A cheaper Apple Vision Pro might not land until 2026 – and Samsung’s XR/VR headset could steal its lunch

The current Apple Vision Pro is a fantastic bit of mixed reality kit, blending impressive hardware and an innovative user interface. But as you’ll see in our Apple Visio Pro review, it’s far from perfect; throw in a $ 3,499 price tag and other early-adopter woes, and the headset isn’t something for most people. 

As such, Apple has been tipped to be working on next-generation and potentially cheaper versions of the Vision Pro. But Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who’s a renowned and accurate Apple tipster, has said the Cupertino crew is some 18 months away from releasing a ‘Vision Pro 2’, with a roadmap that reportedly won't see a second-generation model ready until the end of 2026. 

Apparently, Apple will try and bring the cheaper version to the market before then, but Gurman says, per his sources, that Apple is “flummoxed” about how exactly to bring the headset's cost down. 

So that arguably leaves a gap in the mixed reality (or XR for extended reality) market, one that Apple has injected interest into for others to join in. Enter Samsung. 

Samsung, Sony and Snapdragon

The South Korean tech giant is working on an XR headset that's likely to come with some impressive specs. We’re talking about a Sony-made micro-OLED display with a resolution of 3,840 x 3,552 pixels, 90Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,000-nits; those are Vision Pro-challenging screen specs. A Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset is set to power the Samsung XR/VR headset, which could arrive at some point this year.

While Apple has a knack for creating slick interconnected product ecosystems, Samsung has got a lot better at building out its device ecosystem, in addition to having its phones, tablets and other gadgets play nice with Windows 11. So it could make an impressive XR headset that arguably has more flexibility that the Vision Pro by working with more devices and a wider range of laptops.

Now that’s all speculation on my part, but Samsung has made VR headsets in the past and worked closely with Microsoft, which could give it an ace up the sleeve by working well with Microsoft MR platform and perhaps Steam VR; the latter would arguably give it a gaming advantage over the Vision Pro.

The Samsung Gear VR headset on a red desk

The Samsung Gear VR – you needed a phone to operate it (Image credit: samsung)

Working with a more open-ended platform like Windows 11 could potentially make it easier for more developers to get on board with making XR/MR apps and services. That would make jumping into XR a more appealing prospect if would-be buyers could be assured of plenty of apps and software compatibility.

Furthermore, Samsung is potentially closer to supply chains than Apple – not least of all because it has its own display arm – so could stand to make a high-end XR headset that undercuts the Vision Pro.

While I need to be convinced that extended and mixed reality (which blends virtual and augmented reality) has a viable spot in the future of computing, I’m keen to see Apple have some clear competition in the area – there are other MR headsets but they haven’t really grabbed the limelight or developed a system to compete with Apple’s visionOS; that’s not counting the likes of the Meta Quest 3

Samsung basically competes with Apple in the smartphone arena, so I see no reason why it can't lock horns in the XR world, and with a reported wait for a next-gen Vision Pro, Samsung could take a bite out of the MR pie for itself.

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A cheaper Meta Quest 3 might be coming, but trust me, it won’t look like the leaks

Over the past few days we’ve been treated to two separate Meta Quest 3 leaks – or more accurately, leaks for a new cheaper Quest 3 that’s either called the Meta Quest 3s or Meta Quest 3 Lite, depending on who you believe.

But while the phrase ‘where there's smoke there's fire’ can often ring true in the world of tech leaks, I’m having a really tough time buying what I’ve seen so far from the two designs.

Going in chronological order; the first to drop was a Meta Quest 3 Lite render shared by @ZGFTECH on Twitter.

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It looks an awful lot like an Oculus Quest 2 with its slightly bulkier design – perhaps because it seems to use the 2’s fresnel lens system instead of a slimmer pancake lens system like the Quest 3 – but with more rounded edges to match its namesake. 

Interestingly, it also lacks any kind of RGB cameras or a depth sensor – which for me is a massive red flag. Mixed reality is the main focus for XR hardware and software right now, so of all the downgrades to make for the Lite, removing full-color MR passthrough seems the most absurd. It’d be much more likely for Meta to give the Quest 3 Lite a worse display or chipset.

