Apple is moving toward freezing the Vision Pro product line and focusing on lightweight smart glasses after its expensive flagship headset failed to achieve widespread commercial resonance in the market.
- Decline of the Vision Pro project and smart glasses priorities
- Specifications of the anticipated 2027 smart glasses and competition with Meta
- Behind the scenes of the Vision Pro setback and the computing unit dispute
- Leadership resignations and restructuring of development teams
- John Ternus’s vision and lessons from the costly hardware bet
- Frequently asked questions
Decline of the Vision Pro project and smart glasses priorities
American company Apple is targeting late 2027 as a potential launch date for its first pair of lightweight smart glasses, while the next-generation project for the “Vision Pro” mixed reality headset has been delayed for several years, according to specialized journalist Mark Gurman from Bloomberg. The report, published on Sunday in his prominent “Power On” newsletter, painted a bleak picture of a company quietly and cautiously backing away from its most ambitious and commercially and financially disappointing hardware bets in favor of lightweight, daily-use wearable smart devices.
Specifications of the anticipated 2027 smart glasses and competition with Meta
According to leaked data, Apple’s first smart glasses are expected to launch without a built-in augmented reality display, functioning instead as a complementary technical accessory for iPhones, equipped with built-in cameras, audio microphones, and deep integration with the Siri voice assistant, entering direct competition with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. Subsequent versions could see the addition of optical display screens. This timeline set for late 2027 matches Gurman’s previous estimates and the expectations of prominent financial analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicted this date since mid-2025.
This strategic shift comes following Meta’s announcement this month of its new virtual reality headset priced at $1,299, which weighs only about 100 grams thanks to relocating processing and computing components to a separate, puck-like external unit—a hardware design that strongly caught the attention and interest of hardware engineering teams within Apple’s walls.
Behind the scenes of the Vision Pro setback and the computing unit dispute
On the internal front, the future of the Vision Pro headset is far from secure and stable; Gurman describes the entire program as being on “life support.” Company engineers are exploring a modified design for the headset under the codename “N224,” while studying four different design concepts that include offloading processing and computing components into an independent external unit akin to Meta’s approach, and experimenting with lighter materials such as plastic polymers and titanium metal to reduce the load on the user’s head.
However, some senior Apple executives oppose the idea of an independent external unit, clinging to an integrated design that houses all parts within the headset itself, despite the arduous engineering and thermal challenges this approach imposes. Estimates indicate that if this project moves forward, the product will not see commercial daylight before late 2028 or early 2029.
Leadership resignations and restructuring of development teams
Rapid organizational changes highlight the scale of confusion surrounding the project; the former head of Vision hardware, Paul Meade, left the company to join OpenAI after being demoted in Apple’s administrative hierarchy. Meanwhile, his successor, Fletcher Rothkopf, now reports to lower levels in the management chain. Furthermore, recent layoffs have downsized development teams, while company retail stores in various countries struggle to sell even a single headset unit per month in some branches.
John Ternus’s vision and lessons from the costly hardware bet
Apple originally launched the Vision Pro in February 2024 at a hefty price tag of $3,499, and refreshed it in October 2025 by equipping it with the M5 chip while maintaining the same high price and unchanged bulky design. According to the Bloomberg report, Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, has long viewed the headset as an uncomfortable transitional phase and a mere temporary bridge rather than a mainstream, widely adopted consumer product.
With massive financial and human resources redirected toward lightweight smart glasses, AirPods equipped with built-in cameras, and a screenless fitness band, the Vision Pro is likely to remain Apple’s sole closed headset for many years to come, assuming it even gets a successor generation.
Frequently asked questions
Question: What is the new expected release date for Apple’s lightweight smart glasses?
Answer: Apple plans to launch its first smart glasses in late 2027 to function as a phone accessory without built-in displays.
Question: Why is the Vision Pro headset described as being on life support?
Answer: Due to extremely modest sales, stores struggling to clear inventory, and internal disagreements regarding the viability of its heavy design.
Question: What are the hardware alternatives that Apple’s focus and resources have now turned toward?
Answer: Screenless smart glasses, cameras-equipped AirPods, and lightweight fitness tracking bands.
