Apple is apparently making a course correction in the wearable segment – Bloomberg reports that the company has suspended work on a refreshed, lighter version of the Vision Pro headset (project ‘N100’), redirecting resources to the development of smart glasses.
The original Vision Pro, introduced in February 2024 at a price of US$3,499, has yet to gain a firm foothold in the mass market. It complains of a limited content library and strong competition from cheaper hardware, especially from Meta .
According to people close to the matter, Apple is currently working on at least two variants of the smart glasses: The N50, without its own display, which will work with the iPhone, and a version with an integrated screen – the latter project being brought forward from its planned 2028 launch.
Apple’s strategy becomes clear in this light: put minimalism and AI as the focus – the glasses are to place a strong emphasis on voice interaction and artificial intelligence features, rather than full AR/VR immersion.
This move by Apple can be read as an acknowledgement of the limitations of headset-class hardware at the current stage of technology, and an early shift of the battlefield from the Met: lightweight devices close to the everyday user seem far more competitive.
