Apple Vision Pro News & Reviews

Independent tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple’s XR and smart glasses roadmap will feature multiple XR devices, including a spec-bumped Vision Pro slated to release later this year. At the far end of the spectrum, Kuo also says Apple is making AR glasses, reportedly coming in 2028.

Kuo is a long-time tech analyst and respected figure in Apple product leaks. In a new blogpost, Kuo has laid out a timeline for a number of Apple XR releases, ostensibly based on various supply chain leaks.

Kuo reports that a new Vision Pro featuring the company’s M5 chip is scheduled for mass production in Q3 2025, with 150,000–200,000 units expected to ship. This next Vision Pro is reportedly upgrading the chip from M2 to M5, but will otherwise retain the original specs.

Kuo maintains the iterative approach is based on Vision Pro’s current position as a niche product, as the company hopes to use the next version to maintain market presence, reduce component stock, and further refine XR applications.

Next, Kuo says Apple is preparing a much lighter headset, reportedly called ‘Vision Air’, set to release in Q3 2027. Vision Air is said to be dramatically lighter at over 40% less than the current Vision Pro, which weighs in at 21.2–22.9 ounces (600–650 g), excluding the battery.

Kuo maintains Vision Air will include plastic lenses, magnesium alloys, fewer sensors, a top-tier iPhone chip, and be priced significantly lower to appeal to broader users.

The true next-gen Vision device is said to be ‘Vision Pro 2’ though, which Kuo says could arrive in 2H 2028, replete with a full redesign, Mac-grade chip, reduced weight, and a lower price, signaling Apple’s shift to move away from niche XR products and move toward mainstream adoption.

Meanwhile, Kuo says Apple is investing heavily in smart glasses.

A Ray-Ban-like, audio-first wearable is expected to arrive in Q2 2027, Kuo says, noting that the company is hoping to manufacture 3–5 million units—ostensibly a significant push towards making its first smart glasses a mainstream success.

Like Ray-Ban Meta, and the recently unveiled Oakley Meta HSTN, Apple’s smart glasses are said to have no display, rather offering audio playback, photo and video capture, an AI assistant, and both gesture and voice controls.

Arguably the biggest claim among Kuo’s timeline is the mention of Apple XR Glasses, which the analyst maintains will include a color display (LCoS + waveguide) and AI features, making it the first true AR glasses from the company. Kuo says Apple is targeting release in 2H 2028, with a lighter variant being developed in parallel.

This follows reports of Apple potentially scraping a more casual XR glasses-type viewer, which would be tethered to Apple devices and use birdbath optics. The device was originally planned for release in Q2 2026, but Kuo maintains it was paused in late 2024 due to insufficient differentiation, especially around weight.

Granted, Apple is one of the most opaque black boxes in tech for a reason. The company historically announces products on stage, which typically also comes with a price and release date attached. While Kuo has a fairly reliable track record of reporting insider knowledge of Vision Pro, we’re taking this data dump with an equally-sized grain of salt.

At WWDC this week, Apple revealed a new persistent widget system coming to Vision Pro in visionOS 26. The system will allow users to anchor widgets against walls or on surfaces that will always stay in the same place with glanceable info.

In a developer session released during WWDC this week, Apple delved into the new widget system for Vision Pro, exploring how they work, customization options, and more. Unlike typical Vision Pro windows, which float in space wherever the user places them (and will relocate when the headset is recentered or rebooted), widgets can be placed against walls or on flat surfaces and will always stay in that place, even if the headset is restarted. This makes widgets on VisionOS 26 act like persistent parts of your physical environment.

Apple explained that the system supports existing widgets built for other Apple platforms (like iOS and iPadOS), which means there will be a wealth of widgets for Vision Pro users. But Apple has also extended its WidgetKit platform with new options that are specific to Vision Pro. That includes new sizes and aspect ratios to choose from.

Additionally, developers will be able to choose between a ‘paper’ and ‘glass’ overlay which will define how the widget responds to the lighting in the user’s space.

For widgets with static info like photos or cover art, Apple suggests the paper style so that they will dim with the room’s lighting, making them appear more like part of the actual room.

For widgets that present dynamic information, Apple suggests the glass style, noting that information on the glass style will stay illuminated to ensure it’s always easy to see.

Widgets made for VisionOS 26 can also be proximity-aware, allowing the widget to change between states based on how near or far the user is from the widget. This enables developers to show simplified information (like weather conditions) from across the room, then surface more detail when the user gets closer (like the upcoming week’s forecast).

Among the new first-party Apple widgets that are specific to Vision Pro is an album poster which shows album art on the wall and then plays the album when the user clicks on it. Another is a ‘photo window’ that allows you to create a virtual window with a panoramic photo that makes it seem like you’re actually looking out into the scene. However, these photos are flat for now rather than spatial.

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The Clock widget has gotten an overhaul with new designs and enhanced detail for viewing up close.

