As Apple prepares to launch the Vision Pro early next year, it is also working on its successor, and MacRumors claims to have some insight into its development.
The second-generation Apple Vision Pro is known internally under the project codename Alaska and the device identifier N109.
While it is said to retain much of the design language of the current model, there are some changes to the speaker placement and rear straps.
Prototypes of the second-generation Vision Pro are said to lack the rounded areas where the speakers are housed on the current model. The temples are said to be flat and uniform. Interestingly, one of the design configurations has two clusters of tiny speaker holes.
As for the back straps, those on the second generation model resemble the flat straps on laptop bags and rucksacks. The streamlined back straps contrast with the current model’s wide, braided headband. MacRumors speculates that this could be one of several cost-cutting measures Apple is considering for the next Vision Pro model.
The second-generation Vision Pro is said to feature the following key hardware components
- two micro OLED displays
- a TrueDepth camera
- Four Computer Vision (CV) cameras
- two RGB cameras
- Two low-light infrared illuminators
- semi-automatic interpupillary distance (IPD) adjustment
- Compass
- Ambient light sensor
- Magnetometer
- accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- External battery.
Based on current progress, the second-generation Apple Vision Pro is scheduled for product validation testing (PVT) in 2025. This suggests a launch in late 2025 or early 2026.
The 2025/2026 launch timeline is not in line with what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in September. Kuo expects the new model to launch in the second half of 2027 at the earliest, as he believes Apple has underestimated the time it will take to get the Vision Pro off the ground.
Regardless of who is right about the launch timeline, one thing is for sure: expect the second-generation Apple Vision Pro to cost a pretty penny.
