A look at Apple's plans for Vision headsets and AR glasses, M4 Macs, reasons for limiting Apple Intelligence to the latest iPhones and delaying it in the EU
The Apple Vision Pro has gotten off to a slow start, spurring management to rethink its plans for the device.
BloombergMark Gurman
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple entered 2024 treating Vision Pro's US launch as part of a broader effort to revive growth while addressing its generative-AI gap and antitrust pressure, as outlined in its pre-launch challenge list. The reported slow start now makes the headset roadmap a product-strategy question rather than simply a launch-execution task.
The same planning cycle ties Apple’s hardware refreshes to Apple Intelligence, but with availability differentiated by both device generation and region. That creates a common constraint across Apple’s next platforms: new capabilities depend on hardware and rollout conditions, not just software release timing.
First-order effects
Apple must reassess its Vision headset plans after weaker-than-expected early traction, while continuing development work on AR glasses and other hardware priorities.
Limiting Apple Intelligence to the latest iPhones makes recent-device owners the initial eligible audience; delaying the EU rollout leaves that market without the capability at launch.
Second-order effects
A narrower eligible iPhone base makes Apple Intelligence a more explicit upgrade differentiator, while older-device users receive a different software proposition.
Vision developers and accessory partners face less certainty about the pace and shape of the headset opportunity as Apple revisits product plans; EU users and businesses must wait for feature parity.
Third-order effects
If Apple continues to gate on-device AI by hardware generation, product refresh cycles may increasingly be organized around AI-compute capability rather than conventional annual feature upgrades.
If Vision demand remains constrained, Apple’s spatial-computing strategy may shift toward a longer, more selective path to mass-market hardware rather than treating the first headset as an immediate volume platform.
The trend: Apple is converging hardware, on-device AI, and regional availability into a more segmented product strategy, while testing how quickly new computing categories can broaden beyond early adopters.
BREAKING: $AAPL Apple is seeking to create lightweight AR glasses that people could wear throughout the day, expected to come out in 2027 by the earliest. Does anyone seriously see themselves wearing something on their face all day? Zucks definitively has one this round with Ap…
@tfadell Agree with your criticism of the AVP but comparing Apple to Sony is a very strange take: are a lot of things that Sony couldn't figure out that Apple did. Sony stopped innovating around the year 2000
The other problem is that people don't want to drain their phone to use another device. It taking your iPhone from 100% to 0% in less than 2 hours would be a strong disincentive to using the headset.
So many comments about “it's a clear use case for work, what are they thinking” Outside the enthusiast crowd for that product, working in headsets as a main use case is still extremely far away from practical for most. We are back to the PCVR stage in thinking all over again
If they do this strategy they will likely still need the R1 chip on the headset with a Mac or Phone doing the compute. Will likely need the latest iPhone 17 Pro when it comes out.
My new VR market hypothesis. 2024: Flat until Q4. 2024 Q4: Slight bump, Samsung headset + New Meta Headset 3S + Christmas bump. 2025: Slight increase, new HorizonOS headsets + AndroidXR. 2025 Q4/2026 Q1: Sizable inflection point. Meta AR Goggles + Apple Vision Air.
Excellent. I absolutely love the Vision Pro. A cheaper model next year to get it in more hands is a great thing. visionOS 2 is a worthy update, and cannot wait for the update in a few months that gives me a huge curved 2x4K display.
A narrower field of view would be unacceptable. But requiring a tethered iPhone in lieu of the battery pack would make a whole lot of sense. https://9to5mac.com/...
Called this, new Apple Vision headset likely to be tethered to a phone. Making it much cheaper and lighter. This would be a big inflection point in VR. Possibly the biggest one in our history. [image]
Strongly disagree with this!?? Like that's the opposite of what people actually want. Should Apple do this, they might as well abandon the product itself. Also lowering the quality of passthrough and going with an even narrower fov for the “cheaper” $2k headset feels misguided [i…
“Prototypes of the N107 also have a narrower field of view than the Vision Pro. And the company is considering making the device reliant on a tethered Mac or iPhone.” 😬
The human factors issues are woefully misunderstood. It's geeks chasing technology... at best it's a powerful sporadic, episodic use device for highly strategic, mostly collaborative, tools and education. AR is the future for consumer. Not XR, VR, or MR.
If Sony, entertainment powerhouse, can't figure it out (because it's a fundamental human factors issue) neither will Apple. Apple is not an entertainment comp. Vision Pro is “at best” a B2B prod even at $1000. https://www.theverge.com/... I'll say it again... https://fortune.com/…
Power On: Apple's plan to expand the Vision Pro includes a cheaper model next year, a Vision Pro 2 as early as the year after and AR glasses after that. https://www.bloomberg.com/...