Apple’s most fantastic piece of hardware, the upcoming Vision Pro, is not a success; Not, at least, when measured by customer interest and market penetration.
Throughout the year we have seen reports of flat sales and reduced production, although Apple has not confirmed sales figures. The Cupertino tech giant primarily talks about developer support, the growing number of Vision Pro apps, spatial computing content, and third-party partner support. More recently, Apple touted a $29,000 Blackmagic camera for recording Vision Pro space movies. That price makes more sense considering the Vision Pro still costs $3,499 / £3,499 / AU$5,999.
As I wrote from the beginning of my Vision Pro journey, I love these headphones. It’s a spectacular mixed reality experience that’s as useful for watching immersive movies as it is for productivity, where you can have a vast desktop of apps floating around your head. It’s as intuitive as anything Apple has ever created, and space photography and videography trigger emotions you didn’t think could be elicited by consumer electronics.
It is also a system paralyzed by humanity: we are not made to isolate ourselves from each other. Wearing these glasses at home elicits groans and serious sidelong glances from family members and partners. I enjoyed the office’s huge workspace, but my coworkers thought it looked crazy. Apple’s efforts to make me virtual watching friends, coworkers, and loved ones through the headset were also poorly received. I couldn’t find anyone who wasn’t disappointed by my recreated look.
Even those people who are inspired by the idea of Vision Pro could barely afford it for the most part. $3,500 is not a price for “everyone,” but for “a few.” I got the feeling that the Vision Pro wasn’t having a place in homes in the US, and later around the world, when every time I wrote about the headphones, six people read the story. If we write about the best iPhone (any brand, model or rumor) everyone reads it. Vision Pro cannot generate a fraction of the interest.
I believe in Vision Pro and the technology it contains. It’s really unlike anything on the market or you’ve experienced before, but you can’t survive like this. Apple will surely make some tough decisions in 2025. However, if it wants the Vision Pro to survive and not go the way of the Newton or even the original HomePod, I have some notes.
Reduce price
This is obvious, but it also means Apple is taking a position it rarely takes with hardware: a loss. The Vision Pro costs a lot to build (one estimate puts it at more than $1,540), and high-end displays are perhaps a third of that price. If Apple doesn’t change components (more on this later), it should simply cut the price by more than half and take the hit. Yes, every Vision Pro you sell in 2025 could cost you some money, but think of the millions that could buy it.
Apple’s growth is no longer based solely on hardware like the iPhone. It has a huge and fast-growing services business, where you pay a monthly fee to access iCloud storage, Apple TV Plus, Music, Fitness Plus, News, etc. Apple customers buy more services when they have more Apple devices… you can see where this is going. Most Apple service experiences, like Apple TV Plus, are even better on a device like the Vision Pro, so this should represent a short-term loss that leads to a bigger long-term gain.
Change materials and components
What if the long-awaited Vision Pro 2 had a plastic cover instead of glass? Do you need brushed aluminum? What if Apple removes screens that activate the creepy EyeSight feature? And perhaps the resolution of the expensive display system could be reduced a bit.
Apple should consider all the ways it can reduce build costs without ruining the Vision Pro experience. I know it’s a tall order, but the Vision Pro sometimes feels a little overstuffed. To be fair, Apple did this because it was launching a new class of computing: spatial computing. The problem is that few others were buying the concept. Most consumers are still happy with plain old computing. To get them excited, they need a cheaper Vision Pro, so fewer materials and cheaper components could be an option.
Send an Apple Vision Lite
Rumors suggest that the Vision Pro Lite will arrive next year or the year after. If Apple is smart, it will tease a $1,500 Vision Pro Lite no later than March; disinterested consumers won’t wait for a late 2025 or 2026 launch. Apple needs to deliver affordable, usable Lite units quickly enough to reboot the Vision Pro brand and finally start attracting millions of new customers.
Introduces Apple Vision AR glasses
How does this help the Vision Pro? If these new lightweight Apple AR wearables are only considered part of the Vision Pro family and cost between $799 and $1,200, they could trigger a halo effect. The excitement and even some FOMO around the glasses could lead to renewed interest in expensive mixed reality headsets, especially if the glasses also run visionOS and offer seamless integration with Vision Pro.
Combine Vision Pro with the iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB model
An iPhone 16 Pro Max with 1TB of storage costs $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,849. That’s a considerable mobile investment and a sign to Apple that you’re a devoted customer. What if when you buy that smartphone, Apple offers you a Vision Pro for an additional $599? That’s far from free, but it’s a big discount for Apple’s highest-paying customers. Most people are buying the larger iPhone and some might consider paying more for all that storage if it also gave them access to a heavily discounted Vision Pro. I think Apple would be surprised at how many headphones it would end up moving.
There’s no perfect answer on how to save the Vision Pro, but I’m sure the solution mostly revolves around price. I think there are actually millions who would love to try the Vision Pro, but see the price as a huge barrier and move on. Make the Vision Pro available to the masses, Apple, and you will change the market equation and save the Vision Pro in 2025.