@ZGFTECH did later clarify that they aren’t saying the Quest 3 Lite lacks RGB cameras, just that their renders exclude them because they can’t reveal more “at the moment.” Though as I said before, I expect mixed reality would be a key Quest 3 Lite feature, so I’m more than a little surprised this detail is shrouded in mystery.

Then there’s the Meta Quest 3s leak. The original Reddit post has since been deleted, but copies like this Twitter post remain online.

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Just like the Meta Quest 3 Lite leaked design, this bulkier headset suggests a return to fresnel lenses. Although unlike the previous model, we see some possible RGB cameras and sensors on the front face panel. On top of this, we also get some more details about specs – chiefly that the cheaper Quest 3 could boast dual 1,832 x 1,920 pixel displays.

But while the design seems a little more likely (if a little too ugly), the leak itself is setting off my BS detectors. The first issue is that the shared images include elements of a Zoom call that might make it quite easy to determine who the leaker is. To see these early designs the leaker likely had to sign an NDA that would come with some kind of financial penalty for sharing the info, and unless they have zero care for their financial well being I would’ve expected them to be a lot more careful with what they do/don’t share lest they face the wrath of Meta’s well-funded legal team.

On top of this, some of the promotional assets seem a little off. Some of them feature the original Quest 3 rather than the new design, some of the images don’t seem super relevant to a VR gadget, plus ports and buttons seem to change positions and parts change color across various renders.

As such, I’m more than a little unconvinced that this is a genuine leak.

The Meta Quest 3 and controllers on their charging stand

(Image credit: Meta)

Meta Quest 3 Lite: fact or fiction? 

I guess the follow-up question from my skepticism over these leaks is: is a cheaper Meta Quest 3 even on the way? 

Inherently, the idea isn’t absurd. The Quest 3 may be cheaper than many other VR headsets, but at $ 499.99 / £479.99 / AU$ 799.99 it is pricier than the Quest was at launch – $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 – and its affordable price point is the central reason the Quest 2 sold phenomenally well.

I’ve previously estimated that the Quest 3 is selling slightly slower than its predecessor did at the same point in its lifespan, so Meta may be looking to juice its figures by releasing a cheaper model.

What’s more, while these leaks have details that leave me more than a little skeptical, the fact that we have had two leaks in such a short stretch of time leaves me feeling like there might be some validity to the rumors.

A Meta Quest 3 player sucking up Stay Puft Marshmallow Men from Ghostbusters in mixed reality using virtual tech extending from their controllers

The Quest 3 Lite needs good quality mixed reality (Image credit: Meta)

So while we can't yet say for certain it's coming, I wouldn't be surprised if Meta announced a Quest 3 Lite or S. I'm just not convinced that it’ll look like either of these leaked designs.

For me, the focus would be on having a sleek mixed reality machine – which would require full-color passthrough and pancake rather than fresnel lenses (which we have seen on affordable XR hardware like the Pico 4).

The cost savings would then come from having lower resolution displays, less storage (starting at 64GB), and having a worse chipset or less RAM than we see in the Quest 3. 

We’ll have to wait and see if Meta announces anything officially. I expect we won’t hear anything until either its Meta Quest Gaming Showcase for 2024 – which is due around June – or this year’s Meta Connect event – which usually lands around September or October.

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I’d love it if Apple dropped the Vision Pro’s worst feature to make a cheaper version – it’s a win-win

Well, the Apple Vision Pro isn’t even available yet, and Apple is already looking to the future (well, the further future) to consider how to make the follow-up model even better. Or, in this case, even cheaper: according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple wants its second headset to cost less.

We already knew Apple was likely considering a cheaper Vision Pro model, and this latest news gives credence to those rumors. It seems like the first-generation Vision Pro is having some teething issues too, most notably the weight – the same Gurman report discusses Apple’s efforts to reduce the weight of a second-generation headset. But there’s a far better nugget of information we should be focusing on…

Apple might get rid of that horrible external display! Yes, the EyeSight feature that I heavily criticized when the headset was first revealed might be cut from future Vision models in order to save on costs. It makes a lot of sense; adding an external screen to show the user’s eyes is a ridiculous feature that no doubt costs a lot of money, adding extra (entirely unneeded) OLED display tech to every single headset. The screen even has lenticular glass to create an illusion of depth.

