Apple’s reportedly slowing down Vision Pro production, for now

A new report from The Information cites “multiple people” involved in making parts for Apple’s Vision Pro headset to say that production plans have been scaled back in recent months. This follows a Tim Cook interview published this weekend by WSJ. Magazine, where he said, “Obviously I’d like to sell more,” but acknowledged that “At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product.”

That aligns with The Information’s previous report from this summer, saying Apple has shifted its strategy to focus on making a cheaper headset, which could ship as soon as next year.

According to the report, the company that does the final assembly of Vision Pro headsets has been warned production could wind down in November.

There are caveats, including that production could ramp up if demand increases for some reason, and that a future model could use some of the same parts but with an upgraded processor.

In April, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple had cut Vision Pro shipment estimates for 2024 to between 400,000 and 450,000 units. The Information cites an employee of the assembler, Luxshare, who said it has made between 500,000 to 600,000 headsets since production started last year, suggesting Apple may have enough parts and headsets stockpiled for now.

Tim Cook told the WSJ, “Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for,” but plenty of early adopters are probably waiting around for something a bit cheaper to land on store shelves.