Five ways Apple can save the Vision Pro in 2025
Apple’s most fantastic piece of hardware, the forward-looking Vision Pro, is not a success; not at least if it is measured based on customer interest and market penetration.
Throughout the year we have seen reports of flat sales and scaled back production, although zero confirmation from Apple of sales figures. The Cupertino tech giant is mainly talking about developer support, the growing number of Vision Pro apps, spatial computing content and support from third-party partners. Recently Apple has a $29,000 Blackmagic camera for recording spatial Vision Pro movies. That price tag makes more sense when you consider the Vision Pro still costs $3,499 / £3,499 / AU$5,999.
As I’ve written from the beginning of my Vision Pro journey, I love this headset. It’s a spectacular mixed-reality experience that’s as useful for watching immersive movies as it is for productivity, letting you have a huge desktop of apps floating around your head. It’s as intuitive as anything Apple has ever built, and spatial photography and videography evoke emotions you never thought consumer electronics could produce.
It is also a system that is crippled by humanity – we are not built to isolate ourselves from each other. Wearing these glasses around the house elicits groans and serious sideways glances from family members and partners. I enjoyed the huge work space in the office, but my colleagues thought I looked crazy. Apple’s attempts to let me virtually stare back at friends, colleagues, and loved ones through the headset were also poorly received. I couldn’t find anyone who wasn’t put off by my recreated look.
Even the people inspired by the Vision Pro idea could barely afford it, for the most part. $3,500 isn’t an “everyone” prize, it’s a “rare” prize. I started to feel like Vision Pro had no place in homes across the US, and later around the world, when every time I wrote about the headset, six people read the story. When we write about the best iPhone (any brand, model or rumor) everyone reads it. The Vision Pro cannot generate a fraction of the interest.
I believe in the Vision Pro and the technology in it. It’s really unlike anything else on the market or anything I’ve experienced before, but it can’t survive this way. Apple will certainly have to make some tough decisions in 2025. However, if it wants the Vision Pro to survive and not go the way of the world, Newton or even the original HomePodI have some notes.
Lower the price
This is obvious, but it also means that Apple is taking a position rarely made in hardware: a loss. It costs a lot to build the Vision Pro (One estimate puts it at more than $1,540), with high-end displays accounting for perhaps a third of that price. If Apple doesn’t swap out components (more on that later), it would simply have to drop the price by more than half and cushion the blow. Yes, every Vision Pro sold in 2025 might cost it some money, but think of the millions that could buy it.
Apple’s growth is no longer based on hardware like the iPhone alone. It has a huge and fast-growing services business, where you pay a monthly fee to access iCloud storage, Apple TV Plus, Music, Fitness Plus, News, and so on. Apple customers buy more services when they have more Apple gadgets… you can see where this is going. Most of Apple’s service experiences, like Apple TV Plus, are even better on a device like the Vision Pro, so this should mean a loss in the short term that leads to a bigger gain in the long term.
Exchange materials and components
What if the expected Vision Pro 2 has a plastic cover instead of glass? Does it need brushed aluminum? What if Apple does away with the displays that power the creepy EyeSight feature? And maybe the resolution of the expensive display system can be reduced a bit.
Apple should look at all the ways it can reduce build costs without ruining the Vision Pro experience. I know that’s a tall order, but the Vision Pro sometimes feels a bit overbuilt. To be fair, Apple did this because it was launching a new class of computing: spatial computing. The problem is that few others bought the concept. Most consumers are still happy with plain old computers. To get them excited they need a cheaper Vision Pro, so fewer and cheaper materials and components could be an option.
Send an Apple Vision Lite
Rumors point to it Vision Pro Lite arrive next year or the year after. If Apple is smart, it will tease a $1,500 Vision Pro Lite by March at the latest – uninterested consumers won’t be waiting for a late 2025 or 2026 launch. Apple needs to deliver affordable and usable Lite units quickly enough to sustain the Vision Pro brand to restart and finally attract millions of new customers.
Reveal the Apple Vision AR glasses
How does this help the Vision Pro? If these new lightweight Apple AR-only wearables are considered part of the Vision Pro family, and they cost between $799 and $1200, they could cause a halo effect. Excitement and even some FOMO surrounding the glasses could spark renewed interest in the overpriced mixed-reality headset, especially if the glasses also run visionOS and offer seamless integration with Vision Pro.
Bundle Vision Pro with the iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB model
An iPhone 16 Pro Max with 1TB of storage costs $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,849. That’s a significant mobile investment and a signal to Apple that you are a dedicated customer. What if when you buy that smartphone, Apple offers you a Vision Pro for an extra $599? That’s far from free, but it’s a huge discount for Apple’s highest-paying customers. Most people will buy the largest iPhone, and some might consider paying extra for all that storage if they can also get access to a deeply discounted Vision Pro. I think Apple would be surprised at how many headsets it would eventually move.
There is no perfect answer to the question of how to save the Vision Pro, but I’m sure the solution is mostly about price. I think there are actually millions who would love to try the Vision Pro, but see the price tag as a huge barrier and move on. Put the Vision Pro within reach of the masses, Apple, and you’ll change the market equation and save the Vision Pro in 2025.