Apple may have discontinued its first-generation Vision Pro headset, following reports of reduced demand and production cuts earlier this year. In October of this year, The Information’s Wayne Ma reported that Apple suddenly reduced production of the Vision Pro headset, as Apple may plan to completely stop production of the current version of the device by the end of 2024. As the year comes to an end, that means the device may no longer be in production.
The report quoted multiple people "directly involved" in the production of the headset components as saying that the reduction in production scale began in early summer. This suggests that Apple currently has enough Vision Pro in stock to meet demand for the remainder of the device’s lifecycle through 2025. Historically, it's not unusual for Apple to take this approach with low-demand products such as the iPhone 12 mini.
It has been widely reported that demand for VisionPro is weak due to insufficient content and high price point. The Information states that VisionPro suppliers have currently produced enough components for 500,000 to 600,000 headsets. Some factories suspended production of Vision Pro parts as early as May due to weak Apple sales expectations, and warehouses are still filled with tens of thousands of undelivered parts.
Apple is said to have told Luxshare Precision, a Chinese company that is the assembler of the Vision Pro, that it needs to stop production in November. As of October, Luxshare's daily output of VisionPro headsets is about 1,000 units, which is only half of the peak production. If sales pick up, Apple can obviously still resume Vision Pro production because the production line has not yet been dismantled.
It is said that Apple will focus on developing low-cost headsets next and require suppliers to prepare to produce 4 million low-cost headsets during the entire life cycle of future products. That's half the total number of Vision Pros Apple had previously asked suppliers to produce, suggesting lower sales expectations for the budget headset.
VisionPro's weak demand has been attributed to its high $3,499 price point and a lack of content ecosystem. Apple CEO Tim Cook described the device as an "early user product" aimed at users interested in cutting-edge technology rather than the broader mass market.
The Information said that while Apple's work on the second-generation Vision Pro has apparently stalled, there are signs that the company may release "incremental updates with limited changes to its physical design," such as chip upgrades. Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also confirmed this. They said they are actively developing a more iterative second-generation Vision Pro and adding M5 chips and Apple Intelligence. Gurman expects the device to launch between fall 2025 and spring 2026. The updated model is expected to reuse many components from the first-generation Vision Pro to offset excess inventory in Apple's supply chain.