Apple Vision Pro might have a more affordable model in the works, but can it ever get its price low enough to compete with headsets like the rumored Quest 3S?
Digitimes reported on Wednesday that a new Apple mixed reality headset could boast an OLED display with a pixel density of 1,500 pixels-per-inch (PPI).
This isn't the first time we've heard of the lower-resolution display, as The Elec corroborated this rumor earlier in September, claiming that it learned from unnamed sources that Apple received an OLED sample panel at 1,500 PPI. It is reportedly a traditional glass core substrate OLED panel, versus the Apple Vision Pro's OLED-on-Silicon (micro-OLED).
The original Apple Vision Pro launched earlier this year with a 3,391 PPI display at a $3,500 price point. By reducing the quality of the display, Apple is likely developing a more affordable mixed reality headset.
But Apple isn't the only mixed reality manufacturer striving for affordability, as Meta is reportedly doing the same.
Meta Quest 3S might smash Apple Vision Pro to pieces
Meta's Quest 3S will likely hit a $299 price point, according to a leaked Amazon advertisement, which is how much the Quest 2 was when it launched.
That's before the company increased its cost to $399, and then took things a step further with the Quest 3 launching at $499.
We'll learn more about the Quest 3S' official pricing at the Meta Connect 2024 event happening Wednesday, which starts at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
$499 isn't cheap by any means, but when comparing this to the Vision Pro's $3,500 price point, Meta is already miles ahead of Apple in affordability.
And if the Quest 3S is truly hitting a price point as low as $299, which is around an 11th of the cost of Vision Pro, Apple's more affordable mixed reality headset needs to pull out all the stops in pushing for a lower price.
After all, the Quest 3S is rumored to similarly be reducing the quality of its screens. According to a leak from an in-store display, the Quest 3S will feature the same 1,832 x 1,920-pixel resolution per eye that the Quest 2 has, versus the Meta Quest 3's 2,064 x 2,208-pixel resolution per eye.
The same in-store display shows the company potentially swapping focus in terms of storage size, with the Quest 3S being the base model at 128GB or 256GB storage options, while the Quest 3 will be only available with 512GB of storage. At launch, the Quest 3 also had an option for 128GB of storage, so that might no longer be the case.
It's rumored to feature the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, Adreno 740 GPU, and 8GB of memory, but will be swapping from Pancake lenses to Fresnel lenses, which are far cheaper to make.
Reducing the cost of Apple Vision Pro is vital, especially when considering its lacking sales.
Is Meta Quest more successful than Apple Vision Pro?
Pitting Apple Vision Pro against Meta Quest is sort of like comparing a Nissan to a Ferrari. Sure, both are mixed reality headsets (or in the case of the metaphor, they're both cars), but the markets they appeal to are entirely different.
But how different are the levels of success? Mark Rabkin, Meta's VR Vice President, said the company sold 20 million Quest headsets by early 2023 according to The Verge. As for the new Quest 3, Techvers reports that it has sold 1,250,000 units as of June 2024.
As for the Apple Vision Pro, Bloomberg reported that, as of July 2024, it has not surpassed 100,000 units according to analyst firm IDC.
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed back in April that Apple went so far as to cut its 2024 Vision Pro shipments from 700,000 to 800,000 down to 400,000 to 450,000. Kuo claimed "demand in US markets has fallen sharply beyond expectations."
So while it is true that the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro are worlds apart in the markets they cater to, one is finding far more success than the other, which is why the push for a more affordable headset is vital.
Apple Vision Pro needs to hit new levels of affordability
Apple Vision Pro reducing its 3,391 PPI display down to a more affordable 1,500 PPI will reduce its cost for sure, but considering the base headset costs $3,500, is this even close to enough to bring it down to a more reasonable range?
This likely won't be the only change coming, as The Information reports that the Vision product will have "fewer features before the end of 2025." Bloomberg reported last year that the cheaper model would cost anywhere between $1,500 to $2,500, and while that's undoubtedly less expensive than the original model, the Quest is still far more affordable.
Whether or not Apple can find success with this cheaper model is in the air, but we're looking forward to see how the market reacts to this more affordable device.
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