Apple Kills Vision Pro Successors Under John Ternus, Pivots Entirely to Smart Glasses

• Second-generation Vision Pro (Vision Pro 2): Plans for a higher-end successor have been canceled outright .
• Vision Air: A lighter, lower-cost mixed-reality headset intended as a more accessible entry point is discontinued .
• Three additional head-mounted projects: Kuo's 2025 roadmap originally listed seven products in various stages of development. One, the M5 Vision Pro refresh, had already shipped. Of the remaining six, three unannounced projects have been eliminated along with the Vision Pro successors, leaving only two .

The Two Remaining Products (and Their Timelines)

1. AI Smart Glasses (Codename N50)

This display-less model is a direct answer to Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. The first-generation version will lack an integrated display and instead focus on AI assistant capabilities, cameras for media capture, and hand-gesture controls . Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports the device is now targeting a late 2027 launch—a full year later than the early-2027 target Apple had previously pursued. The reveal, once planned for late 2026, has slipped with the rest of the schedule .

2. Augmented Reality Glasses (Optical Waveguide Display)

The higher-end model is a display-equipped AR/XR glasses product powered by optical waveguide technology, intended as a long-term platform that could eventually replace the iPhone . Kuo's latest supply-chain checks place this device at 2029 or later, a significant push from earlier internal targets .

Meta's Dominant Head Start

Apple's pivot comes as Meta has already established a commanding lead in smart glasses:

• Meta held an estimated 73–82% market share as of late 2025, driven by its Ray-Ban partnership with EssilorLuxottica .
• Ray-Ban Meta sales tripled year-over-year in 2025, and component orders were revised upward twice to meet demand .
• Meta and EssilorLuxottica are reportedly in talks to double annual production capacity to 20 million units or more by the end of 2026 .
• Global smart glasses shipments jumped 110% year-over-year in early 2025, according to Counterpoint Research .

Apple, by contrast, will not ship its first smart glasses until late 2027—meaning it enters the market at least two holiday cycles behind Meta, which is already scaling toward mass-market adoption .

Conflicting Signals: Kuo vs. Bloomberg/Gurman

The two most prominent Apple watchers are not fully aligned on the details:

• Ming-Chi Kuo (June 3, 2026): Declares the Vision Pro line completely dead—no second-generation model, no Vision Air. He sees only two smart glasses products remaining and states his 2025 roadmap is obsolete .
• Bloomberg/Mark Gurman (June 1, 2026): Reports the Apple Glasses (N50) are delayed to late 2027, and notes AR glasses are targeted for the 2028–2030 range . Unlike Kuo, Gurman has not explicitly declared the Vision Pro line permanently dead; his reporting leaves the door open for a possible future headset.

The core disagreement concerns the finality of Vision Pro's cancellation. Kuo is definitive—the headset line is over in Apple's current planning. Gurman's reporting suggests a pause and a pivot rather than a permanent burial. On smart glasses timelines, both sources are broadly consistent: the first AI glasses are expected in late 2027, and the AR glasses are still years away .

What is undisputed is that Ternus's leadership marks a strategic break from the Cook-era Vision Pro ambition. Where Cook's Apple invested billions in a premium mixed-reality headset, Ternus's Apple is betting on eyewear that—eventually—more people might want to wear every day .