Apple Is Making Fewer Vision Pro Headsets Amid Low Sales In The Market | Tech News

Apple could be eyeing the more affordable smart glasses market.

Apple’s Vision Pro journey is gradually losing steam after all the early launch hype in 2024. Reports claim the company is now making even less number of the Vision Pro headset as the sales have been hardly inspiring enough to keep the units running in full flow. Many were worried about the $3,499 (over Rs 2.5 lakh) price tag for the Vision Pro which had played a big role in the less than successful entry into the mixed reality segment. 

Meta has continued its own growth with the Ray Ban smart glasses and will soon be getting the display-powered versions for almost the price of a base iPhone 17 model. 

Headsets Out, Glasses Next? 

Meta Ray Bans have shown the time is right for smart glasses, thanks to AI. Google Glass is the first wearable product that comes to our mind but 2012 was a little too early for the product.  

Which is why the latest Vision Pro news suggests Apple is ready to pause the headset plans and shift all its resources to make the first Apple AR smart glasses to rival Meta. The lack of demand has seemingly forced Apple to cut down the units of the headset and this may have played a part in deciding to keep its product available in select regions, and completely missed out India (biggest iPhone market outside of US). The report by Financial Times, quoting IDC data, claims, Apple would have sold meager 45,000 units of the headset in Q4 2024 which is quite low. 

Vision Pro as a concept alienates people because you strap on to the headset and enter virtual reality (with a dose of mixed reality). And when people didn’t buy enough of these devices, developers weren’t keen on building their apps for the product which hindered the growth of the ecosystem. 

This is where augmented reality has shown its promise and the Ray Ban glasses have proven the concept is more attuned to real life. Apple has clearly seen the hype and demand for the product, which is now moving to the next stage with the display-based smart glasses that Meta is happy to price at $800 and will be rolling out globally. 

To be fair, you can say the prices being quoted are not exactly budget but when you factor in the cost of buying a smartphone these days, the novelty of using glasses with a second screen in front of the eyes could be highly attractive to many.