Apple to make cuts to Vision Pro headset production plans as manufacturing bottlenecks arise: report

Apple has been forced to make major cuts to the production forecasts for its mixed-reality Vision Pro headset due to the complexity of the design and difficulties in production, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing sources.

According to the FT report, Luxshare - the only contract manufacturer that will initially assemble the device -said it was preparing to make fewer than 400,000 units in 2024. Further, two China-based sole suppliers of certain components for the Vision Pro told FT that Apple was only asking them for 130,000 to 150,000 units in the first year.

Both these figures are well below the internal sales target of 1 million set for the first 12 months.


The report added that a significant hurdle is the manufacturing of the sleek screens for the device that comprise two micro-OLED displays — one per eye — and an outward-facing, curved “lenticular” lens. "The inward displays offer a resolution exceeding anything currently on the market, while the outward lens projects the headset wearer’s eyes to the outside world," it read.

While Sony and the chipmaker TSMC supplied the micro-OLED displays for the prototypes presented during the the June demonstration, the report suggested that Apple was unhappy with the suppliers’ productivity.

Apple's Vision Pro headset has been touted as the next big thing after the iPhone in terms of technological innovation, and has been seven years in development.

Last year, Meta unveiled a new version of its virtual reality headset - Quest Pro - tailored for working professionals. In March this year, Meta cut the prices of the Meta Quest Pro from its launch price of $1,499 to $999, and the Quest 2, 256 GB version, for $429 from $499 to stir demand for its VR hardware.

The Vision Pro, which will start at $3,499, is more than two times the cost of the priciest headset from Meta.

During the company's earnings call in February, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said the new next-generation consumer headset, slated to be launched "later this year", will feature a better mixed reality (MR) technology.

"The Meta Reality ecosystem is relatively new, but I think it's going to grow a lot in the next few years," Zuckerberg had then said. "Later this year, we're going to launch our next-generation consumer headset, which will feature Meta Reality as well, and I expect that this is going to establish this technology as the baseline for all headsets going forward, and eventually of course for augmented reality (AR) glasses as well."

(With inputs from agencies. Graphics by Rahul Awasthi)