Apple Working on Updated Vision Pro With M4 Chip as Early as 2025
- Reference: 0178319924
- News link: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/07/09/1731248/apple-working-on-updated-vision-pro-with-m4-chip-as-early-as-2025
- Source link:
The company is also developing new straps to reduce neck strain and head pain from the 1.4-pound device. The Vision Pro launched in February 2024 but has sold only hundreds of thousands of units. Apple is working on a significantly lighter redesigned model for 2027, the report added.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-09/apple-readies-first-upgrade-to-its-struggling-vision-pro-headset
Cant wait... (Score:2)
Can't wait to not buy this one either! Apple really missed the mark on this one. Even the first Apple Watch wasn't this much of a miss and it was a fraction of the price...
Apple's Last VR headset had a bad design (Score:2)
It's interesting that Apple buys a lot of displays, but they did little of anything to make their last headset smaller or lighter. Also with the needless addition of the outside LCDs, their last headset was too expensive. Basically, Apple is using the same non-logic on the headsets as they used on the last three generations of Mac Pro's: try to make a media splash with an unsellably expensive device. I could design and spec a better VR headset than make. Many of you could.
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Anyone who'd actually used VR or AR could predict the Vision's lackluster performance.
It was marketed as an AR device to compete with Hololens, but it doesn't allow you to move freely with confidence like a Hololens does because you can only see inside the tiny FOV.
It seemed to compete more with a Quest in terms of features and applicability, but they seemed to actively avoid marketing this, maybe to avoid comparison with a $300 device.
The first release was a toy for techies with disposable income -- I real
Do you hear that? (Score:2)
I do! I can already hear the yawns of excitement!
ARM v9 (Score:2)
> I do! I can already hear the yawns of excitement!
Personally I like the notion that I can now assume ARM v9 with the move to the M4. :-)
Can't believe the vison-impaired comments (Score:2)
I feel like there's a huge blindspot in the comments here. The prototype launch was instantly more capable than any other headset. even if not every feature is going to make the ultimate cut. Of course the thing to do is to double-down and keep iterating on it. We're looking at what will heavily influence the way humans interact with technology in the future. We should be cheering this on. Whether it turns out to be a descendant of this product or something that is inspired by / influenced by it, this is j
A beta test / development system (Score:2)
It's almost as if the original were a beta test / development system. Something only for early adopter feedback. :-)
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Well that gaming computer and GPU actually have software to use.
A quick look shows there are few compelling apps to justify the price of a Vision Pro.
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That's because it wasn't a "prototype launch"... until Apple retconned it into one because of disappointing sales and tepid interest.
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> ... Apple retconned it into one because of disappointing sales and tepid interest.
Did they? I know the Apple commentariat did, but has Apple itself made that argument? Apple doesn't have much of a history of saying anything the least bit negative about any of their products.
No killer app (Score:2)
It's not going to do well unless there is a killer app. Live sports could easily be that app, but Apple still hasn't found out how to do it well. Also it's still too heavy. Way too heavy.
Number 1 complaint (Score:2)
I never heard anyone complain the original vision pro was "slow", so why are they adding a faster chip?
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I never heard anyone say they actually wanted this thing, either.
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> I never heard anyone say they actually wanted this thing, either.
Other than a developer. Who can write it off as a business expense? :-)
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> I never heard anyone complain the original vision pro was "slow", so why are they adding a faster chip?
Oh, come now. A product with no well-defined use-case that can't seem to find a userbase just needs a faster processor to become a super hot commodity. Right? RIGHT?!
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> Oh, come now. A product with no well-defined use-case that can't seem to find a userbase just needs a faster processor to become a super hot commodity. Right? RIGHT?!
[1]Turns out not [newsweek.com] to be such a great driving aid. We'll find a nail for that hammer eventually!
[1] https://www.newsweek.com/wearing-apple-vision-pro-vr-headset-driving-nhtsa-warning-1867219
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Agreed. The problem with this device is its price. The CPU was already literal multiple times faster than any other self-contained headset's.
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> Agreed. The problem with this device is its price. The CPU was already literal multiple times faster than any other self-contained headset's.
And with M2 losing economies of scale, and the M4 currently receiving that benefit, we have an unsurprising move from M2 to M4.
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Maybe unsurprising but still informative: they apparently expect enough sales between now and the next bigger update to justify this change rather than just stock up on the M2 version.
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> Maybe unsurprising but still informative: they apparently expect enough sales between now and the next bigger update to justify this change rather than just stock up on the M2 version.
Just In Time manufacturing. Inventory is death. :-)
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Because you clearly need a lot more performance to efficiently collect dust on a shelf from having no worthwhile use.
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> Because the people working on that product want to stay employed. Unless Apple cancels the product and lays all those people off it will continue to be developed.
I suspect that Apple's hardware design teams are rather fluid in terms of what projects they work on. Certainly nothing fundamentally prevents Apple from shifting them to work on the next-next iPhone design, or designing eyeglasses with a HUD, or designing some other new consumer device that someone comes up with. There's really no need for an updated version of the Vision Pro hardware right now, IMO, unless doing so would reduce the price by a factor of 4 to make it able to compete with Oculus. They'd b
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> I never heard anyone complain the original vision pro was "slow", so why are they adding a faster chip?
I can't imagine. Spending more money on Vision Pro hardware right now seems like throwing good money after bad. For most users, Vision Pro is a fun toy, and an expensive one at that. Toys don't get upgraded very often even if they work well and are frequently used. Unfortunately for Apple, surveys show that users aren't using them very much at all, and there's no reason to believe that CPU speed has anything to do with the lack of use, which means you should expect nearly zero upgrades unless Apple take
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> Cutting a zero off the price, yeah, but faster, no.
So, something like $3,490.99 to $3491.00?
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>> Cutting a zero off the price, yeah, but faster, no.
> So, something like $3,490.99 to $3491.00?
No, that's adding a zero. :-)
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Oh! Instead of charging $3499.00, they should charge $3499.0? I don't get the appeal of that change.
M4 - Economies of scale (Score:2)
> I never heard anyone complain the original vision pro was "slow", so why are they adding a faster chip?
They are presumably switching to the less expensive chip, the M4. One that is currently benefitting from economies of scale due to its use in Macs and iPads. M2 has lost that advantage.
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As others have pointed out, so that they don't have to keep producing the old chip that is now "outdated". Everything else they will be producing will be M4 or later, so it makes sense to take advantage of the economies of scale.
Also, presumably, each iteration of their M series gets more power efficient for the same unit of computation, so they can get more battery life out of it, or even possibly get rid of the separate battery pack. Lower power will make the thermal design easier, which could also lead
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Same thing with any other computer.
The Vision Pro shouldn't be marketed as a virtual reality headset. Because that's not what it is.
It should be marketed as an all-in-one computer with a virtual monitor. And as such, it should be updated every 1-2 years with faster hardware and more memory, just like every other desktop and laptop computer.