Updated October 2026: This post has been expanded from its original June 2023 version with launch details, how the Vision Pro fared after it went on sale, the 2025 M5 refresh, and what its story says about mixed-reality headsets. It is a historical account; details describe the time it covers, not today.
On June 5, 2023, Apple closed its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote with the announcement many had expected for years: a headset. The Apple Vision Pro was presented not as a virtual reality gaming device but as a "spatial computer" that blends apps, video and 3D content with the room around you. Apple described it as its first major new product category since the Apple Watch in 2015, and set a starting price of $3,499, with a US launch planned for early 2024.
This post recounts what Apple showed in 2023, what happened when the headset reached customers, and how the product evolved through 2026. Details about features and prices describe the time they were announced unless noted otherwise.
What Apple announced in June 2023
Controlled by eyes, hands and voice
The Vision Pro had no handheld controllers. Users looked at an item to highlight it, tapped their fingers together to select it, and could use voice for dictation and Siri. Apps appeared as floating windows in the user's real surroundings, which the headset showed through passthrough video from its outward-facing cameras. A physical Digital Crown on the top let wearers dial in how much of the room was replaced by an immersive "Environment," such as a mountain landscape.
Apple paid unusual attention to the people around the wearer. A feature called EyeSight used a curved outward-facing display to show a rendering of the wearer's eyes when someone approached, and to indicate when the wearer was fully immersed and could not see others. For video calls, the headset generated a "Persona," a digital representation of the user's face created by scanning it with the headset, since a FaceTime camera could not see a face covered by a visor.
The hardware
Inside were two chips. An Apple M2, the same family used in Macs, ran apps and visionOS, the headset's new operating system. A new chip, the R1, was dedicated to processing input from the headset's 12 cameras, five sensors and six microphones. Apple said the R1 delivered new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds, which mattered because lag between head movement and image is a major cause of motion sickness. The two micro-OLED displays packed about 23 million pixels in total.
To keep the headset lighter, the battery was a separate pack connected by a cable, rated for about two hours of use, though the device could run indefinitely while plugged in. The headset unlocked using Optic ID, which identifies the user by their iris, and Apple said eye-tracking data would not be shared with apps or websites.
Apps, developers and Disney
Apple said most iPhone and iPad apps would run on the headset as flat windows, and gave developers new tools, including Reality Composer Pro, alongside existing frameworks such as SwiftUI, RealityKit and ARKit, to build apps designed for 3D. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared during the keynote and said Disney+ would be available when the headset launched. The headset could also act as a giant virtual display for a Mac.
| Specification | Original Vision Pro (2024) | Vision Pro with M5 (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Main chip | Apple M2 | Apple M5 |
| Sensor chip | Apple R1 | Apple R1 |
| Displays | Two micro-OLED, about 23 million pixels total | Same panels; about 10% more pixels rendered |
| Maximum refresh rate | 100 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Battery life (general use) | About 2 hours | Up to 2.5 hours |
| Cameras / sensors / microphones | 12 / 5 / 6 | Unchanged |
| Starting price (US) | $3,499 (256 GB) | $3,499 (256 GB) |
| Release | February 2, 2024 | October 22, 2025 |
Sources: TechCrunch, 512 Pixels, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, UploadVR. Specifications as announced by Apple.
Launch: February 2024
In January 2024, Apple set the US release for February 2, with preorders opening on January 19. The $3,499 price did not include extras such as prescription Zeiss lens inserts, which cost $149. According to AppleInsider, initial shipping estimates slipped within minutes of preorders opening, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that Apple sold up to 200,000 units in the first two weeks of preorders. Apple itself did not publish sales figures.
Early reviews were mixed in a specific way. Reviewers praised the sharp displays, the quality of the passthrough video and the polish of the eye-and-hand interface. The Verge's Nilay Patel said it felt like magic "when it works." The main complaints were the price, the weight on the front of the face, the short battery life and the shortage of native apps, with Netflix, Spotify and YouTube all choosing not to release visionOS apps at launch.
What happened next
Apple expanded sales internationally in mid-2024, launching in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore on June 28 and in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK on July 12. Software updates added features through visionOS 2 and later visionOS 26.
On October 15, 2025, Apple announced an updated Vision Pro with the M5 chip, released October 22 at the same $3,499 starting price. Rather than a redesign, it was a targeted refresh: a faster chip with hardware ray tracing, a 120 Hz refresh rate to reduce motion blur, about 10 percent more rendered pixels for sharper text, roughly 30 minutes of extra battery life, and a new Dual Knit Band with tungsten counterweights meant to address the comfort complaints. The band was also sold separately for the original model.
The bigger question was the category's future. In June 2026, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple had stopped work on a Vision Pro successor and was redirecting resources toward smart glasses, with display-less AI glasses expected around 2027. Apple has not confirmed those plans, and the analyst reports should be treated as unconfirmed. Still, the reporting fit the industry's growing interest in lightweight camera-and-audio glasses such as Ray-Ban Meta, which are far cheaper than any headset.
- June 5, 2023
Vision Pro announced at WWDC for $3,499, "early next year" in the US. - January 19, 2024
US preorders open. - February 2, 2024
Vision Pro goes on sale in the United States. - June 28, 2024
Launch in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. - July 12, 2024
Launch in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK. - October 22, 2025
M5 Vision Pro and Dual Knit Band go on sale. - June 2026
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports Apple has shelved a successor in favor of smart glasses (unconfirmed by Apple).
What the Vision Pro story means for buyers
- First-generation hardware is a preview. The 2025 refresh fixed some of the 2024 model's biggest complaints, comfort and battery life, within two years. Early adopters pay for being first.
- Try before you buy. Fit, weight and eye comfort vary widely between people. Apple offered in-store demos, and any headset is worth wearing for a while before spending this much.
- Check the apps you actually need. A headset is only as useful as the software available for it. Confirm that your streaming services and work tools have native apps or work well in the browser.
- Count the extras. Prescription inserts, extra batteries, storage upgrades and cases can add hundreds of dollars to the headline price.
- Think about privacy. Headsets collect detailed data about your eyes, hands and home. Read what the maker says about where that data goes, as Apple did when it said eye-tracking data stays on the device.
Whatever comes next, the Vision Pro set a new bar for display quality and hands-free control in a headset, and its mixed commercial reception showed how far the category still had to go before it could reach the mass market.
Sources
- TechCrunch: The Apple Vision Pro features an M2 chip, a ton of sensors and a new R1 chip (June 5, 2023)
- 512 Pixels: Apple Vision Pro by the numbers (June 2023)
- AppleInsider: Apple Vision Pro will ship to customers on February 2 (January 8, 2024)
- Wikipedia: Apple Vision Pro (launch dates, reception, sales estimates)
- 9to5Mac: Here's everything new with Apple Vision Pro M5 (October 16, 2025)
- UploadVR: M5 Apple Vision Pro officially announced (October 15, 2025)
- PYMNTS: Apple to scrap Vision Pro successor and focus on smart glasses (June 3, 2026)
Top image: "Apple Vision Pro on display in Toronto, Canada - Aug 2024" by LR.127, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized). Charts by Thank You Robot.
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