By: Nick Gambino
The Vision Pro headset hasn’t even hit the market yet and Apple is already looking at creating a cheaper mixed reality headset as a follow-up.
With the Vision Pro being slapped with a $3,500 price tag, it’s not shocking that the company is aware of the fact that they need to offer a more affordable option. The thing is, it looks like they’re looking to create a version that sells for somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500. That’s still a steep price for a VR headset, but Apple hasn’t made their fortune selling cheap hardware.
According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, they are already looking at what they would have to sacrifice to come down on the price. These changes would be reflected in the second generation Vision Pro.
In order to accommodate the cost they would do away with EyeSight which is the feature that allows others to see the user’s eyes while they’re wearing the headset. When turned on it looks like a pair of ski goggles. It’s not the coolest looking thing, but when you’re trying to make the product seamlessly blend into the wearer’s life and make it less solitary, this is a key feature.
In addition to getting rid of EyeSight, Apple is also looking to use an iPhone processor chip instead of an M chip, making it less powerful. And as is expected if you’re getting a cheaper version of the Vision Pro, they’re also lowering the resolution on the displays and reducing the number of cameras and sensors.
One benefit of removing all these features, other than the lower cost, is that it will make the mixed reality headset lighter and more comfortable for the user.
We haven’t even gotten our hands on the first-gen Vision Pro (expect it in early 2024), so it’s funny that we’re already talking about the next-gen version. Though, once we were hit with the hefty price of the new device, it makes sense we’d start wondering when Apple was going to embrace reality and release a cheaper headset.
