Apple’s affordable Vision Pro headset may have been delayed to 2027

If you have been waiting for the “affordable” Vision Pro headset, the wait is going to be long. Apple has been rumoured to be working on a less expensive variant of the Vision Pro headset. Latest report by popular and trusted Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kup suggests that the rumours are possibly true, however, it also suggests that the release of the purported affordable Vision Pro may have been delayed until 2027. “As I understand it, production of the cheaper Vision Pro has been delayed beyond 2027 for a while now”, writes Kuo in a post on X.
The analyst claims that while Apple will launch a new Vision Pro headset next year, it will not be the much-anticipated cheaper version of the headset, but a new variant with the new M5 chip. “This means Apple’s only new head-mounted display device in 2025 will be the Vision Pro with an upgraded M5 processor”, he says.
Kuo has also explained what could have possibly caused the delay. He says it could be a HomePod-like situation for Apple with the Vision Pro. He claims that Apple may have realised that just reducing the price of the Vision Pro headset may not be enough to convince them to buy the product. This similar to what happened with the HomePod — even with the more affordable HomePod mini, Apple’s smart speakers aren’t very popular.
“I think what really drove Apple to delay the cheaper Vision Pro is that simply reducing the price wouldn’t help create successful use cases. It’s similar to the HomePod situation—even after launching the cheaper HomePod mini, Apple’s smart speakers failed to become mainstream products,” writes Kuo.
The analyst is essentially insinuating that the rumoured cheaper Vision Pro may have some tech that helps it stand out from the standard Vision Pro headset.
The rumours about the more affordable Vision Pro headset have been circling the tech industry for about a year now. The Vision Pro created a lot of excitement with its world’s first spatial operating system (VisionOS) which allows users to interact with digital content in their physical space using their eyes, hands, and voice. It never made it to the Indian market, but in the US, the device created quite a buzz. However, there was one little hiccup that kept that device from becoming as popular as one would have hoped. It’s price. The Vision Pro headset was launched in the US for $3,499 (which is roughly Rs 2.89 lakh). Rumours suggest that the affordable version could cost around $1,000 less.