apple's Vision Pro, it seems clear that the market for expensive premium headsets is not particularly large, and that for a variety of reasons (comfort, utility, lack of content) the device is not compelling enough to capture the desires of a larger mass of people.
If Apple compromises on hardware and features to lower the price, it will essentially be following Meta's product philosophy without entering their price range. The danger for Apple is to release a headset that is neither affordable enough to appeal to the masses, nor good enough to stand out from the competition. A difficult balancing act.
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