Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner stays bullish on the Vision Pro, regardless of stories of low gross sales for the reason that mixed-reality headset launched almost 18 months in the past.
“I used to be thrilled with the discharge from the staff on visionOS 26,” said Cook dinner, on Apple’s earnings name on Thursday. “It consists of many issues in it, like Spatial Widgets to allow customers to customise their digital area. The Personas took an enormous enhance, they are much extra lifelike. And naturally there’s new enterprise APIs for firms as effectively.”
“We proceed to be very centered on it,” added Cook dinner. “I do not need to get into the roadmap on it, however that is an space that we actually imagine in.”
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman has already leaked the obvious subsequent step in that roadmap. Final month, he reported that Apple plans to replace the Imaginative and prescient Professional as early as this 12 months. He expects two key upgrades over the present mannequin, together with a faster M4 chip, and a new head strap that makes it simpler to put on the headset for prolonged use.
Apple launched the Imaginative and prescient Professional within the U.S. in February 2024, with pricing beginning at a lofty $3,499. The present mannequin is supplied with an M2 chip.
A number of the clients that did purchase the Imaginative and prescient Professional stated they regretted spending so much money on a tool that they in the end used so little. And a few customers have complained concerning the machine being too heavy to put on comfortably for lengthy intervals.
Cook dinner beforehand admitted that the Imaginative and prescient Professional shouldn’t be a mass-market product on account of its excessive worth.
“At $3,500, it is not a mass-market product,” he stated final 12 months. “Proper now, it is an early-adopter product. Individuals who need to have tomorrow’s expertise immediately—that is who it is for. Luckily, there’s sufficient people who find themselves in that camp that it is thrilling.”
Analysis agency IDC estimated that Imaginative and prescient Professional gross sales could be under 500,000 units in 2024, and it’s most likely protected to estimate that gross sales stay under 1 million as of immediately.
Gurman stated that Apple plans to launch a redesigned Imaginative and prescient Professional that weighs considerably much less — and hopefully prices considerably much less — in 2027.
As well as, Apple provide chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple sensible glasses with out built-in shows to enter mass manufacturing in the second quarter of 2027. Much like the Meta Ray-Bans, he stated that Apple’s glasses will permit customers to take photographs, report movies, and hearken to music, with each contact and hands-free voice management.
Ultimately, Gurman and Kuo count on Apple to launch true augmented actuality glasses, however such a product possible stays a few years away.