Apple is scrapping plans for a budget-friendly, lighter Vision headset, pivoting to smart glasses instead. This shift indicates Apple sees the Vision Pro’s fully enclosed headset design as unsuitable for mass-market appeal in the near term (duh).
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company’s most premium products, such as the Mac Pro or Pro Display XDR, exist mainly to serve small but dedicated professional audiences. Though the Vision Pro could well join that camp, it has struggled to build much of a following so far.
After a decade of development and billions in spending, the headset remains an impressive but limited device. Beyond its steep price, hefty weight and meager app ecosystem, the Vision Pro’s enclosed design limits its appeal. It’s not something most people can wear for hours a day or use in all settings.
Smart glasses, however, are a different story. After I tested Meta’s new Ray-Ban Displays, it’s clear to me how compelling this form factor can be. The ability to view messages, take calls, and capture photos or video hands-free feels natural — and far more accessible than donning a bulky headset.
Yes, Meta’s current glasses still feel like a prototype. But they show enormous promise.
The faster Apple brings glasses to market, the better positioned it will be to compete with Meta. That company has already pivoted from headset-focused development to a glasses focus.
That doesn’t mean the Vision Pro is finished. Apple is refreshing the headset with a faster chip and will likely deliver a full redesign at the $3,000-plus price level eventually. At some point, the Vision Pro could sit atop a full lineup of “Vision” wearable gear. Smart glasses without a display would be at the low end, followed by display-equipped versions, true augmented reality spectacles and the high-end headset.
MacDailyNews Take: When all is said and done, Meta will be a footnote in the smart glasses market.
Meta’s glasses are hardly smart, nor are they a threat to Apple. There is no substitute for Apple’s vast ecosystem. As soon as Apple releases its first pair of smart glasses it will quickly become that nascent market’s leader. – MacDailyNews, October 2, 2025
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I am all in for Apple to make a competitor to Meta Glasses. But, remember, neither Meta, nor Google has a full fledged consumer and professional operating system, macOS. So it should be natural that Apple make a Vision Mac. A Vision Pro like macOS vehicle that is thin enough to not feel like a burden on a face. (Vision Pro always felt like a burden) Vision Mac will more or less feel like an eye-cover some people wear while sleeping.
With time, Apple Glass and Vision Mac may be joined to make a Apple Glass cum Vision Mac Flap which can be turned down to be used like a Mac and reverts up to be used as Apple Glass back with Flap up.
According to me, macOS is the only serious both consumer and professional operating system in town. Microsoft let Windows 10 linger too long and is now has to make Windows 11 compulsory.
With offering Vision Macs, stand alone or as a flap, Windows 11 will get hit by a 1-2 punch. and will need a new strategy to counter macOS but by that time macOS will be one step ahead in the processor power.
Do not give an impression like a chicken little with her head cut off in chasing Meta, Apple can counter 10 Metas simultaneously because Apple has macOS.
macOS is a gem, let this gem cut Windows 11 to pieces.
MacOS is a deeply neglected gem. Apple needs to put focus on the basics, and then build fancy ideas from there. Stop introducing things and then abandoning them.