Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper version of its $3,500 Vision Pro — but it's 2 years away
- Apple is already working on two follow-ups to its Vision Pro headset, Bloomberg reports.
- A high-end model will be even faster, while a less-expensive version will make some compromises.
Apple's sky-high price tag for its latest product, the $3,499 Vision Pro headset, elicited groans from the crowd when it was announced.
But if you're patient, a more affordable version appears to be on the way.
You'll have to wait around two years, though — until at least the end of 2025 — for the cheaper version, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported. Similar to the iPhone lineup, the less-expensive model will reportedly drop the "Pro" from the name since it won't be top-of-the-line. Instead, the entry-level device could be called something like the Apple Vision One — or simply the Apple Vision, according to the report.
To trim the price down, Gurman posits that Apple could nix the built-in "Spatial Audio" speakers in the strap of the Vision Pro and instead have you use AirPods. Apple could also swap in less-powerful chips to power the device. A more utilitarian strap could also offer some additional savings.
But what I'm most interested in is what Apple will do with one of the priciest parts of the device: the twin 4K displays, one for each eye.
Those displays enable the Vision Pro to eliminate something called the "screen-door effect." The screen-door effect, or when you can visibly see the space between pixels on a headset's display while wearing it, has long been an issue that tech companies have sought to limit and eventually get rid of altogether. But doing so requires incredibly high-resolution displays that are also physically tiny (they need to be able to cram them into a headset). And that means they're expensive for now.
Gurman suggests Apple could swap in two lower-resolution displays for savings, but I'd argue that would compromise the device on a fundamental level if doing so would make the pixels visible — it would run the risk of ruining the magic. The 4K displays are a key part of what makes Apple's headset so impressive and more highly capable of productivity tasks and a legitimate TV competitor.
If the displays are grainy, nobody is going to want to use the device for work, and more people would probably opt to simply watch their TV shows and movies on the TV set they already have at home. (Apple already runs this risk, even with the impressive screens currently within the Vision Pro.)
I'd bet Apple instead tweaks other components that Gurman suggests, such as nixing the 3D camera that Apple touted as its first-ever.
Meanwhile, Apple is also working on a follow-up to the Vision Pro that will be even better, introducing a faster processor, Gurman reports.
So moving forward, expect multiple models of Apple's next big product lineup: one that's more affordable, and one that offers the best tech — for a price.