Sources: Apple canceled a project to build AR glasses that would require a connection with a Mac; the company is still working on successors to the Vision Pro

- Headset group struggles to find path forward after Vision Pro — Canceled device would have rivaled Meta's future AR glasses

Bloomberg 2025-02-01 Mark Gurman

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple’s spatial-computing effort had already been described as a push to make a next Vision Pro more comfortable, while Meta pursued true AR glasses; the cancellation narrows Apple’s reported near-term routes beyond a headset form factor. Apple’s earlier comfort-focused Vision Pro work provides the immediate backdrop.

The move also lands after Meta reportedly shelved a premium headset intended to compete with Vision Pro. Meta’s premium-headset cancellation and Apple’s reported glasses cancellation show both companies reassessing costly, high-end mixed-reality hardware paths while retaining broader ambitions.

First-order effects

Apple stops development of the reported Mac-tethered AR-glasses concept, removing a potential product positioned against Meta’s future AR glasses.
Apple’s headset group remains focused on Vision Pro successors, making that product line the reported continuing vehicle for its spatial-computing work.

Second-order effects

Meta faces one less reported Apple product path in AR glasses, though its future-glasses plans remain the more direct competitive benchmark cited in the report.
The cancellation increases the importance of whether Vision Pro successors can address the comfort and product-path challenges that have shaped Apple’s prior work.

Third-order effects

If comparable project resets persist, mixed-reality competition may concentrate on fewer, more differentiated device bets rather than parallel premium-headset and AR-glasses programs.
The sector’s durable challenge is shifting from demonstrating immersive hardware to finding product architectures that can justify sustained development; the eventual balance between standalone, tethered, and glasses-style devices remains unsettled.

The trend: Spatial-computing vendors are pruning technically demanding hardware concepts and concentrating resources on the form factors they believe can establish a durable market.

Discussion

@brijsingh Brij Singh on bluesky
Apple saw Meta sell a million or so rayban glasses, crunched the numbers and decided the market wasn't big enough to risk its privacy cred. AR glasses are an indoors-only play, for now [embedded post]
@markgurman Mark Gurman on threads
The canceled Apple device also would have been similar to devices such as Xreal Inc.'s One spectacles and Lenovo Group Ltd.'s ThinkReality. Apple had hoped to capitalize on one of the more compelling features of visionOS, the operating system that runs on the Vision Pro. It can…
@documentingmeta @documentingmeta on threads
This is kinda bad news for XR fam. Hope this is only one of the many devices they have in plans
@szed_ar @szed_ar on threads
Meta core under appreciated advantage is they can subsidize hardware, and make it back with software/ads. Meta is the King of ads 👑. Apple doesn't have the same luxury, on the contrary it has innovaters dilemma to preserve there 20%+ margins.
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
BREAKING: Apple cancels project to build AR Glasses that would pair with its devices, in a major retreat as it struggles to create a mainstream hit to follow the Vision Pro and rival Meta. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
The original concept was for these AR Glasses, codenamed N107, to pair with an iPhone, but Apple shifted to the Mac over battery life and processing power concerns. Apple is still working on underlying technology for standalone glasses — coming one day.
@munster_gene Gene Munster on x
@markgurman's story that $AAPL has canceled a Vision-related project added to investor concerns around Apple Intelligence and has stirred up the question: has Apple lost its new product touch? Not every Apple product has been a hit—even during their most prolific innovation
@maxwinebach Max Weinbach on x
Even if it's something a little half-assed by Apple standards, I think for a company with flat growth they need to experiment with new things and some airpods style glasses could be great
@anshelsag Anshel Sag on x
This is bad news for Apple and VisionOS, but also remember that Apple is running many different AR projects in parallel and this is likely just one of many formfactors they are working on.
@scobleizer Robert Scoble on x
@LumusVision More thinking: the glasses that were going to pair with an iPhone via a cord didn't sound attractive to me. Glasses need to be self contained. Cords don't make any sense to me for consumers. It's one of the worst things about the Vision Pro.
@rjonesy Ryan Jones on x
Apple Home, foldable iPhone, and Apple Intelligence are the near-term future of Apple.
@jshchnz Josh Cohenzadeh on x
This seems like a huge mistake 🙃 The @Meta glasses are great, but having an @Apple 1st party connected glasses would've been a complete game changer. Apple should be worried, I'm already using my Airpods way less because of the glasses built in speaker... 🤔 Why cancel this?
@vatsal_manot Vatsal on x
I still remember the shock of seeing Microsoft Word as the first card in the row of featured apps, when the Vision Pro launched in the U.S. The Vision Pro has incredible hardware, but a terribly fragmented software ecosystem.
@mignano Michael Mignano on x
Is Apple done with headsets? That's my reading of this. If so, possible implications: They believe the phone form factor has staying power as the dominant personal computing platform, even if AI becomes the front door of most interactions. They view some combination of Watch
@davehanson Dave Hanson on x
Bummer. I hope the Meta Orion glasses are somehow nicely integrated with iPhone now that Apple apparently no longer has any AR glasses in development.
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
AR glasses being mainstream is a 10 year horizon. That said, there are low hanging fruit opportunities that are worth bringing to market sooner than later.
@rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
Unless the successor to Apple Vision Pro is just that?
@scobleizer Robert Scoble on x
This isn't good news. Will try to find out what's going on. The glasses were going to be in 2027 anyway. My first thinking? It knows that monitors in glasses just aren't good enough for “Apple quality.” The waveguides I saw earlier this week from @LumusVision at https://x.co…
r/apple r on reddit
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r/augmentedreality r on reddit
BREAKING: Apple cancels project to build AR Glasses that would pair with its devices, in a major retreat as it struggles to create a mainstream hit to follow the Vision Pro and rival Meta.
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