If you’re one of the few people who picked up Apple’s take on a mixed reality headset when it first launched the Vision Pro in 2024, you’re probably still paying off the debt and aren’t all that interested in an upgrade. For the rest of you who spent the time saving up, you’ll be glad to know Apple is readying a second-gen model for the headset, featuring an upgraded chipset and small tweaks that’ll mean fewer calls to the local chiropractor.
No Electric Booglaoo?
It’s important to note that this isn’t a proper ‘Vision Pro 2’. According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the ‘new’ Vision Pro Apple has cooked up is nothing more than a small refresher to get folks ready for the main course, with current plans aiming for a 2027 release. That would be a proper sequel to the Vision Pro, with a full-on redesign and donning the tech of the time, although the 2027 date isn’t yet set in stone.
Up first on the relatively short list of changes is a new processor. The Vision Pro will get the latest M4 chip, an upgrade over the M2 chip the original model housed. Gurman also mentions that Apple is testing a version with more cores inside the neural engine — up from the 16 inside the original model. This would enable the Vision Pro to become more handy when it comes to AI tasks, an area where Apple has stumbled in recent months.
Second and perhaps more important, Apple is “prototyping” new straps that are meant to reduce neck pain and allow users to wear the Vision Pro for longer periods at a time. The report doesn’t mention how it might pull this off. Apple’s hoping to fix the issue with a strap first, without dropping the weight — an upgrade it’s hoping to save for a real sequel. If it can’t manage, perhaps this second-gen Vision Pro will indeed be lighter.
Read More: We tried the Apple Vision Pro and you should too (as long as you don’t have to pay for it)
“The second generation’s minor changes are unlikely to make the headset a consumer hit. But they may give corporate customers a reason to consider the Vision Pro — and prod more app developers to support the technology. Later this year, Apple will roll out the headset’s new visionOS 26 operating system, which includes virtual widgets and an eye-scrolling capability,” Gurman wrote.
