Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional slashes manufacturing after weak gross sales. What now for AR/VR?

The brand new 12 months has barely begun, and already we have now a powerful contender for our annual lifeless tech listing, 2026 version — the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.

Not that the iPhone maker’s Augmented Actuality (AR) headset has handed on but, precisely. The Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional (beginning at $3,499) has been, to paraphrase Monty Python, simply resting manufacturing at its Chinese language producer, Luxcorp. That is in accordance with analysts at Worldwide Knowledge Corp, which estimates Apple solely bought 4,500 headsets worldwide within the vacation quarter of 2025 — new M5 chip model (which is reportedly made in Vietnam) included.

For comparability, that is lower than one-tenth of the half-million Imaginative and prescient Professionals analysts say had been bought in its launch 12 months, 2024.

Apple would not escape Imaginative and prescient Professional gross sales figures — however the firm has all however given up on advertising and marketing the product, in accordance with a scathing Monetary Occasions report. Digital advertising and marketing for the system has been slashed by 95 p.c. In the event you see a banner advert for a Imaginative and prescient Professional within the wilds of the web, you would possibly wish to take a screenshot: You are an more and more endangered beast.

What went flawed with the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional?

To be truthful to Apple, slumping gross sales are an issue throughout the entire AR/digital actuality area — to not point out the entire U.S. retail area.

Analysts at Counterpoint noticed a 14 p.c drop in all AR/VR headset gross sales within the first half of 2025. The Imaginative and prescient Professional is clearly on the luxurious finish of the market — Meta’s Quest 3S VR headset not too long ago dropped its value to $250 — and luxurious gadgets are usually the primary to go when customers are feeling the pinch of rising costs on requirements comparable to groceries and healthcare premiums.

Even when you’re all-in on the thought of hefty AR headsets with battery packs connected, you may be sorely tempted to drop half the worth tag of the Imaginative and prescient Professional on the brand new Galaxy XR headset ($1,800). As cool because the Imaginative and prescient Professional hands-on expertise could also be, no must-have “killer app” has but been recognized for the platform. The iPhone is an important standing image; the iPad helps you reside your greatest artistic life; your Mac is your workhorse; and the VisionPro … does what, precisely?

From the outset, the corporate has struggled to elucidate why we should always desire a Imaginative and prescient Professional (as this weirdly Black Mirror-esque product demo confirmed). So it is sensible to pause these advert {dollars}, not less than. For these of us who discover the Imaginative and prescient Professional’s EyeSight show eyes creepy, banner advertisements that show the function could make us much less possible to purchase one.

Apple’s AI glasses are the long run.

Disappointing gross sales and paused manufacturing do not imply Apple has no clue what to do on this class. Fairly the alternative, in accordance with one well-sourced Oct. 2025 report — the corporate is already pulling workers away from its cheaper Imaginative and prescient Professional model, and on to a lighter, cheaper mannequin of good glasses that can compete with Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban Show and Google’s upcoming Android XR glasses.

That makes way more sense. Regardless of a particularly cringe Mark Zuckerberg demo fail, the $800 Meta Ray-Bans made for one of many extra buzzworthy product launches of 2025. Early adopters and critics alike had been optimistic, and buyers clamored to purchase shares within the firm that makes Ray-Bans.

With reside translation, instructions, and voice search, the Meta Ray-Bans fulfilled many guarantees of augmented actuality which were with us all the best way again to Google Glass (which additionally took a very long time to formally die out); in addition they occur to be Ray-Bans and thus do not make you appear like a nerd. (Effectively, except you are indoors and the cool shades lighten to disclose, sadly, thick frames.)

If there’s any firm that understands the significance of design that appeals to non-nerdy prospects, it is Apple. So whereas the cumbersome, expensive, nerdy Imaginative and prescient Professional could also be lifeless tech strolling, do not rely its maker out but. Apple simply could rebound from this gross sales stoop to shock us with one thing like a Imaginative and prescient Air — light-weight specs that work for far more than 45,000 new prospects per quarter.