Apple is slashing production forecasts for its $3,500 Vision Pro headset only weeks after unveiling it, report says

• Bad news for Apple: it's forecast to sell far fewer units of its $3,500 Vision Pro than planned.
• The FT reported that the new headset was facing production challenges in China.

Apple is being forced to slash production forecasts for the Vision Pro because of supply-chain difficulties and technical woes, per an FT report.

The iPhone maker had earmarked early 2024 to start selling the $3,500 mixed-reality headset, with plans to ship 1 million units next year. But the complexity of its design and production issues in China means it could hit less than half that target, per the outlet.

Luxshare, the Chinese manufacturer responsible for assembling the headset, is preparing to make fewer than 400,000 units in 2024, the FT reported, citing people close to Apple and the Shenzhen-based firm.

The report also said other Chinese suppliers working on Vision Pro components were only being asked for supply to meet demand for 130,000 to 150,000 units next year. Plans for a cheaper version of the headset are at least two years away.

Some of the technical issues related to the headset's OLED displays, which are meant to surpass the resolution of other displays available. The FT reported that Apple has been dissatisfied with the production of the screens.

The revised sales forecast and production challenges come a few weeks after Apple, which hit a $3 trillion market capitalization on Friday, revealed the headset at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The headset, which was in development for seven years, has been touted as Apple's most important product launch since the iPhone, with CEO Tim Cook betting that the company's future lies in immersive experiences that it calls "spatial computing."

However, the emerging issues surrounding the Vision Pro highlight the challenges Cook faces in launching a hardware category to surpass the iPhone, as well as the wider challenges tech companies face in building their versions of the metaverse.

Apple and Luxshare did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.