Apple really wants widgets to feel not like floating windows but part of the user’s actual space. Thus, they must be placed against walls or on flat surfaces, and they will also be occluded by other virtual content and by the real world environment, like furniture or walls.

To keep widgets grounded as part of the real environment, they are always contained within a frame that casts a realistic shadow.

While developers have new tools for making widgets on Vision Pro, users are also given a range of customization options.

Widgets can be adjusted to be 75% to 125% of their original size. They can be ‘elevated’ to sit on the wall like a picture frame, or ‘recessed’ which sinks them slightly into the wall, making them feel like part of it. When in ‘elevated’ mode, users can define the thickness of the frame.

Users can also choose between a handful of colors, in both light and dark variations.

When arranging widgets against a wall, nearby widgets will automatically snap into a grid arrangement for easy grouping.

Widgets can be interactive, allowing a user to, for instance, check off a to-do list item by using look-and-pinch or physically touching the widget. If a widget doesn’t have specific interactions, interacting with it will launch the parent application by default.

Widgets are already available in the VisionOS 26 developer beta that released this week, and is expected to be released to the public this fall.

At WWDC today, Apple announced the headlining features of visionOS 26, its next big OS release for Vision Pro. Among them is a new revamped spatial photos feature that ought to make them even more immersive.

Vision Pro launched with the ability to view spatial photos, captured either with the headset itself or with iPhone 16, 15 Pro and Pro Max. These spatial photos created a sense of depth and dimensionality by combining stereo capture and applying depth mapping to the image.

Now, Apple says it’s applied a new generative AI algorithm to create “spatial scenes with multiple perspectives, letting users feel like they can lean in and look around,” essentially ‘guessing’ at details not actually captured on camera.

With visionOS 26, Vision Pro users will be able to view spatial scenes in the Photos app, Spatial Gallery app, and Safari. The company says developers will also be able to use the Spatial Scene API to add the feature into their apps.

To show off the new AI-assisted spatial photos feature, real-estate marketplace Zillow says it’s adopting Spatial Scene API in the Zillow Immersive app for Vision Pro, which lets users to see spatial images of homes and apartments.

Apple’s visionOS 26 is slated to arrive sometime later this year, although the company says testing is already underway.

Apple today announced at WWDC that Vision Pro is getting spatialized Widgets, coming along when visionOS 26 drops later this year.

On basically all of Apple’s devices, Widgets are designed to offer up personalized and useful info at a glance.

Now Apple says Vision Pro is also getting spatial Widgets too, which will let you place a variety of these mini-apps around your house which reappear every time you put on Vision Pro.

Apple says Widgets in visionOS 26 are “customizable, with a variety of options for frame width, color, and depth. Beautiful new widgets — including Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos — all offer unique interactions and experiences.”

Essentially, you’ll be able to decorate you space with things like spatial photos, clocks with distinctive face designs, a calendar with your events, and also quick access to music playlists and songs so you can, say, keep your favorite track in a specific part of your room.

Notably, Apple says developers will be able to create their own widgets using WidgetKit. There’s no word on exactly when visionOS 26 releases, although the company says we can expect it sometime later this year.

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This story is breaking. We’re currently at WWDC today, and will report back when we learn more about all things Vision Pro.

Apple is reportedly developing a new chip for an upcoming pair of smart glasses which is aiming to compete with Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, according to a recent Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman.

Apple’s smart glasses chip is reportedly based on the low-energy processors used in Apple Watches, which are being optimized for power efficiency and the ability to control multiple cameras.

The report maintains production of the chip is expected to start by late 2026 or 2027, positioning the device for a market launch within the next two years. Apple’s long-time chips partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is expected to handle production.

“Apple is currently exploring non-AR [smart] glasses that use cameras to scan the surrounding environment and rely on AI to assist users,” Gurman says. “That would make the device similar to the Meta product, though Apple is still figuring out the exact approach it wants to take. The iPhone maker also needs its own artificial intelligence technology to vastly improve before the company can roll out a compelling AI-centric device.”

As for Apple’s continued augmented reality efforts, Bloomberg reported in April that Apple CEO Tim Cook “cares about nothing else” than beating Meta to market with a pair of AR glasses, representing a multi-year challenge that goes far beyond creating a pair of smart glasses.

In short, smart glasses like Meta Ray-Ban Glasses can play audio, take pictures, make phone calls, and access a voice assistant. The latest version of the device, released in 2023, has been so successful though, Meta is reportedly set to release the next generation of the device to include a single heads-up display.

Meanwhile, the sort of all-day AR glasses companies like Apple, Google and Meta are hoping to build go several steps further. AR glasses overlay digital content onto the real-world, blending virtual objects or information with the physical environment through transparent displays, requiring more advanced sensors, displays, optics, processors, batteries, and cooling management to achieve.

Apple is rumored to be working on two versions of Vision Pro, however a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman alleges the Cupertino tech giant is aiming to beat Meta to the punch with a pair of AR glasses.