The feature isn’t even that helpful; it projects the eyes of your uncanny-valley FaceTime avatar onto the exterior screen when you’re looking through the headset’s external cameras, or displays an opaque color when you’re immersed in something that blocks out your surroundings. In other words, it tells other people if a Vision Pro user can see them or not – something that could’ve probably been achieved with a single LED.

Get ready for the Apple Vision… something

Apple is reportedly targeting a $ 1,500-$ 2,000 price range for its more affordable Vision headset, which sounds a lot more accessible than the current $ 3,499 price tag. Given that some other popular VR headsets – like the new Meta Quest 3 – are a lot cheaper, many potential users are likely to give the first-gen Vision Pro a pass.

A cheaper model was likely always going to happen given the name Apple chose for its headset – Vision Pro implies the (future) existence of a standard Apple Vision headset, in keeping with Apple’s naming conventions for its other products. Just look at the iPhone 15 Pro and the MacBook Pro – hey, maybe the cheaper headset will be called the Apple Vision Air?

Apple is also reportedly developing a second high-end version of the headset (a Vision Pro Max, perhaps?), and it’s enough to make me wonder if the first-gen model will even be worth buying at all. The Vision Pro represents Apple’s first step into an entirely new market, and it wouldn’t even surprise me if it gets hit with delays – after all, it’s suspected that issues with chip manufacturer TSMC could delay M3 MacBook Air models until the middle of next year, and the Vision Pro features not just the M2 chip but also a new dedicated R1 chip for mixed-reality workloads.

In any case, I’ll be happy to see a less expensive headset from Apple. I still remember the noise the crowd made at WWDC 2023 when the price was unveiled… and let’s face it, EyeSight is a feature nobody really needs.

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Meta could topple Apple’s Vision Pro headset – with a cheaper device and no controllers

With the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset releasing tomorrow, it seems like Meta is looking to follow in Apple’s footsteps with the Apple Vision Pro. In a race to dominate the VR scene, Meta may have course-corrected earlier marketing and design plans for its follow-up headset (currently codenamed Ventura – a slightly ironic name…) in response to the Vision Pro, possibly even removing the headset controllers to reduce costs.

According to Mark Gurman via his Power One newsletter, a person within Meta suggested that Meta “is in the ‘afraid of Apple stage’” and that Meta is investing a lot of time and effort to improve its VR products as well as shifting focus away from the metaverse. 

The Verge notes that Meta’s big goal with the Ventura headset is to cut costs as much as possible and offer a lower asking price for a good headset. The Quest 3 is already much cheaper than the Vision Pro, and according to Gurman Meta may be ditching controller bundling to help cut down the price even further for its next headset.

Does Meta have the right idea? 

Gurman suggests that users will be able to decide to use just hand gestures or purchase the controllers separately. For comparison, Apple’s headset doesn’t actually come with dedicated controllers – it relies solely on gesture controls tracked via its external cameras, although you can always connect a third-party controller or another Apple device (like a MacBook Air) for control input.

If you can throw yourself back in time a little and remember the original reveal of the Apple Vision Pro, you’ll probably remember thinking “surely they’re not charging that much for the headset?!”

So, the fact that Meta is prioritizing affordability with the Quest 3 is a smart move to get ahead of the curve. If the company is able to make the Ventura headset (Quest 4? Quest Neo? Who knows) massively more affordable than the Vision Pro – and ensure that it can perform competitively against Apple's offering – then Meta actually has a very good shot at securing the top spot in the VR world.

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The Apple Vision Pro could already have a potential competitor – A cheaper headset from Meta

The Apple Vision Pro has caused quite a stir since it was announced at WWDC 2023, and its odd-but-captivating design has prompted several competitors to begin development of their own premium AR headsets, including Meta. 

The rumors swirling around the supposed Meta headset suggest that the company has partnered with LG to launch the mixed reality device at some point in 2025, with pricing set lower than the staggering price point of $ 3,499 of the Apple Vision Pro. 

