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claims that the “supply chain” is saying Apple will launch the lighter and cheaper Vision headset in June 2025. It claims it will only weigh 400 grams and be significantly lighter than
.reportIt claims also the supply chain has been preparing to scale up “to the level of 10s of millions”. This is an extraordinary claim, given the current Vision Pro is produced at the scale of hundreds of thousands.600-650 gram Vision ProTens of Millions! For the cheaper Vision headset, to achieve tens-of-millions scale would require an expansion in microOLED production capacity. This will drive down price. Sony’s micro-OLED output is a major constraint on the current Vision Pro. The Information reported in
last year that Apple had been testing micro-OLED screens from BOE and SeeYa Technology, two Chinese suppliers. If the samples meet Apple’s standards, Ma wrote, displays from these companies could be used in future Vision headsets.
Alternatively Apple could use LCD panels, which are an order of magnitude cheaper and already available at huge scale. But LCD is much less pixel dense than micro-OLED, and thus this would necessitate either greatly reduced resolution or a much bulkier design, so it’s unlikely Apple will take this path.
Multiple Reports Point To Cheaper Vision HeadsetWayne Ma reportedThis is far from the first time we’ve seen a report describing Apple’s plans for a cheaper non-Pro Vision headset.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
that Apple was working on a cheaper headset a full year before Vision Pro was even revealed, with Kuo at the time saying Apple aimed to launch it in 2025.
Last year Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reliably reported many details of Vision Pro before it was officially revealed or even acknowledged to exist by Apple, too
on the existence of this cheaper headset, saying it will feature an A-series chipset (used in iPhones) instead of an M-series chipset and is “likely” to lack the EyeSight front display. It’s reasonable to assume that the A18 Pro and A19 Pro could close that gap. The A17 Pro GPU in iPhone 15 Pro is 60% more powerful than the M2 GPU. Gurman said in the same report last year that Apple “discussed prices ranging from $1500 to $2500”.