Apple's Affordable Vision Pro Delayed Beyond 2027, to Get an M5 Upgrade Next Year: Ming-Chi Kuo

Apple has been rumoured to unveil an affordable version of the Vision Pro mixed reality headset sometime next year. Now, reputed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that the tech giant has postponed its plans to announce the budget successor to the Apple Vision Pro beyond 2027. The Cupertino, California-based company is instead said to be planning to refresh the headset with a new M5 chipset next year. The planned lower-end Apple headset, on the other hand, is expected to run on an inferior chip, feature lower resolution displays and skip the EyeSight feature, that shows the wearer's eyes on the front of the Vision Pro display. 

Apple May Ship a New Vision Pro Next Year

In an X (formerly Twitter) post Sunday, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple had delayed its plans to release a more affordable Apple Vision Pro headset in 2025, with production of the cheaper version of the headset pushed beyond 2027. The analyst also said that Apple's only headset planned for launch in 2025 would be a new version of the Vision Pro with an upgraded M5 processor.

Kuo compared the budget-friendly Apple Vision Pro to Apple's HomePod mini, stating that “even after launching the cheaper HomePod mini, Apple's smart speakers failed to become mainstream products.” According to the analyst, Apple delayed a cheaper version of the Vision Pro likely because simply reducing the price of the headset wouldn't "help create successful use cases" for the product. 

The cheaper head-mounted wearable is expected to be priced at about $2,000 (roughly Rs. 1,68,000) and is likely to be made of cheaper materials and run on an inferior chip. The headset could also skip the heavily marketed EyeSight feature from the first-generation Apple Vision Pro. Apple might reduce the quality of the internal XR screens in the rumoured model to bring costs down, as well.

The original Apple Vision Pro's price starts at $3,499 (roughly Rs. 2,90,000) for the 256GB storage model. The device is also available in 512GB and 1TB storage configurations. 

Apple unveiled its first mixed-reality headset Vision Pro at WWDC 2023. It is currently up for sale in select countries, including the US, China, Europe, and Japan. The headset supports both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies and runs on the visionOS operating system. It is powered by Apple's M2 processor and an R1 chip under the hood.