Apple allegedly 86’ing Vision Pro

[Cmaier]

Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

Apple has all but given up on the Vision Pro after the M5 model failed to revitalize interest in the device, MacRumors has learned. Apple updated the Vision Pro with a faster M5 chip and a more comfortable band in October 2025, but there were no other hardware changes, and consumers still...

www.macrumors.com

No idea if it is true, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise.

 

[Eric]

Glad I opted out of buying it, I did come close a couple of times but that cost was just too high for something I wasn't sure I would use enough to justify it. Seemed like a sound idea but it was also a gamble.

That said, can we think of any wearables, be it VR headset or glasses/face wearables, that have every really taken off? Both Meta and Apple have invested tons into it to no avail, at least Apple has the good sense to give up on it while Meta keeps trying to force it down users' throats.

 

[Cmaier]

Glad I opted out of buying it, I did come close a couple of times but that cost was just too high for something I wasn't sure I would use enough to justify it. Seemed like a sound idea but it was also a gamble.

That said, can we think of any wearables, be it VR headset or glasses/face wearables, that have every really taken off? Both Meta and Apple have invested tons into it to no avail, at least Apple has the good sense to give up on it while Meta keeps trying to force it down users' throats.

Well, wrist-borne wearables are a success. But I think face wearables will take off once someone figures out how to make them fashionable, lightweight, and actually useful. Lots of people wear glasses anyway, so if you could wear a pair that helpfully provided information as-needed, that would be an easy sell. I’d rather wear a pair of glasses than an apple watch, and I bet glasses could do everything i do on the watch (which isn’t much.)

 

[Citysnaps]

The first thing I noticed was the rumor wasn't sourced in the story. Usually a source is provided in the first couple of sentences of the first paragraph of an MR story. Or at least a hint, or some obfuscation to disguise the source.

Or maybe I'm reading it wrong?

 

[Cmaier]

The first thing I noticed was the rumor wasn't sourced in the story. Usually a source is provided in the first couple of sentences of the first paragraph of an MR story. Or at least a hint, or some obfuscation to disguise the source.

Or maybe I'm reading it wrong?

Yeah, it’s just posed as “we have learned” without sourcing it.

I’ve seen some other discussion of this that suggests that what might be going on is that they just reorganized to be more similar to other Apple products, so they don’t have a dedicated team anymore. I guess we’ll find out when we find out.

 

[Citysnaps]

Yeah, it’s just posed as “we have learned” without sourcing it.

I’ve seen some other discussion of this that suggests that what might be going on is that they just reorganized to be more similar to other Apple products, so they don’t have a dedicated team anymore. I guess we’ll find out when we find out.

Here's a data point. Not necessarily accurate. Or worthwhile...

Yesterday my wife and I were at the Stanford Shopping Center to get our Shake Shack fix. Afterwards we ended up at the Apple Store to look around. There wasn't anyone at the AVP table, so, just out of curiosity and having never played with an AVP, I asked an employee if I could get a demo. She checked her iPhone to see if there were openings. Nope. Booked up for the day. But she could schedule me for next week. I declined, but said sometime in the future.

We talked a bit and I asked her how AVP sales were, couched with "I don't expect them to be like iPhone sales" (as kind of a joke). She laughed and said nope, they were more like Mac sales. I have no idea if that's accurate - I'm skeptical.

I don't think it's dead.

 

[Roller]

A post on Reddit says Gurman has walked back a bit and is now saying the VP isn’t dead. I haven’t seen anything about this at MR or elsewhere, but his earlier pronouncement was widely re-reported.

 

[Vincent Hannah]

Careful, you'll get yourself indicted using that term.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

It's waaaaaaay too expensive for what the average user would get out of it. It's like they created a solution for a user who doesn't exist.

In the spirit of the iPod and first gen iPhone they should have just released a device that is primarily a movie theater experience on your face for 1/4th the price and depending on how that went start adding more features and increase the price accordingly.

 

[tomO2013]

I bought the M5 vision pro. I also returned the M5 vision pro.

