Apple Vision Pro's Silent Collapse: 95% Marketing Cut Signals the End of Spatial Computing's First Chapter

In the annals of Apple product launches, the Vision Pro will occupy a peculiar chapter. Announced with characteristic fanfare in June 2023 and released in February 2024, the $3,499 spatial computing headset was positioned as nothing less than the future of personal technology. Two years later, that future has been indefinitely postponed.

The Stark Reality

The numbers tell a sobering story. Apple doesn't officially report Vision Pro sales, but industry tracker IDC estimates the company shipped just 390,000 units throughout 2024—less than the original iPhone sold in its first year. The trajectory since has been even worse.

For Q4 2025, IDC expects Apple to ship just 45,000 Vision Pro units. To put that in perspective, Apple sells more iPhones in a few hours than it sells Vision Pros in an entire quarter.

Perhaps more telling than the sales figures is Apple's marketing behavior. According to Sensor Tower, the company has reduced digital advertising spending for the Vision Pro by more than 95% over the past year in key markets including the United States and United Kingdom. Companies don't slash marketing on products they believe in.

"The cost, form factor, and the lack of VisionOS native apps are the reasons why the Vision Pro never sold broadly."

— Morgan Stanley analysts to the Financial Times

Production Halt

The most dramatic signal came from Apple's supply chain. Manufacturing partner Luxshare reportedly halted production of the Vision Pro at the start of 2025. When your contract manufacturer stops making your product, it's not because demand is overwhelming.

Apple launched an M5 chip-equipped Vision Pro refresh last fall, hoping that improved processing power might reinvigorate interest. According to industry reports, it didn't. The incremental upgrade failed to address the fundamental obstacles to mass adoption.

What Killed the Vision Pro

The Vision Pro's struggles stem from multiple interconnected problems, none of which Apple has been able to solve:

Price: At $3,499, the Vision Pro costs more than most laptops, iPads, and smartphones combined. For a product without a killer app or clear use case, that price point limited the addressable market to wealthy enthusiasts and developers.

Comfort: Users consistently report that the headset becomes uncomfortable after 30-60 minutes of use. The weight distribution, despite Apple's engineering efforts, remains problematic for extended sessions.

Battery Life: The external battery pack—an unusual design choice for Apple—provides only about two hours of use. This isn't enough for any sustained computing task.

App Ecosystem: Perhaps most critically, developers haven't embraced visionOS. Without compelling native applications, users are left watching movies and using iPad apps in virtual windows—experiences that don't justify the hardware investment.

The Competitive Context

Apple's struggles occur against an interesting competitive backdrop. The global VR headset market declined 14% year-over-year, according to Counterpoint Research. Meta dominates with roughly 80% market share through its Quest lineup, which delivers VR experiences at a fraction of the Vision Pro's cost.

Apple attempted to differentiate on quality, positioning the Vision Pro as a premium "spatial computer" rather than a mere VR headset. But consumers apparently didn't see enough premium to justify a 10x price multiplier versus Meta's offerings.

What Comes Next

Apple hasn't abandoned the spatial computing category entirely. Reports suggest the company is developing AI-powered smart glasses for potential release in late 2026, a form factor more aligned with consumer preferences and the success of products like Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses.

A more affordable Vision product—reportedly codenamed "Vision Air"—was rumored for 2027, though recent reports suggest those plans may be scrapped after Samsung reportedly stopped developing the displays needed for the device.

Lessons for Apple and Investors

The Vision Pro experience carries several lessons:

• Apple isn't infallible: Despite the company's track record of creating new product categories, not every bet succeeds. The iPod, iPhone, and iPad were exceptions, not the rule.
• Price matters even for Apple: The company's premium pricing strategy works when products deliver clearly superior experiences. For the Vision Pro, that value proposition never materialized for most consumers.
• Platform effects take time: The Vision Pro needed developers to create compelling content, but developers needed users to justify investment. Apple couldn't bootstrap this chicken-and-egg problem.
• Form factor is everything: Wearable technology must be comfortable for extended use. The Vision Pro's design compromises, while perhaps necessary for the technology, made the product impractical for daily use.

The Investment Angle

For Apple investors, the Vision Pro's failure is a rounding error financially—the company generates more than $380 billion in annual revenue. But it does raise questions about Apple's ability to find the next major growth engine beyond the iPhone.

The company has poured billions into Vision Pro development, and those resources could have been deployed elsewhere. More importantly, the failure to establish spatial computing momentum gives competitors time to catch up or leapfrog Apple's technology.

The Vision Pro may eventually be remembered as Apple's Google Glass moment—an ambitious technical achievement that was simply too far ahead of what consumers wanted and were willing to pay for. In technology, being too early is often indistinguishable from being wrong.