Citing someone with knowledge of the matter, the report maintains Apple CEO Tim Cook has put development of AR glasses as a top priority, as the company plans to release such a device before Meta.

“Tim cares about nothing else,” the source told Bloomberg. “It’s the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.”

Creating the sort of all-day AR glasses Apple is aiming for is still a multi-year challenge though. Packing in high-resolution displays, a powerful chip and a high-density (but very small) battery for all-day power represents a number of technical challenges. And creating such a device at a consumer price point is arguably the biggest of them all.

While Apple is reticent to go on record, Meta has been fairly transparent with its XR roadmap. In late 2024, Meta unveiled its Orion AR glasses, which the company hopes will lead to the productization of such a device before 2030, and priced “at least in the space of phone, laptop territory.” For now, Orion costs Meta somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 per unit, largely owing to its custom silicon carbide waveguide optics.

And although Orion itself isn’t being productized right away, Meta is well on its way in the XR space, having not only produced multiple generations of Quest standalone headsets, but also its Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which are laying foundation for its AR glasses of the near future.

The smart glasses, built in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, have been very successful too—so much so that Meta is reportedly preparing a next generation of the device which will include a monoscopic heads-up display. Granted, those aren’t augmented reality glasses, but rather still smart glasses. You can learn more about the differences between the two here.

For now, Gurman maintains Apple is working on new versions of Apple Watch and AirPods which will be embedded with AI-enabled cameras, however the Fruit Company is still internally debating whether to counter Meta with a pair of smart glasses of their own.

According to Gurman, Apple has been developing such a device designed to work with Siri and Apple Visual Intelligence, although the company is unsure whether it will allow the glasses to actually capture media, owing to the company’s stance on user privacy.

This follows a wider leadership shakeup at Apple, reported by Bloomberg last month, which also saw Apple’s Vision Products Group (VPG) redistributed across the company.

Tasked with developing Vision Pro, VPG was initially created in 2023, which notably departed from its “functional” management structure introduced by Steve Jobs in the early ’90s. Essentially, this puts Vision Pro’s product development back in line with the company’s other hardware, including iPhone, iPad, etc.

Apple announced today that the latest update to Vision Pro, visionOS 2.4 is now available to the public. VisionOS 2.4 finally adds Apple Intelligence features to the headset, while adding an iPhone companion app to make using and sharing the headset easier, along with a new Spatial Gallery to curate spatial content for watching on the headset.

While the first Apple Intelligence features reached iPhones, iPads, and Macs back in October, 2024, Vision Pro was curiously left out. Not only did the headset not get any of the Apple Intelligence features, at that point Apple hadn’t even confirmed that the headset ever would get them.

That finally changes today with VisionOS 2.4, now available to the public, which adds the same Apple Intelligence features that users can access on other devices. That includes writing tools, like the ability to proofread, rewrite, and summarize text, and image generation tools like Image Playground and Genmoji.

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Beyond just adding the usual slate of Apple Intelligence features, VisionOS 2.4 directly addresses commonly cited pain points of using the headset.

Spatial Gallery App

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Spatial Gallery is a new app for the headset which includes spatial (stereoscopic) content curated by Apple. Think of it as a premier gallery of spatial photos and videos. While the content will change over time, at launch Apple says users can “discover stories and experiences from iconic brands including Red Bull, Cirque du Soleil, and Porsche; go behind the scenes with Apple Originals like Severance, The Studio, and The Morning Show; and listen to conversations with top artists like Bad Bunny, Charli xcx, and Keith Urban.”

Vision Pro Companion App for iPhone

Similar to Apple Watch, Vision Pro is getting a companion app that runs on an iPhone or iPad. The app highlights new apps and entertainment content available on the headset, without users needing to put on the device just to browse for new content.

The app also serves as a simple place to read up on tips & tricks for getting the most out of the headset, as well as finding important support information like version and serial numbers.

Guest User Improvements

Vision Pro smartly launched with a dedicated ‘Guest Mode’ to make it easy for headset owners to show off the headset to friends and family by calibrating the headset specifically for the guest, and gives the owner control over what apps the guest can access.

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VisionOS 2.4, in conjunction with iOS 18.4, now makes the process smoother by allowing the headset owner to start a Guest Mode session from their iPhone (rather than needing to put on the headset first). It also allows the owner to remotely start View Mirroring so they can see what the guest user sees in the headset. Previously this could only be started from within the headset, which meant needing to guide the guest user by memory through the menus to find the right button.

New Apple Immersive Video Content

Alongside visionOS 2.4, Apple is highlighting upcoming releases for its first-party Apple Immersive Video content with VIP: Yankee Stadium on April 4th, featuring an “all-encompassing look at how elite athletes, die-hard fans, dedicated staff, and epic moments make the Bronx ballpark legendary.”

Later, on May 30th, Apple is releasing Bono: Stories of Surrender, a documentary about the frontman of the band U2. Uniquely, this will be released on Apple TV+ as viewable both as a standard flatscreen video and on Vision Pro as an Apple Immersive Vide