It's a phenomenal piece of hardware that I'm very torn on. The weight and price were sticking points for me. The weight in particular made prolonged uses very uncomfortable if not painful for me, in a way that I never experienced with Microsofts' hololens, meta quest 3 etc...

Parking aside the weight as it has been beaten to death by reviewers, one of the biggest problems that I found that was never really addressed to my satisfaction was one of software.

Key applications from essential partners like youtube were absent for the majority of the vision pro's lifecycle. In particular for a content consumption device like the vision pro - Netflix ... missing, youtube .... missing.

You would need to watch both through the web browser interface or 3rd party apps that really didn't have a native experience and were frustratingly fiddly to use and navigate.

I think it also didn't help that for all the power of the M5, apple still didn't let you edit photos in vision os 26. The vision pro was solely a very expensive (albeit phenomenal photo viewing) experience.

Hopefully many of the UI design ideas and gesture controls find their way into a pair of AR sunglasses with apple maps overlay etc...

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I bought the M5 vision pro. I also returned the M5 vision pro.

It's a phenomenal piece of hardware that I'm very torn on. The weight and price were sticking points for me. The weight in particular made prolonged uses very uncomfortable if not painful for me, in a way that I never experienced with Microsofts' hololens, meta quest 3 etc...

Parking aside the weight as it has been beaten to death by reviewers, one of the biggest problems that I found that was never really addressed to my satisfaction was one of software.

Key applications from essential partners like youtube were absent for the majority of the vision pro's lifecycle. In particular for a content consumption device like the vision pro - Netflix ... missing, youtube .... missing.

You would need to watch both through the web browser interface or 3rd party apps that really didn't have a native experience and were frustratingly fiddly to use and navigate.

I think it also didn't help that for all the power of the M5, apple still didn't let you edit photos in vision os 26. The vision pro was solely a very expensive (albeit phenomenal photo viewing) experience.

Hopefully many of the UI design ideas and gesture controls find their way into a pair of AR sunglasses with apple maps overlay etc...

That's even more infuriating that the streaming apps weren't there as my post above said it should have primarily (almost exclusively) been pitched as a movie watching device. Toss in cost of living reality, especially for young people, there's a good chance there housing situation would consist of renting a room the size of a walk-in closest that can't accommodate a large screen TV.

 

[Yoused]

I think we are all just waiting for the thing alluded to in @Eric 's avatar.

 

[Roller]

I bought the M5 vision pro. I also returned the M5 vision pro.

It's a phenomenal piece of hardware that I'm very torn on. The weight and price were sticking points for me. The weight in particular made prolonged uses very uncomfortable if not painful for me, in a way that I never experienced with Microsofts' hololens, meta quest 3 etc...

Parking aside the weight as it has been beaten to death by reviewers, one of the biggest problems that I found that was never really addressed to my satisfaction was one of software.

Key applications from essential partners like youtube were absent for the majority of the vision pro's lifecycle. In particular for a content consumption device like the vision pro - Netflix ... missing, youtube .... missing.

You would need to watch both through the web browser interface or 3rd party apps that really didn't have a native experience and were frustratingly fiddly to use and navigate.

I think it also didn't help that for all the power of the M5, apple still didn't let you edit photos in vision os 26. The vision pro was solely a very expensive (albeit phenomenal photo viewing) experience.

Hopefully many of the UI design ideas and gesture controls find their way into a pair of AR sunglasses with apple maps overlay etc...

I purchased my AVP shortly after it was introduced in February 2024, and I respectfully disagree with your contention that I've highlighted in bold. I use and enjoy many apps that fall outside the usual definition of "viewing" that can't be experienced on any of my other devices. These include a virtual planetarium, which lets me assume any position and time on the Earth to gaze at the night sky in detail, an app that lets me fly anywhere using Google's data, and an app that lets me watch takeoffs and landings at airports world-wide while listening to ATC. I also regularly use my AVP when my Apple Studio Display monitor isn't sufficient. I can do all these activities for hours with minimal or no discomfort.