Wccftech reports that the potential headset will feature the same ‘Pro’ tag, with the official name said to be the Quest 4 Pro. The partnership between LG and Meta mirrors that of Apple and Sony, so we can expect LG to be in charge of display production. 

More choice is always welcome

With the potential launch date set for a few years from now, it seems likely that Meta intends to see how consumers take to the Apple Vision Pro. The report from Wccftech suggests that a cheaper model of Meta’s headset will retail for $ 200 in 2024, with the Quest 4 Pro following a year later at an undisclosed price. 

While there are still a lot of mixed feelings surrounding the Apple Vision Pro leading up to the launch, it could be a good sign that other tech companies are looking into offering cheaper alternatives. 

Apple may be able to argue that the high cost of its headset is a result of the premium design and features offered, but if competitors like Meta could jump on the wagon and provide something similar for cheaper, Apple should start feeling a little nervous. 

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Apple may be considering a cheaper Vision Pro model – so people might be able to actually buy the headset

The Apple Vision Pro is probably the most ambitious product to be announced this year, combining an interesting design and staggering price tag with some exciting-sounding tech that could make it really stand out from other virtual reality headsets (not that Apple wants the Vision Pro to be considered a VR headset). It features two 4K microLED panels that at the moment are only sourced from Sony, with the manufacturer capping annual display production at just a million units dedicated to the headset. 

This puts a spanner in the works, as not only will Apple be unable to produce as many units as possibly needed, but it also means the company has no negotiating power with component prices, as only Sony is making them. However, it seems like two Chinese suppliers are currently being evaluated to produce the microLED technology, which could enable mass production and hopefully, a cheaper model. 

According to The Information, two people “with direct knowledge of the matter” claim that Apple is “testing advanced displays” by two companies for possible inclusion in future models. 

A source cited in the article also hints at the possibility of a non-pro, more financially accessible, version of the Vision headset, stating that Apple is evaluating BOE’s and SeeYa’s – the two companies mentioned above –  displays for future models of both the Vision Pro and a cheaper headset internally code-named N109, which The Information previously reported was in an early stage of development.

The cheaper the better 

Apple already uses BOE for iPad and iPhone displays, so there is a good chance that they would collaborate again for Vison Pro panels. When the augmented reality headset was announced in June of this year, the steep price tag of $ 3,500 caused concern about who could actually afford to buy one.

In a time when people are concerned with the cost of living, who is this device actually for? During WWDC 2023 many people felt there was no clear audience for the Vision Pro, and at $ 3,500 not many people would be willing to shell out just to give the experimental technology a try. 

Hopefully, as Apple searches for cheaper display manufacturers and considers a more ‘basic’ Vision headset, it will give more people a chance to try out the impressive tech. Obviously, a cheaper alternative will have watered-down features, but I would rather spend half the price on a headset I can afford, that may be missing a few features than to be completely priced out of such exciting tech. 

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There’s no cheaper Core i9 PC workstation right now

At just under $ 600 with free DHL delivery(£488.49/AU$ 944.36), you won't find a cheaper Intel Core i9 computer than this one, provided you don’t mind waiting a few weeks for it to ship from China. 

Sold by Shenzhen Helor Cloud Computer Store via Aliexpress, the device features an Intel Core i9-9880H CPU, which has eight cores, 16 threads and uses a 14nm lithography. With a base frequency of 2.3GHz and 16MB cache, it has a TDP of 45W and leans on an Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU.

For context, the cheapest Core i9 CPU we could find retails at around $ 520 – only marginally cheaper than the whole workstation.

This thin client can take up to 64GB DDR4 memory, supports up to three SSD drives and uses a 90W PSU.

It also has two video ports, five USBs (including Type-C), a GB Ethernet connector and an audio port. At 15 x 14.6 x 6.65cm, it is compact enough to be carried around with ease.

Despite its miniscule footprint, the device contains a massive 100mm fan and plenty of slits to cool the CPU, 8GB memory and 128GB M.2 SSD.

Note, like most PCs that ship from mainland China, Windows 10 does not come bundled.

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