Apple launched the Vision Pro XR headset earlier this year, and it’s not exactly set cash registers on fire. The company is apparently pushing ahead with a cheaper headset, but it sounds like Apple could take a cue from the Samsung Gear VR by requiring a tethered companion device.

Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that Apple’s cheaper Vision headset is codenamed N107. The device will apparently cost $1,500 to $2,000 and was originally slated to launch as soon as late 2025.

Enlarge / A Mac virtual monitor in visionOS 2. (credit: Samuel Axon)

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple kicked off the keynote for its annual developer conference by announcing a new version of visionOS, the operating system that runs on the company's pricey but impressive Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

The updates in visionOS 2 are modest, not revolutionary—mostly iterative changes, quality-of-life improvements, and some features that were originally expected in the first version of visionOS. That's not too surprising given that visionOS just went out to users four months ago.

Vision Pro users hoping for multiple virtual Mac monitors will be disappointed that's not planned this time around, but Apple plans to add the next-best thing: Users will be able to take advantage of a larger and higher-resolution single virtual display, including a huge, wraparound ultrawide monitor mode that Apple says is equivalent to two 4K monitors.

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The VR market has experienced its share of ups and downs over the last decade, and while it has found its place among businesses and enthusiasts, the mainstream public has been a bit slower to adopt VR. This has started to change in the last few years with devices like the Meta Quest series, and more recently, Apple jumped in with its own Vision Pro headset. Not wanting to be left out of this newfound attention, Samsung will soon have its own take on virtual reality technology in the form of what’s currently being dubbed the “Samsung XR.”

Keyword: At a glance

Apple Vision Pro je robustní kus skla a hliníku, ale na přední straně test poškrábání odhalil, že společnost použila plast, takže brzy na něm budou patrné trvalé stopy, aniž by k tomu bylo třeba velké úsilí.

Několik majitelů však hlásí, že na přední straně jejich AR headsetu se objevují praskliny, zatímco zařízení je pouze uloženo a nedělá nic jiného. Takový výskyt by rozzuřil každého, kdo musí za nositelné zařízení na hlavě vysolit 100 000,-, a to ještě za mizernou základní paměť 256 GB.

Obrázek, který na Redditu zveřejnil uživatel u/dornbirn, ukazuje, že uprostřed přední strany Apple Vision Pro je prasklina, přičemž majitel uvádí, že brýle neupadla, ale byla jednoduše zabalena s nasazeným krytem. Uživatel prasklinu objevil ráno a uvedl, že Apple Vision Pro se v pouzdře nijak neklepal ani s ním nevyvíjel žádný pohyb. Majitel se také podělil o své myšlenky, proč se to mohlo stát; mohlo by to souviset s “důsledným výrobním problémem” se sklem, který vytváří dostatečný tlak nad nosem, kde nakonec praskne.

“Co se stalo – včera večer jsem vyleštil přední část brýly, zabalil je s nasazeným krytem, a když jsem se ráno probudil, vidím tuhle prasklinu. Žádný pád, žádné pobouchání v pouzdře.

Zdá se, že se jedná o soustavný výrobní problém se sklem – můj neznalý odhad je, že unikátní tvar vytváří nad nosem určité pnutí, které nakonec praskne i bez vnějšího násilí.

Mám apple care a očekávám bezplatnou výměnu, až zamířím do genius baru, ale pro ty z vás, kteří si pochopitelně nepřiplatili 500 dolarů, by to bylo na nic. Doufám, že je to vzácnější, než si myslím, ale pokud ne, ať to apple raději kryje v rámci tovární záruky a nepovažuje to za náhodné poškození, které by vyžadovalo vysoký poplatek za opravu.”

Podobně i u/ContributionFar8997 zveřejnil příspěvek, ve kterém píše, že Apple Vision Pro nechal nabíjet, a když si ho majitel šel vyzvednout, byla na přední straně viditelná prasklina. Je nepravděpodobné, že by dobíjení baterie drahého zařízení vedlo ke vzniku této praskliny, takže se domníváme, že se jedná o problém související s výrobou, který je třeba řešit. Podpora společnosti Apple údajně informovala uživatele, že vystavení opravného dokladu by v rámci AppleCare stálo 300 dolarů a bez jakéhokoli AppleCare by stálo neuvěřitelných 800 dolarů, což je cena za základní iPhone 15.