I concur that the AVP's viewing experience is phenomenal. There is no other way for me to watch immersive content, enjoy 3D movies, look at spatial or spatially-converted images, or drop myself into panoramic shots. The latter comes closer to letting me revisit places than anything else. And while it's true that Netflix didn't release an app, the third-party one I use is fine. I also prefer one of the third-party YouTube apps to the one Google released recently. And doing these things in the air has made long flights much more tolerable.

Although I agree that more software would be welcome and that a less expensive, lighter AVP would be great, I have no regrets. I don't know what Apple will do, but I expect to be able to use my AVP for at least a few more years.

 

[Nycturne]

Key applications from essential partners like youtube were absent for the majority of the vision pro's lifecycle. In particular for a content consumption device like the vision pro - Netflix ... missing, youtube .... missing.

I'll be honest, even with those present, it's hard to think how this beats a TV or projector and your STB of choice, outside of being able to use it in places where a TV/projector doesn't make sense. But the reality is that I don't want a giant thing on my face in public, and at home, I can wall mount a TV where I would want it. So....

 

[Eric]

I think we are all just waiting for the thing alluded to in @Eric 's avatar.

Been a while hasn't it?

 

[MEJHarrison]

I'm a huge VR user. Getting ready to hop in now in fact. I've never tried the Vision Pro, but I don't think it's for me.

I think the biggest problem is that Apple took a gaming device and tried to turn it into something that isn't a gaming device. Cool idea. But so far gamers seem to be the only major group interested in VR. Most people don't want to put on a headset to answer emails and read texts or do any other non-gaming things. Not in large numbers. I know some people like to watch TV/Movies in their headsets, but I don't think that's a huge number of people either. Some people also liked 3D TVs. But clearly not enough people were interested to keep that business going.

Apple tried to create a new market and it seems no one is interested. Meta is discovering the same thing. They axed their business apps a while back. Now I've heard Horizon Worlds (basically social media in VR with games) is getting shut down. It seems the majority of their users are interested in gaming, but not much else beyond that. Finally the Quest will be serving one master (gaming) and it should be fantastic. They can strip the rest of the crap out of the OS and improve things a lot.

Sometimes Apple is able to exploit untapped markets to their advantage. This time I don't think the untapped market was nearly as big as they thought. I also don't think VR gaming is "about to explode" like I've been hearing for years. I think it will always remain a niche market. I know half a dozen people who have headsets and only one or two play on a regular (once a month) basis. The rest loved it for a while, then got bored with it.

 

[Yoused]

Been a while hasn't it?

oh, just shut up and take my money

 

[japanime]

Ever since reading the article by a former MacRumors staffer detailing how that website basically makes shit up, I refuse to believe anything I read there that I don't see being discussed by reputable tech news sources.

R

Thread 'Former MacRumors blogger discusses MacRumors work culture'

Feb 13, 2026

The Infinite Loop of Canceling Products That Don't Exist

As a former MacRumors reporter, I explain how Apple product rumors become “canceled” headlines, and how the media helps invent products that never existed

cupertinolens.com

Read it for yourself. He explicitly calls out Gurman on Twitter for his nonsense regarding 26.4 rumors

As for the rest, he doesn't go so far as to completely condemn entirely all Apple blogging but probably because he still continues to blog. Otherwise this sounds like a pretty insightful post about MacRumors and what negative effects it has

• RockRock8
• Replies: 15
• Forum: Apple

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[Roller]

Here’s a different take from John Gruber:

https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/on_the_future_of_apples_vision_platform

I tend to think Gruber is right, but he admits Apple may eventually give up on VP, though he doesn’t think it’s happened yet.

What got me about the MR story was the apparent glee with which the VP haters jumped in, as if to emphasize how astute they are. It’s the same with almost every report about Apple products there, and one of the reasons I never post on MR any more, even if I have something to say.

I also understand that, for many people, VP is too expensive, too uncomfortable, or too lacking in use cases for them. But that doesn’t negate that the device has been very much worth it to me, despite its shortcomings.