Apple mulls multiple options for future Apple Vision Pro hardware iterations

Apple Vision Pro
Apple Vision Pro is more of a technology showcase – really a DevKit – than a genuine consumer product and, accordingly, Apple is mulling multiple options for future visionOS hardware devices.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
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There’s little reason for someone to buy a Vision Pro instead of a computer, and the drawbacks are too big to ignore. It can’t be worn for long periods of time; there’s little third-party software or video content; and the device lacks compelling other features.
Whether you refer to this technology as mixed reality (a melding of augmented and virtual reality) or use Apple’s preferred term of spatial computing, the concept hasn’t caught on with consumers.
Apple seems aware that it needs to rethink its approach to headsets, but there isn’t consensus on how to do that, I’m told. As of now, the company’s Vision Products Group is evaluating a few different options, including:
• The status quo route: This would involve keeping the Vision Pro more or less the same but focusing on a less expensive version…
• The smart display route: In this scenario, Apple would remove the on-board computer and external battery from the Vision Pro and shift many of the internal functions over to the iPhone…
• The smart glasses route: This would mean developing a product that’s closer to Meta’s hit collaboration with Ray-Ban — smart glasses without AR…
• The AI and AirPods route… This would essentially be the smart glasses path — but without actual glasses…
• The holy grail route: The ultimate goal is standalone augmented reality spectacles that come with high-performing lenses, a battery system, on-board computer, cameras, eye tracking and other components built-in— all while still being the size and weight of normal glasses.

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MacDailyNews Take: The “holy grail route” will take a decade or longer. The smart display, smart glasses without AR, and AI+AirPods routes all offer too many drawbacks, at least as far as spatial computing is concerned. (An Apple take on Meta’s Ray Ban smart glasses would be a hit, we believe.)
So, the “status quo route” is likely the path Apple will choose: make more affordable versions (Apple Vision Pro is the flagship, there should also me an Apple Vision, and Apple Vision Air, etc.) and let technology advances eventually solve the weight, battery, and other issues that currently saddle the Vision Pro. This route will also take a long time to traverse, but at least Apple will be releasing products and generating revenue from them along the way.

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