Apple’s Vision Pro Headset: Will We Have to Wait Until 2024?

Apple’s mixed reality headset Vision Pro was introduced at WWDC in June 2023. Initially, the company announced its availability in the United States in early 2024, and plans to expand to other countries later. However, a recent report points to a possible delay in Apple’s original plan to release the Vision Pro in January 2024, pushing the consumer release to March of that year. Apple’s space computer was unveiled earlier this year for $3,499.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple traditionally hosts its spring event in March, and the company is expected to use the occasion to showcase the headset and offer a glimpse of additional apps.

The Apple Vision Pro‌ is said to be such a complex build that Apple has been forced to cut its wild production forecasts due to manufacturing difficulties, MacRumors reports. According to the report, the Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to produce less than 400,000 units in 2024, and the headset will initially only be released in the US and will not come to more markets, including Canada and the UK, until late next year.

The report revealed that select Apple retail staff in the US have been sent to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters for Vision Pro training. The task of these trained employees is then to guide their colleagues in their own stores.

After the launch of Vision Pro, flagship stores will have hands-on facilities unique to Vision Pro, while other stores will have one or two units for customers to experience, according to the report.

According to MacRumors, Apple released the sixth beta version of visionOS, the software for using the headset, to developers last week, and it includes new introductory videos that are shown to the user during the installation process, indicating that development of the headset is coming to an end.