Apple's VR Future: Meta's Lightness Inspires Redesign

Apple is reportedly reconsidering its future VR headset design, drawing inspiration from Meta's newly unveiled lightweight VR glasses. The tech giant is exploring a new internal project, code-named N224, which would adopt a similar philosophy to Meta's by moving computational components out of the headset and into an external module.

This potential redesign faces significant internal debate and executive pushback, casting doubt on its feasibility. If approved, the N224 headset is unlikely to be released before late 2028. This strategic shift follows Meta's recent announcement of its VR Glasses, which weigh a mere 100 grams, a stark contrast to the bulkier Vision Pro.

The Vision Pro, launched in February 2024, was praised for its display technology but criticized for its substantial weight, high cost ($3,499 starting), and limited use cases beyond entertainment. Apple had previously considered offloading processing to external devices but rejected the idea, leading to shelved projects aimed at addressing the Vision Pro's shortcomings.

Some senior executives at Apple reportedly favor an all-in-one design, viewing a separate compute puck as a subpar user experience. Despite public optimism, new CEO John Ternus has privately expressed skepticism about the current heavy and expensive headset. The Vision hardware team has also undergone organizational changes and layoffs.