Cheaper Vision Pro takes another hit as Apple reportedly scaps key component

The prospect of Apple launching a cheaper version of its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset grows ever more remote, with the news that the company has halted work on a new OLED screen for the rumored product.

Citing sources in the display industry, Korean site The Elec claims (via Google Translate) that Samsung Display “has finalized an internal decision to terminate the development project for displays for the Apple XR [extended reality] device early this coming September.” It’s not clear from the report what the impetus behind the decision was, but presumably it’s because Apple has moved on from its cheaper headset project.

That timeframe, by the way, appears to refer to when Samsung Display will completely stop working on the project, having (in the words of one industry official) “entered the winding-up phase early this year.” It certainly doesn’t refer to when the Apple budget headset will or would have come out, which wasn’t expected to happen until after 2028.

The Vision Pro headset, which just received a $200 price hike, features two very high-res internal micro-OLED displays, and these contribute heavily to its brutal price tag. Samsung Display has been working on a method for constructing OLEDs on a glass substrate that can, in The Elec’s words, “drastically lower” manufacturing costs and would therefore have been perfect for a budget successor to the Vision Pro.

But Apple’s appetite for that project, for various reasons, has diminished. As long ago as last October, it was reported that the cheaper (and hopefully lighter) Vision Pro had been shelved in order to accelerate the company’s work on smart glasses. Those glasses are now expected to arrive next year.