Apple slashes Vision Pro production, might cancel 2025 model in response to plummeting demand

[midian182]

Cutting corners: Following reports that sales of Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro headset have been falling as fast as interest in the device, a renowned analyst has claimed that demand is so low that Apple has slashed its shipment forecast for the rest of the year. Furthermore, it may decide not to release a new model in 2025.

We heard over the weekend that the Vision Pro headset Apple spent eight years and billions of dollars developing was rapidly losing steam in terms of both interest and sales.

After between 160,000 and 180,000 devices were sold in pre-orders across a weekend in January ahead of the official launch, reports claimed Apple Stores were now selling just a handful of units per week. In-store demo bookings were right down, too, and many of those who do book often don't turn up.

Now, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has echoed those reports. He writes that Cupertino has cut its Vision Pro shipments to 400,000 to 450,000 units, around half the 800,000 units that were originally planned, due to waning demand.

Kuo adds that Apple cut the orders ahead of the Vision Pro launching in markets outside of the US, the only location it's currently available. This indicates that demand in the United States has fallen sharply beyond expectations, according to the analyst, and that Apple expects similar cool demand in other regions.

Apple releases Apple vision pro ... resulting in rise of Appleholes
Driver using apple vision pro while driving getting pulled over by police. People using them in public.....Appleholes... pic.twitter.com/GcyM1fmj9K

– Darth Intra (@darthintra) February 4, 2024

It's not just shipments that are being affected; Kuo believes that Apple will now be adjusting its headset roadmap. It was expected that the company would release a cheaper, lighter model in the second half of next year, addressing two of the biggest complaints about the Vision Pro. But Kuo says there may be no new headset from Apple next year. Apple also expects year-on-year shipments of the current Vision Pro to decline in 2025 – no surprise there.

Despite so many reviews hailing it as a technical marvel thanks to its micro-OLED display and impressive interface, the Vision Pro remains a niche product. That massive price combined with a lack of a killer app makes the headset a hard sell for consumers beyond die-hard Apple fans, which is probably why Apple has started really pushing the Vision Pro as an enterprise product.

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Apple slashes Vision Pro production, might cancel 2025 model in response to plummeting demand

 

[masaaya4]

Everybody has said that the product would only be interesting at gen 2. When performance goes up and weight and price goes down.

If there is not gen 2 then that is genuinely a shame. End of the line for vision pro? How long will gen 1 be supported anyway?

 

[Squid Surprise]

Apple MAY cancel their 2025 model… you really have to work on your headlines…

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Im not surprised Apple is surprised. iSheep have been willing to pay $1000+ every year or two for the same iphone with more overheating issues, $4000+ for macbooks with overheating issues, and subscribe to their awful streaming service. Why would they balk at this?

 

[m4a4]

Im not surprised Apple is surprised. iSheep have been willing to pay $1000+ every year or two for the same iphone with more overheating issues, $4000+ for macbooks with overheating issues, and subscribe to their awful streaming service. Why would they balk at this?

Yeah. They've seemed to be pretty disconnected from reality lately (and not because they're using the Vision Pro )...

 

[CrisisDog]

Apple is blind to the needs and requirements of its consumer base. I have more reliable graphics horsepower in an Intel Mac mini with an eGPU than their most powerful M2 Studio or M2 Mac Pro. When the VR headset market currently revolves around $500 units that play games, of course Apple hit neither requirement when releasing a new device. Didn’t get enough developers on board for gaming (shocking, like Apple knows how to support games) and release it at an astronomical entry price.

 

[themastergoose]

One day, my crystal ball will be this accurate with lottery numbers too…

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Apple to cancel cheaper headset model that only costs $3299!

Oh noes!

Even if they brought one out priced at $2500 that's still so horribly expensive. It would still be a niche product that wouldn't do any better.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Apple MAY cancel their 2025 model… you really have to work on your headlines…

Yeah, cancel is strong. More like, a 2025 model won't improve on what people dislike about the product enough to be worth it.

Unless a must have app comes out for vision, come back when the weight is reasonable and it doesn't need an external battery pack. Maybe that is 2025, probably 2027.

 

[RandomWAN]

Half-baked, over-priced product isn't selling? Imagine my shock. People already complain about the cost of Quest and other more reasonably priced options with far more maturity behind them and they thought $3500+ was going to sell 800k units. Apple has severed all ties with reality.

