According to AppleInsider, Apple has laid off at least 60 employees related to VR development and the Apple Vision Group. The publication’s sources claim that the company has effectively paused that direction.
This layoff affects at least the entire expert team of Apple’s VR project. At the same time, we are not yet talking about the complete closure of the Apple Vision Pro: obviously, the development of future versions of the headset and visionOS will continue, but with significantly reduced resources.
The reasons for this decision are very clear. The Apple Vision Pro has a high price, a clunky design, and fairly limited developer support. That hasn’t changed significantly in the past few years, and rising component costs have made the device more difficult to use. Against this backdrop, the company’s interest is turning to lighter smart glasses, which look more promising than heavy VR headsets.
Sources say the new management’s top priorities are developing artificial intelligence-based Siri and creating smart glasses based on VisionOS. At the same time, Apple has no plans to abandon the Vision Pro completely. The launch of VisionOS 27 and development work on the next generation of headsets confirms the continuation of the project. However, the shrinkage of the team shows that Apple is no longer prepared to invest the same resources in VR until the technology allows us to create a truly lightweight and affordable device.
