Apple Is Ditching The Vision Pro Headset For Smart Glasses: We Know Why | Tech News

Apple could be eyeing the more affordable smart glasses market.

Apple launched the Vision Pro headset that was expensive for most buyers and its use case was limited to some extent. Some might say the $3,499 price tag deterred the product from being a big market hit but this is not a mass market product by any means.

On the other scale you have Meta that has focused on Quest headsets as well as the Ray Ban smart glasses. Both of them cost a fraction of the Vision Pro headset, which makes them appealing and easier to buy (for most regions). 

Google Glass is the first wearable product that comes to our mind but 2012 was a little too early for the product. Meta Ray Bans have shown the time is right for smart glasses, thanks to AI. Which is why Apple is ready to pause its next Vision Pro headset plans and shift all its resources to make the first Apple AR smart glasses to rival Meta. 

Product For Everyone 

The chances of more people buying the Meta Ray Ban glasses over the Vision Pro headset is high. Which tells you why Apple decided to keep its product available in select regions, and completely missed out India (biggest iPhone market outside of US). 

Vision Pro as a concept alienates people because you strap on to the headset and enter virtual reality (with a dose of mixed reality). 

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. 

Reality Can Wait 

Apple’s product line has become stagnant, even though the new iPhone Air and the rumoured iPhone Fold could show its changing mindset. But it needs a product beyond iPhones, and the iGlass (it is Apple after all), could be its ideal blueprint to achieve that and allow Tim Cook to show that he means business at the helm of the trillion dollar valued tech giant. 

There are bigger fishes to fry for the Cupertino-based giant but Cook is obsessed with the new product category and we’re hoping its product delivers on all this hype and excitement.