Report: Cheaper Apple Vision Pro Display Work Winds Down at Samsung - MacRumors
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Report: Cheaper Apple Vision Pro Display Work Winds Down at Samsung

Apple has suspended development of the display for a cheaper, lighter version of the Vision Pro that it originally planned to launch in the next few years, according to The Elec.

Vision Pro M5 Announcement
The Korean outlet says Apple supplier Samsung Display is set to internally wind down the panel project – known in the industry as "G-VR" – with development set to be formally terminated by September.

G-VR is a glass-substrate micro-OLED, a lower-cost alternative to the silicon-based OLEDoS used in the current Vision Pro. It was being developed at around 1,600 to 1,700 pixels per inch, which is roughly half the 3,386 PPI of Apple's Vision Pro. The report says mass production had once been planned for sometime after 2028.

Apple has since turned much of its attention away from headsets in favour of smart glasses development, which has apparently drained momentum from the G-VR glass-substrate. However, Samsung continues to develop OLEDoS panels for the company's own mixed-reality devices, according to the report.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said in October 2025 that Apple had paused work on a lighter, cheaper "Vision Air" to fast-track glasses that would rival Meta's Ray-Bans. In May 2026, Gurman reported that the cheaper device had been canceled outright.

Apple hasn't walked away from the headset market entirely, though. If a new Vision Pro-style device does materialize, Gurman said in May that he wouldn't expect it for "around two more years at least," given that the bulk of Apple's mixed-reality hardware talent has been pulled onto other projects like smart glasses, which are expected to launch in 2027.

Apple refreshed the Vision Pro in October 2025 with an updated model featuring an M5 chip. Last month, Apple upped the starting price of its Vision Pro from $3,499 to $3,699 as part of the company's sweeping product price hikes.

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro
Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

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Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane Avatar
8 weeks ago

It's a great smart TV if you are single and don't want a big TV in your living room or bedroom. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unless planning to stay single, it might be good to get that TV so you can watch a show with a date.

Who knows what might happen! 😉




Pull out a VR headset in front of her though ... 😬



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Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
8 weeks ago
Just put it out of its misery...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PBG4 Dude Avatar
8 weeks ago

I don't understand why a rich company can't work on glasses and VR at the same time... or what one even has to do with the other considering how different they are... I mean the audio only glasses they plan to release a year or 2 from now are basically the same as the AirPods with cameras, nothing visual. though a Vision Product with half the resolution does sound lame
Agree. Couldn’t imagine upgrading to something with half the resolution of current.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
8 weeks ago
They certainly can work on both, but if they feel "smart glasses" is where the technology is trending for wide(r) adoption, it is a better use of time and money developing them, instead.

To me, Vision Pro was designed to develop and validate technologies that would be used for more mainstream future products like "AR glasses". It also allowed Apple to develop an AR-focused OS for those products.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
8 weeks ago

…It's not an either-or with the laptop Vision Pro's Virtual Display substantially makes a laptop more useful. Not even close with the 5K 21:9 and 32:9 display you get than a 13"-14" display.

It's actually regarded one of its killer "app" (function) features even by outlets known to be the Vision Pro's most vocal critics: https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/11/24301921/vision-pro-ultrawide-mac-display-visionos-2-2-killer-app
While it's touted as a "killer app", and is a good idea on paper, Apple Vision Pro's virtual display is simply not good enough for everyone.

It's particularly bad with text heavy work. The resolution and display aberrations cause a lot of eye strain. Granted I've not tried the M5 version which is supposed to be a little better. But Combine that with the weight, face pressure, and hassle of having to plug it in and manage the battery pack while working long hours it's just not a good experience.

I'd rather do my work on a single 13" retina monitor but luckily larger good monitors are cheap and most people already have them and it's better to work from that than an Apple Vision Pro. Even when I travel I've largely given up on taking AVP with me because it's just a cumbersome and meh experience to work like that. I'm just one person but believe me.... I've tried to get my money's worth out of this. I've got nothing to gain from talking bad about it. I just don't want other people to think this is worth buying when the best thing I can say about it is it's a nice smart TV for $3.5K or whatever it costs now.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lucas Curious Avatar
8 weeks ago

Had the Vision Pro started at $999 almost no one would criticise it but it’s insanely expensive and that’s why it failed and smart glasses will be a terrible idea because people will film everything with it and post it online. At least with iPhones you have to take it out of the pocket.
no because Meta glasses do this already. I have them. People are stating to catch on that the glasses are recording and are hesitant. If everyone is recording there will be social hesitation to interact.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)