Vision Pro as an "Air" model: Half the weight and half the price?
Apple's Vision Pro has been on the market unchanged since February 2024. According to a well-known analyst, Apple is now working on the weak points.
User with Vision Pro: Expensive and difficult – despite much-praised technology
(Image: Apple)
A significantly improved Vision Pro – or an optimized successor model – is not expected until 2027. The well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from the Taiwanese investment firm TF International Securities assumes this. In his latest report to investors, he calls the device "Vision Air" and puts speculation about price and weight on, which are probably the decisive factors for future sales success. The headset currently costs at least 4000 euros and, depending on the headband or padding, weighs up to 650 grams without the battery, making it too uncomfortable in the long term.
Pancake lenses from Taiwan
According to Kuo, the Vision Air will be "over 40 percent lighter" and "more than 50 percent cheaper" than the Vision Pro. The price and weight have therefore been roughly halved. As a result, Apple will also be able to sell one million units in 2027, Kuo predicts. To date, deliveries are said to have been below 400,000 units, and production has reportedly already been discontinued.
Suppliers are said to include General Interface Solution (GIS) from Taiwan, a specialist in processing ultra-thin glass. GIS is currently already laminating elements of the Vision Pro, and is also expected to continue doing so for its direct successor with the M5 SoC later this year. According to Kuo, GIS is the only manufacturer to supply the so-called pancake lenses for the Vision Air. The vertical integration with the lamination business helps here.
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Vision Pro is simply sold on
Meanwhile, Apple is stubbornly reselling the old model of the current Vision Pro. The headset is still not available from resellers – except second-hand on eBay. The price has not changed either: the 256 GByte version costs 3999 euros, the 512 GByte version 4249 euros and the 1 TByte version 4499 euros. In addition, there may be a charge for insert lenses from Zeiss, which have been available to order in Germany since the summer of last year.
Apple supplements the software side with regular updates. For example, visionOS 26 will soon be released, probably this month. Among other things, it will provide widgets that can be placed anywhere in the room, much prettier avatars (personas) and support for Sony's VR controllers, although these are still not available to buy separately.
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