The eye-watering $3,499 price tag for Apple’s new Augmented Reality (AR) headset, the Vision Pro, has faced an outcry from consumers since it launched last week.
But the tech innovators behind the iPhone are already working to produce a budget model, according to insiders and public trademark filings, which could launch in 2025.
The trademark filings reported earlier this year hint at a strategy identical to what Apple has pursued with its iPhone and iPhone Pro lines.
The documents reserved names like ‘Reality Pro’ and ‘Reality One,’ for the product now known as the Vision Pro, suggesting that the ‘One’ will be their cheaper option.
The proposed Apple Vision One promises to be closer in cost to Apple’s chief rivals in the Virtual Reality (VR) and AR headset market, the Meta Quest 3, which retails for one-seventh the price: $499.99
The eye-watering $3,499 price tag for Apple’s new Augmented Reality (AR) Vision Pro headset has faced an outcry from consumers and industry critics, but a cheaper model is on the way
Unlike its rivals, Apple’s entry into the market is a dual-use device: It promises to be a mixed-reality headset capable of both an all-encompassing VR environment and an AR experience mapped over your real-world surroundings.
Vision Pro manages this neat trick thanks to pass-through cameras that allow for its AR effect.
But the company has nevertheless been defensive about the price tag, getting ahead of criticism by touting the Vision Pro’s advanced, multi-use novel design.
‘If you purchased a new state-of-the-art TV, surround-sound system, powerful computer with multiple high-definition displays, high-end camera and more, you still would not have come close to what Vision Pro delivers,’ Mike Rockwell, Apple’s executive leading the Vision Pro team, said right before announcing its cost.
Critics have pointed out that Rockwell’s comparison ignores that TVs are shareable tech that whole families or groups can enjoy, whereas the $3,499 Vision Pro is designed for one solitary user.
While that may make it a hard price for most consumers to justify, Bloomberg reports that Apple currently intends to release their cheaper entry in the Vision as soon as the end of 2025.
But the company is also pursuing further inroads down the luxury track, with a faster, second-generation Vision Pro in production.
Apple launched Vision Pro during its World Wide Developers Conference on June 5.
Unlike its rivals, Apple’s entry into the market is a dual-use device: It promises to be a mixed-reality headset capable of both an all-encompassing VR environment as well as pass-through cameras that allow for an AR experience mapped over your real-world surroundings
The headset lets users merge the real world with a digital one navigated by their eyes, voice and hands – no controllers needed.
It runs on VisionOS, which Apple touts as ‘the world’s first spatial operating system.’
Apple calls it ‘spatial computing’ because it blends content into the space around you.
Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Technology Development Group, said: ‘Creating our first spatial computer required invention across nearly every facet of the system.
‘Through a tight integration of hardware and software, we designed a standalone spatial computer in a compact wearable form factor that is the most advanced personal electronics device ever.’
Users move their eyes and hands and say specific commands to power their journey through the augmented experience.
Apple’s human interface chief Alan Dye said that users will select content inside the goggles with their eyes, tap their fingers together to click, and gently flick to scroll.
And the EyeSight feature shows people in the room your eyes, unlike Meta’s Quest, which features an opaque visor.
Vision Pro’s exterior screen goes dark when a user is fully immersed in a virtual world but displays signals when the device is in use, letting outsiders know the person is in an AR world.
Apple has been defensive about the price tag, getting ahead of criticism by touting the Vision Pro’s advanced, multi-use novel design
When a person approaches a user in full virtual mode, the headset will show the user and the outside person to each other.
‘You’re never isolated from people around you,’ Dye said. ‘You can see them, and they can see you.’
‘The design features an ultra-high-resolution display system that packs 23 million pixels across two displays and custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design ‘to ensure every experience feels like it is taking place in front of the user’s eyes in real time,’ Apple shared Monday.
The Vision Pro has two hours of use with an external battery, which Apple said would reduce the weight on the user’s head.
However, the device must be plugged into the wall or battery pack – there is no standalone use.
Apple said that Vision Pro has a three-dimensional camera and microphone system to capture videos and pictures that can be viewed in 3D later.
For work uses, Apple showed how the headset could be used with a trackpad and keyboard to work like a traditional computer with multiple displays.
Vision Pro can also playback memories in your living room, such as videos of your children or a fun party you attended.
