The Apple Vision Pro's Disappearing Act

Did you know they upgraded the Apple Vision Pro this past year? Did you remember the Apple Vision Pro exists?

Sure seems like Apple doesn't want you to, because they've quietly reduced production and marketing for the product line recently amid dismal sales.

The Apple Vision Pro was Apple's foray into "spatial computing," a thing that is a thing but isn't a THING yet, y'know? Spatially-aware 3D augmented reality computer interfaces definitely is a thing that is cool and interesting and sometimes genuinely useful, but the practical applications are too few and far between with modern consumer technology for it to be something adopted at the scale of, say, a $3,500 Apple product.

According to data from Sensor Tower and published by Financial Times, Apple has pulled spending on ads for the Vision Pro by over 95%. Manufacturing has reportedly been halted. Is this the end for Apple and the Apple Vision line?

No, and probably not. Apple is doing just fine, unfortunately, and this is likely not the end of the Vision Pro or their augmented / mixed reality endeavors. Apple has continued to invest in their VisionOS platform, and despite the embarrassingly low uptake, they still proudly boast "3,000+" apps designed for the Vision Pro. They've recently bet the farm on Liquid Glass, which according to Apple was done to unify their operating systems to match VisionOS.

Yep—if you are an iPhone or Mac user and aren't a fan of Liquid Glass, you can blame the Vision Pro design team for that one. Kinda. I mean, blame Apple at large, but still.

My guess is we will see them quietly refresh the headset now and again while they work on a non-"pro" option that will be more like the glasses everyone had originally anticipated.

Until then, we will just have to keep looking at this reality, which is like, gross and has like, homeless people. Soon, we will be able to use AI and our Apple Vision Air's to automate ignoring them as we stride merrily down our beautiful city streets ☺️