Apple today unveiled its hardware refresh of Vision Pro, which includes its latest M5 chip and a new Dual Knit Band.
The News
Apple has unveiled the new Vision Pro featuring the M5 chip, which is said to deliver major improvements in performance, display quality, AI capabilities, and battery life.
Apple details some of these features in its official announcement, noting that the new M5 chip is built on a 3-nanometer process, including a 10-core CPU and GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading for richer lighting and reflections in games. Specifically, Apple says the new Vision Pro renders 10% more pixels, supports up to 120Hz refresh rates.
M5 is also bringing some modest battery optimizations, which Apple says now allows users up to 2.5 hours of use or 3 hours of video playback, while the 16-core Neural Engine delivers AI functions up to 50% faster.
The headset is launching with visionOS 26, adding widgets, improved Personas, spatial photo scenes, and expanded Apple Intelligence features, Apple says. Gamers can also use controllers like PSVR 2’s Sense Controllers and PS5’s DualSense gamepad.
Coming October 22nd across major markets, Apple is pitching the usual range of storage capacities: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Like the original 2023 Vision Pro, the new M5 Vision Pro will start at $3,500, which includes the Dual Knit Band in the box. The Dual Knit Band will also be available for separate purchase at $100 among other accessories.
Apple is selling both the Logitech Muse stylus for Vision Pro, available for pre-order for $130 and shipping on October 22nd, and PSVR 2 controllers for Vision Pro, which will be sold in a standalone package with included charging station for $250. The controllers will be available in Apple stores starting on November 11th.
My Take
Apple is being pretty tactical with the release of its new M5 Vision Pro, coming right on the heels of Samsung’s big Project Moohan launch announcement, scheduled to take place on October 21st—just one day ahead of Vision Pro’s launch.
Although Moohan is rumored to be around half the price of Vision Pro, that’s not stopping Apple from taking the opportunity to protect its market share of the premium XR headset segment. And I know what you’re thinking. Who would the hell would pay another $3,500 just to upgrade to a headset that’s not drastically different? Or even half that?
I’ve seen countless comments online decrying Vision Pro as a flop because it’s simply too expensive for what it offers—and that may be true among regular consumers used to console prices—but Vision Pro has managed to find a solid foothold in the enterprise sector. Maybe not what it was hoping for, but that’s the reality. And I think Samsung can only really hope for that too.
I suspect the new M5 version of Vision Pro will essentially deepen that enterprise appeal. Apple is, for the second time, releasing the most powerful standalone headset on the market, which will allow enterprise app developers to make even more impressive in-house apps. The minor difference now is that Vision Pro also support PSVR 2 motion controllers, which positions it even closer to being the best all-around XR platform for business. And maybe a few deep-pocketed Apple acolytes too.