An affordable Apple Vision Pro could be introduced sometime next year, with the headset reportedly shipping with watered-down features and hardware downgrades to help lower its price. One of those compromises will be a less capable chipset. Here, we discuss a few possibilities while keeping in mind that it is a product that will eventually be positioned for the mass market.
The less expensive Apple Vision Pro could be equipped with an A18 Pro, which is already regarded as a capable SoC
A previous report doing the rounds stated that one of the downgrades explored for the cheaper Apple Vision Pro was a switch from a Mac chipset to an iPhone one. The current-generation AR headset features an M2, and despite being mass produced on an older manufacturing process, there are other costs involved that go in making an Apple Silicon. For instance, increasing the die size raises the production bill, along with redesigning the external layout of the headset to help control its thermals.
With the low-cost Apple Vision Pro featuring an A18 Pro, TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process would already make the SoC highly power-efficient, negating the need to add a capable thermal solution inside the head-mounted wearable. What is advantageous about this approach is that even using a basic heat dissipation system should be sufficient to tame the A18 Pro’s temperatures, and it will reduce the bulk of the headset, making it less fatiguing while wearing it.
The pairing of the M2 and R1 is necessary to drive the two 4K micro-OLED panels, but the less pricey headset may receive regular OLED screens if Apple approves of the samples provided by Japan Display. This component will reportedly have a 1,500PPI, making it less than half the number of the Apple Vision Pro’s 3,386PPI. In short, fewer pixels means that an A18 Pro will have little trouble in handling mixed-reality and augmented-reality applications at a lowered resolution.
After all, its multi-core performance is comparable with the M1, and in the latest iOS 18.1 beta 5, the SoC is only slightly slower than the M2 when comparing Geekbench 6 scores. In short, the A18 Pro possesses enough firepower for the low-cost Apple Vision Pro to handle various tasks. Now, all that remains to be seen is what route the company has decided. If you agree with our prediction or have something else in mind, make sure to partake in the poll below.
