Apple Vision Pro: Why the M5 Refresh Was the Last Straw

There was a moment in early 2024 when it felt like Apple had bet the company on spatial computing. The Vision Pro launched at $3,499, Tim Cook called it the start of a new era, and Apple Stores started carrying demo units that took thirty minutes to fit. Two years on, that bet has quietly collapsed. According to a new MacRumors report, Apple has all but given up on the Vision Pro after the M5 refresh failed to revive consumer interest, and the team that built it has been redistributed across the company.

This is not quite a discontinuation. The Vision Pro is still on sale. But by every other measure, Apple has moved on from its first major attempt at spatial computing, and the more interesting question is what comes next.

The M5 refresh barely qualified as a refresh

When Apple updated the Vision Pro in October 2025, the changes were modest at best. The M5 chip brought a 120Hz refresh rate, around 10% more rendered pixels, and roughly thirty extra minutes of battery life. Apple also introduced the new Dual Knit Band, designed to redistribute the headset's weight more comfortably across the head.

Everything else stayed the same. Same external shell. Same tethered battery pack. Same 1.3 pounds of glass and aluminium pressing against your face. And crucially, the same $3,499 price tag.

For a product that had already struggled to find an audience, this was never going to move the needle. People did not skip the original Vision Pro because it lacked a 120Hz refresh rate. They skipped it because it was uncomfortable, isolating, and absurdly expensive for what it actually let you do.

Apple sold around 600,000 Vision Pros in total

That figure, according to the MacRumors report, is the total lifetime sales across both the original and the M5 model. To put that in context, Apple sells more iPhones than that in a typical day. Internal sources also told MacRumors that the Vision Pro has seen an unusually high return rate, far exceeding any other modern Apple product.

This is the part of the story I keep coming back to. The Vision Pro was not just slow to take off. People bought it, took it home, and sent it back. That is a much harder problem than weak launch demand, because it tells you the product itself was not delivering on the promise.

The promise was always a bit fuzzy. Apple called it spatial computing rather than VR or AR, and pitched it as a productivity device, an entertainment device, and a window into a new kind of personal computing. In practice, most owners I know used it as an extremely expensive cinema headset, and even that experience came with motion sickness, eye fatigue, and the constant awareness that the battery was about to run out.

The Vision Pro team has already moved on

Perhaps the most telling detail in the report is that the Vision Pro team has been redistributed across Apple. Some former team members are now working on Siri, which is not entirely surprising given that Mike Rockwell, the Vision Pro's original chief, has been leading Siri since March 2025.

Apple does not formally kill products often. It usually lets them wither. Think of the Mac Pro, the original HomePod, the AirPort line. The Vision Pro now joins that list of devices that exist on the website but have effectively been left to fade.

The Vision Air, a rumoured lighter and cheaper headset, was reportedly tabled last year. There are no plans to launch a new Vision Pro model. The headset will keep selling in its current form until Apple either reuses the brand for something different or finally pulls the listing.

Apple's real bet is smart glasses

The pivot is the most interesting part of this story. Apple is no longer trying to win the headset category. It is moving its energy into smart glasses, and according to the report, the first version will look much more like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses than anything Apple has shown so far. AI-driven, audio-first, no integrated display.

This is a significant shift. The Vision Pro was a technology showcase that asked consumers to wear a tethered ski mask in their living room. Smart glasses are the opposite philosophy: lightweight, social, always on, almost invisible. Meta has spent the last two years quietly proving that this is the form factor people actually want, and Apple has clearly noticed.

There is one detail buried in the report that should worry anyone hoping for a Vision Pro 2. Apple cannot reuse the technology it developed for the Vision Pro inside a smaller pair of glasses, because it draws too much power. Years of work on micro-OLED displays, pancake lenses, eye tracking, and hand tracking, none of it transfers cleanly to the new direction. The smart glasses team is essentially starting again.

What this means if you own one or are thinking of buying one

If you own a Vision Pro, nothing changes immediately. visionOS will keep getting updates for the foreseeable future, the App Store still works, and the hardware itself is genuinely impressive on its own terms. Steam Link is even on its way to the platform, which adds a real reason to keep it on the shelf for gaming.

If you are thinking of buying one in 2026, I would not. The hardware is now a known dead end, third party app development has slowed to a trickle, and $3,499 buys you a very nice Mac Studio, a Pro Display XDR, or two iPhone 18 Pros and change. The Vision Pro is no longer the future of Apple's product line. It is a beautifully built side experiment that did not work.

The bigger lesson is about how Apple handles failure. The Vision Pro is the most ambitious new product category Apple has launched in over a decade, and it has not landed. The fact that the company is willing to redirect the team and pivot to smart glasses, rather than push out a Vision Pro 2 to save face, is actually the right call. It just took longer to get there than it should have.

FAQ

Has Apple discontinued the Vision Pro?

No. Apple is still selling the M5 Vision Pro at $3,499. However, the team that built it has been redistributed and there are no current plans for a new model.

Will there be a cheaper Vision Air?

The Vision Air project was reportedly tabled last year. Apple has shifted its focus to smart glasses, which are expected to launch without an integrated display in their first generation.

Is the Vision Pro still worth buying in 2026?

For most people, no. The hardware is impressive but the platform is winding down, third party app development has slowed, and the price has not come down. Existing owners can keep using their headsets normally.