If you were excited by the tech of Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro VR headset but horrified by its cost, there’s good news — Apple plans to release a cheaper version.
This is according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who has become of the most prolific and reliable leakers of pre-release Apple information.
He claims Apple is “already working on a cheaper model to get the new product category onto the faces of more people,” despite the original Apple Vision Pro not scheduled to see a release until 2024.
There will be some time to wait before this more approachable Vision headset arrives, then. Gurman suggests you might tentatively expect it to arrive “as early as the end of 2025”.
Is Apple Vision Pro worth it?
The question is whether interest in the Apple headset series will still be strong at that stage, an issue compounded by the $3,500 asking price of the original Vision Pro.
Why? One problem of creating a class of gadget intended for a small audience is it dissuades developers from investing too much into developing software for it. And third-party software is absolutely something the Vision Pro needs.
At launch, it will be able to run games from Apple Arcade, while Vision Pro presentations have shown apps like Safari, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Adobe Lightroom running on the headset.
However, these are apps running on virtual screens that float in front of the wearer, not the kind of immersive 3D experiences some of you may have tried with a Meta Quest 2 headset.
Apple calls the headset a Spatial Computer, and does not use the term “virtual-reality headset” when talking about Vision Pro.
It has certainly been referenced by the many people who have previewed Apple Vision Pro, though, including our own David Phelan.
“The small video screens you’re looking into on Apple Vision Pro are so detailed, so rich, and with such tiny pixels, it really doesn’t feel like video at all. Text is pin-sharp, making productivity apps possible. It’s a stable and realistic view at all times,” he wrote in our Apple Vision Pro review.
It will also display a virtual version of your own eyes onto the outside of the headset, should someone else come into the room. This is an odd vision of the future, but is currently number one on the list of gadgets we want to test drive some more.
Apple is yet to announce UK pricing for the Vision Pro, but our estimates suggest it could be as high as £3,599-3,799.
