Apple’s John Ternus, who will take over as CEO in September 2026, has made significant cuts to its head-mounted device product line. According to the latest report from Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, of the seven originally planned head-mounted wearable products, only two smart glasses are still under development, and both the Vision Pro successor and Vision Air have been cancelled. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman later confirmed part of the news on
Axed: Vision Air, second-generation Vision Pro, display glasses
Ming-Chi Kuo disclosed an Apple headset roadmap in June 2025, which listed seven products in various stages of development. A year later, he admitted that this road map “is no longer applicable” because of major changes in the past year.
Products currently confirmed to be canceled or terminated include:
- Vision Air: Originally planned as a lightweight and affordable version of Vision Pro, it has been discontinued in October 2025 (Gurman said)
- Mac display glasses: Display glasses that can be used with Mac, development will be terminated in January 2025 (Gurman said)
- Vision Pro 2nd generation: Ming-Chi Kuo believes it has been removed from the roadmap under the leadership of Ternus
Gurman also revealed that Apple still has a Vision Pro 2 “in testing” internally, but the product category is in a “frozen” state. Additionally, Apple is also developing a cheaper, lighter Vision Pro, but it won’t be available until late 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.
– Vision Air was killed in Oct 2025 https://t.co/PQ6TYGXABU
– The Display Glasses were killed in Jan 2025 https://t.co/gPNnuYDO3w
– AI glasses coming end of ‘27 (delayed from early ‘27) and AR end of 2020s https://t.co/JgFcTMkVzJ
– Vision Pro 2 in testing but category on ice. https://t.co/EXnkFTznIR
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) June 3, 2026
What remains: two smart glasses
After seven products were whittled down to just two, Apple’s current headset roadmap only includes:
- AI smart glasses (without display): Concept similar to Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, focusing on AI voice assistant function, expected to be shipped in 2027
- AR smart glasses (equipped with display): Using optical waveguide technology, the image of the micro-display is guided to the user’s eyes while keeping the lens transparent, allowing virtual content to be superimposed on the real field of view. It won’t come out until 2029 at the earliest.
Ming-Chi Kuo believes that axing Vision Air is the “right decision” because smart glasses have greater mass market potential.
Dominated by Ternus, remnants of the non-Cook era
Ming-Chi Kuo emphasized in the report that this major adjustment to the roadmap was “signed and approved” by Ternus and had occurred “some time ago” and was not a decision made after he was appointed as Cook’s successor.
1. 我大約一年前做的這張 Apple 的 XR 頭戴裝置與智慧眼鏡之規劃路線（roadmap）沒什麼參考價值了，目前只剩兩個智慧眼鏡裝置有能見度。
2. 規劃路線大改是由 Apple 的下一任 CEO John Ternus 拍板定案（其實已經改變一段時間，只是我沒即時更新），我認為移除 Vision Pro… https://t.co/VcOkXlXqGd
— 郭明錤｜Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) June 3, 2026
Ternus, who has long served as Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, will officially take over as CEO on September 1, 2026, and current CEO Tim Cook will become executive chairman. Ternus’ pragmatic style in hardware development can be seen from this decision: to abandon the high unit price and niche head-mounted display market and turn to smart glasses that are closer to daily use scenarios. Ternus has been relatively conservative with its Vision Pro product line. As early as April 2026, Apple had disbanded the Vision Products Group and dispersed its members to other divisions.
Vision Pro’s dilemma: Two years of lack of a killer app
Apple Vision Pro has struggled with poor sales since its launch in early 2024. The price of $3,499 puts most consumers out of the market, and the lack of a convincing “killer application” makes this product more like a technology demonstration platform than a mass consumer electronics product.
Apple has upgraded its Vision Pro to the M5 chip processor this year, but the improvement in hardware specifications has not solved the fundamental problem of a lack of software ecosystem. In the absence of sufficient sales support, developers’ willingness to invest in Vision Pro applications is also limited, forming a vicious cycle.
Smart glasses are the mass market
The logic behind Apple’s move to smart glasses is clear: a pair of AI glasses priced at several hundred dollars has a much larger potential user base than a head-mounted display priced at more than NT$100,000. With billions of people around the world wearing glasses, this is the true mass market for consumer electronics.
The smart glasses jointly developed by Meta and Ray-Ban have already verified this market direction. Meta Ray-Ban is equipped with an AI voice assistant and lens, which can take photos, videos, and instant translations. It is priced from US$299 (approximately NT$9,700) and has received good market response after its launch. Apple’s AI smart glasses are expected to follow a similar route, with AI capabilities as the core selling point rather than immersive displays.
As for AR glasses equipped with optical waveguide displays, they represent a longer-term vision. This type of product can overlay virtual content such as navigation information, notifications, and translated subtitles onto the real field of view, but technology maturity and mass production costs are still challenges, which is why it will not be launched until 2029 at the earliest.
Apple isn’t giving up on spatial computing entirely
Although Ming-Chi Kuo’s report shows that the Vision Pro product line has been significantly eliminated, this does not mean that Apple has given up on its long-term strategy of “spatial computing.” In addition, Gurman also mentioned that Apple is still testing the more affordable Vision Pro, but the schedule has been delayed to the end of 2028 to 2029. This means the Vision Pro line isn’t completely dead, just pushed to the bottom of the priority list.
WWDC 2026 will be held in a few days, and Apple is expected to bring Vision Pro software updates in visionOS 27. Although the hardware roadmap has been reduced, Apple’s investment in software will not be interrupted in the short term.
Source: KOCPC Chinese