Benjamin Mayo, reporting for 9to5Mac:

Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper, cut-down version of the Apple Vision Pro, scheduled to arrive by the end of 2025, according to The Information. At the same time, the publication says development work on a second-generation high-end model of the Vision Pro has been shelved, seemingly to prioritize the cheaper hardware path…

The Information says it is possible Apple could resume work on a high-end second-gen Vision Pro at some point, but it seems relatively confident that the move reflects a change in strategy for the time being…

The Information says the number of employees assigned to the second-gen Vision Pro had been gradually declining over the course of the last year, as attention turned to the cheaper model.

Many news outlets are running with the headline, “Apple Halts Work on Second-Generation Vision Pro.” While I guess that’s technically true, the Apple Vision Pro team at Apple is still relatively small. They’re only going to focus on one core product for the lineup at a time, and I think switching attention to the cheaper version now that the full-features “professional” model is out is a better strategy. If Apple instead went full speed ahead on developing another marginally improved Apple Vision Pro, as it does for its already segmented products, it would never be able to break into new markets. The incremental year-over-year upgrades should come once there is already a market for the product, but until the user base is stabilized, it should focus on bringing the price down. After that, it can use what it learned from the cheaper product to shape the true “next-generation” high-end Apple Vision Pro.

I don’t think the cheaper “Apple Vision” product will eclipse Apple Vision Pro in Apple’s lineup for now, but it will eclipse the older version in sales. That’s precisely the point, unlike with product lines like the iPhone or iPad. When the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, Apple immediately went to work on iPhone 3G; the same went for the iPad. But Apple Vision Pro isn’t like either of those products because it’s so astronomically expensive. It’s more akin to the Macintosh — if February’s Apple Vision Pro is the Macintosh 128K from January 1984, the low-cost headset is the iMac. The “Classic Macintosh” line of Macs is no more, and the same will be true for the first-generation Apple Vision Pro. It’s better to think of the Apple Vision Pro product line as a new generation of computers for Apple rather than accessories to the Mac like the iPod or iPhone once originally were.

The bottom line is this: I wouldn’t be too worried about this first-generation Apple Vision Pro fading into obscurity quickly. And neither do I think Apple Vision Pro buyers should buy the cheaper headset when it comes out — it’s destined to be worse. But it’s important to note that the first generation of this all-new platform doesn’t exist to be a consumer product, it’s there for developers and video producers to make content for the overall platform at large. Once the content and apps exist, Apple needs to sell a total package in a palatable product for most normal buyers, probably priced at $1,000 to $1,500. That’s exactly what we’re seeing here, and I think it’s a good strategic move. Once it makes the iMac of the Vision line, it can make the Mac Pro — and that actually good Apple Vision Pro will eventually cost much less than $3,500 because Apple has mastered producing the product at scale.