Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman discussed the development of Apple’s second-generation Vision Pro headset in the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter. Gurman says the development of the second-generation headset focuses on reducing the device’s size and weight, while also improving the experience for users who wear prescription lenses.
Gurman says Apple’s Vision Products Group has begun the development of the next-generation headset models and is considering several options, including lower-end and more powerful versions. The work, which is in its early days, is concentrating on making the device lighter and slightly smaller to address complaints that the first-generation Vision Pro feels too heavy.
Apple is also reportedly exploring how to make the headset purchase process simpler for those who wear prescription glasses. The first-generation Vision Pro requires wearers of glasses to separately purchase Zeiss prescription lenses that snap onto the displays using magnets. While this decision was reportedly made by Apple to reduce the overall thickness of the headset, the need to stock thousands of different lens combinations is reportedly proving to be a burden.
Apple is considering shipping custom-built second-generation Vision Pro headsets with preinstalled prescription lenses directly from the factory. Gurman notes that this invokes a different set of problems with sharing a headset, reselling it, and when a user’s optical prescription changes over time.
Many analysts don’t expect the second-generation Vision Pro headset to launch until around 2025 to 2027. The first generation will launch in early 2024.