The Apple Vision Pro headset’s “ideal form” could take four successive generations of the device before becoming realized, say some people in Apple’s Vision Products Group. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.
The information comes in the latest issue of Gurman’s Power On newsletter, and he says:
But today’s Vision Pro is more of a preview of the future than the future itself. It’s too heavy and cumbersome, the battery life is far too short, and there aren’t enough dedicated apps. For all its strengths, the visionOS operating system suffers from more bugginess than you’d typically expect from an Apple product, even a first-generation one.
Apple still has lots of work to do, starting with rejiggering its software upgrade process to release bug fixes more quickly. At this point, it feels like the software is a beta version and about a year away from feeling refined enough for consumers to use on a day-to-day basis. In fact, some people in the Vision Products Group (the team working on the headset) believe it could take four generations before the device reaches its ideal form — similar to the progression of the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
While it’s not clear what Apple’s development team considers to be the device’s “ideal form,” we’ve seen several complaints of “features” of the first-generation device involving both the hardware and the software.
If Apple’s team can resolve those issues over four generations – similar to the progression of the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch – Gurman’s take is that the Vision Pro could eventually replace the iPad.
“It’s going to take some hardware upgrades, a slew of software updates, and far better support from app developers and content makers to actually make the headset the iPad replacement that it’s capable of being,” says Gurman. “Until then, the Vision Pro is essentially a prototype — just one where you have to pay Apple for the privilege of testing it out.”