 

[yannus]

Good news.

 

[Gars]

I ''like'' Pro
especially in this product - what exactly mean Pro here?
imo, Pro is human, not the piece of HW/SW he/she is using
Pro's needs quality tools to get work done

AI is close but still not here, its a matter of time I guess

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Who the hell thought wearing a ski mask would work out?

 

[DZillaXx]

Also doesn't help that apple had and has no plans to add in VR gaming support into this product. An Option for hand controllers and a software stack to stream VR content from you PC is a big miss.

My Quest 2 works great as a PC VR headset. I can have a battery pack in my pocket with light unnoticeable usb-c cable upto the device for extended run time. Headset's wireless Image quality is just as good as the hard wired connection. Hours of Play time for a small price. Flawless experience at that.


Sadly for apple there isn't much to do with the damn thing.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Also doesn't help that apple had and has no plans to add in VR gaming support into this product. An Option for hand controllers and a software stack to stream VR content from you PC is a big miss.

My Quest 2 works great as a PC VR headset. I can have a battery pack in my pocket with light unnoticeable usb-c cable upto the device for extended run time. Headset's wireless Image quality is just as good as the hard wired connection. Hours of Play time for a small price. Flawless experience at that.


Sadly for apple there isn't much to do with the damn thing.

Apple is allergic to gaming, or other consumer oriented improvements like supporting openGL and vulkan.

Apple, in general, is extremely anti consumer in both principle and practice.

 

[p51d007]

Well, if they cancel the next version, then perhaps those that spent their money can wait a few decades, put them on e-bay (or whatever comes along) and recoup their money from someone that wants it because it was an apple device that failed.

 

[Uncle Al]

LMAO ..... Apple has become a lot like the Russian's .... they field a bad product praying for a miracle and the moment it doesn't perform, they abandon it. Of course Russia has never fielded an iPhone but give 'em time ....

 

[Watzupken]

The outcome is obvious in my opinion.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Everybody has said that the product would only be interesting at gen 2. When performance goes up and weight and price goes down.

If there is not gen 2 then that is genuinely a shame. End of the line for vision pro? How long will gen 1 be supported anyway?

Yeah they showed people using with a cute headstrap , but apparently needed full head strap to support it for any length of time

 

[daffy duck]

VR for consumers is as much a scam as curved screens and 3D TV's. I hope Apple lose billions. Cook is honestly a plodder and the highlight of his career will be the new Apple pencil for the OLED iPads. Apple has stagnated enormously under the unbearable weight of mediocrity.

 

[Watzupken]

VR for consumers is as much a scam as curved screens and 3D TV's. I hope Apple lose billions. Cook is honestly a plodder and the highlight of his career will be the new Apple pencil for the OLED iPads. Apple has stagnated enormously under the unbearable weight of mediocrity.

To be objective, it is clear that Tim Cook is not an innovator, nor a product person. So it is not surprising that Apple have not been innovating since Steve Job handed the job over to him. The products unveiled at all the Apple events are highly predictable and generally incremental changes over prior gen. In recent memories, the only Apple announcements that made some impact in my opinion were the introduction of the M1 SOC, and subsequently the use of M1 in the iPad lineup.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Cost isn't the Visio Pro's main issue: The main issue is software. Apple is expecting developers to spend massive amounts of resources designing the killer app that will sell the device in enough numbers to make it profitable while then taking 30% of the developer's gross profits.

What developer is going to risk development time on such a niche product Apple might cancel in the next year or two, anyway? I doubt many developers for the Vision Pro will break even and many fewer will actually make a profit.

 

[Bobbydpue]

VR for consumers is as much a scam as curved screens and 3D TV's. I hope Apple lose billions. Cook is honestly a plodder and the highlight of his career will be the new Apple pencil for the OLED iPads. Apple has stagnated enormously under the unbearable weight of mediocrity.

How is an actual product that does what is advertised is a "scam"? You keep using that word, but I don't think you know what it means.

Cook has little if anything to do with product development.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Plain and simple, we were all expecting this.

 

[Nelson28]

Wow, this is surprising news! It seems the super high price tag and lack of must-have apps are hurting the Vision Pro. I was curious about the headset, but shelling out $3,500 is a tough pill to swallow. Maybe if they release a more affordable version in the future, I'd be interested. It's a shame they might scrap the 2025 model entirely. Hopefully, they can find a way to make this technology more accessible.