Apple has reportedly stopped production of its premium-priced mixed-reality headset due to weak demand and a lack of content. Production for the Vision Pro has been on a downturn since the summer of 2024 when it was said to be at around under a half million units. Apple CEO Tim Cook was quoted back in October as saying the $3500 headset is an “early adopter product” and that it’s primarily for “people who want tomorrow’s technology today.”
New reports of Apple scaling back on production continued with numbers getting as low as 1,000/day in October, as did mention that VR developers believed the market was either in a state of decline or stagnation. Now comes another report that Apple has directed its Vision Pro manufacturer, Luxshare, to wind down production of the headset in November but it could re-activate production should demand increase past existing inventory.
Per Mac Rumors:
“Apple is said to have told Luxshare, a Chinese company that serves as the Vision Pro’s assembler, that it would need to wind down production in November. Luxshare was making around 1,000 Vision Pro headsets per day as of October, which was half that being produced at its peak. Apple will apparently still be able to resume Vision Pro production if sales pick up since the production lines are not yet due to be dismantled.”
There has already been speculation that a 2nd gen Vision Pro was in the works but according to reports from last summer it had been canceled, but now it seems that might not be entirely true. While low-sales numbers for the first model have indeed stalled the development of a new model it turns out that Apple could instead be re-working it to be a slight upgrade utilizing the M5 chip along with supporting Apple Intelligence. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the next model is still in development and on track for a 2025, possibly 2026 release. The new headset would also reuse various parts from the first model to offset costs between the two. So in short, while Apple has reportedly stopped production for the current model the journey for the Vision Pro is not over yet.
Per Mac Rumors:
“Corroborating this, Kuo and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have indicated that a more iterative second-generation Vision Pro is in active development, adding the introduction of an M5 chip and Apple Intelligence. Gurman has projected the device could launch between fall 2025 and spring 2026. This updated model is expected to reuse many components from the first-generation Vision Pro to offset the surplus inventory in Apple’s supply chain.”