Obvykle by prasknutí předního skla Apple Vision Pro nevzbudilo velkou pozornost, protože většina lidí by vinu svedla na majitele. Zde je však důležité poznamenat, že přední sklo vykazuje prasklinu v téměř stejné poloze jako při jiném incidentu, což naznačuje, že se jedná o vzorec a může se týkat i dalších uživatelů. Pouze čas ukáže, zda k tomu skutečně dojde, a poté bude na společnosti Apple, aby rozhodla o tom, jak vyhoví svým zákazníkům.

Článek Přední sklo na stotisícovém Apple Vision Pro zřejmě praská, aniž by ho někdo upustil nebo s ním špatně zacházel se nejdříve objevil na MOBILE PRESS.

Článek Přední sklo na stotisícovém Apple Vision Pro zřejmě praská, aniž by ho někdo upustil nebo s ním špatně zacházel se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

I’ve been following the press and social media coverage of Apple’s pricey new Vision Pro Augmented Reality headset, which now totals hundreds of stories and thousands of comments and I’ve noticed one idea missing from all of them: what would Steve (Jobs) say?  Steve would call the Vision Pro a “hobby,” just as he did with the original Apple TV.

You know I’m correct about this.

And the fact that Apple hasn’t gone for the H-word and no other writers are suggesting it is the topic of this column, not the Vision Pro, itself.

It would appear that nobody at Apple has the balls to call the Vision Pro a hobby, which is to say it is not expected to make a profit for the time being, which is obviously the case. Instead people like me speculate how the Vision Pro will possibly make money? It won’t.

Nor does it have to.

There’s that scene in Citizen Kane where Kane the young tycoon is accused of losing $1 million per year on his newspaper and it’s remarked that he could only continue to do so for another 60 years.

Apple’s Vision Pro business is less than a rounding error on Cupertino’s balance sheet. Its success or failure doesn’t matter to Apple’s success, nor should it matter to Apple investors. I’m not saying there can’t be good reasons to sell Apple shares, but if you sold because of the Vision Pro you made a mistake.

Which is why I wish Apple had been honest and called it a hobby. Maybe they are hoping it isn’t a hobby, but that would be a mistake. The Vision Pro’s trajectory is clear to me. It will lose money for years until it finds a vertical market where the price doesn’t matter. Along the way two important effects will also have happened: 1) third-party developers will fall in love with the Vision Pro and make good applications for it, and; 2) eventually Moore’s Law — and Moore’s Law alone — will drive down the Vision Pro’s price enough for some later version to be declared an overnight success.

Apple’s unstated strategy here is obvious. Just look at the company’s previous hobby — Apple TV — which eventually broke even and then begat Apple TV+, a completely separate and different business that needed such a hardware platform to succeed. Along the way Apple TV and the broad success of streaming video on actual televisions helped Apple as a whole to sell production computers and copies of Final Cut Pro, enabling the very different video market of today.

Apple TV was worth doing and so — probably — will be the Vision Pro. But if it isn’t successful that means nothing to Apple’s eventual legacy. So for the moment, it’s just something to write about.

But why did Apple choose not to call the Vision Pro a hobby? That decision was entirely Tim Cook’s, because only the CEO can designate a product to be a hobby. Someone has to take responsibility and when it has an even a minuscule effect on earnings, that someone is the CEO.

So why did Tim Cook decide against calling the Vision Pro a hobby? It’s not that Tim didn’t know the truth. It’s that Tim Cook isn’t Steve Jobs.

This is me simultaneously saying that Tim Cook didn’t have the balls to call the Vision Pro a hobby but at the same time explaining that the decision was meant, in a way, as a compliment to Steve, who remains the company’s visionary, even in death.

That’s touching, Tim, but it’s time for that attitude to change at Apple or the next iPod/iMac/iPad/iPhone will never come.

Apple Vision Pro is what Apple calls a "spatial computer," and it launched earlier this month. Apple product launches typically come with a lot of fanfare, but the mainstream public reception to Vision Pro's launch was quite subdued. In part, that's due to the Vision Pro's massive $3,500 price tag, which simply prices out plenty of working people. But there may also be some critical flaws contributing to the lack of interest in Apple's first VR headset. Last Friday was the final day that day-one buyers could return Vision Pro, and by the looks of social media, users were flocking to return the headset.