visionOS 27 keeps shipping while the Vision Pro team shrinks

Beta 7 landed three days after the layoffs, with the feature list intact and the fall release still on.

By iDeviceAug 24, 4:48 PM CTUpdated Aug 25, 6:04 AM CT3 min read

What will the Apple Vision Pro 2 have?

The Apple Vision Pro 2 is not announced, so none of its specifications are confirmed. What has been reported about it is below, followed by the Apple Vision Pro M5's figures for comparison.
Will it be lighter? Reported for the Apple Vision Pro 2, not confirmed: Explored, to take weight off the head.
Will it run a new assistant? Reported for the Apple Vision Pro 2, not confirmed: Layoffs reached security, audio, Siri and testing engineers, not just gaming.
What software will it run? Reported for the Apple Vision Pro 2, not confirmed: visionOS 27 keeps adding features.
For comparison, the current Apple Vision Pro M5
What does it cost? It costs $3699 to $4199. That is the list price, before any subscription.
How long does the battery last? It runs 2.5 hours. That is 2.5 hours at most, and 3 hours playing video.
Can I control it with my hands and eyes? Yes, with your hands and your eyes both. Look at a thing, pinch to select it. No controller needed.
Does it work with my phone? It works with an iPhone only. There is no Android app.
How much storage does it have? It comes with 256GB to 1TB of storage. There are 3 sizes: 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
How does it connect? It connects over Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6.
What chip is inside? It runs on M5. There is a R1 alongside it.
Which AI assistant does it use? It uses Apple Intelligence.
What software does it run? It runs visionOS 26.
Does it need a battery pack? Yes, it runs off a tethered pack. The battery sits on a cable rather than in the headset.
What kind of screen is it? It uses micro-oled; 23 million pixels total.
Can I see the room around me? Yes, you see the room in colour. Cameras show you the room, so you can stay in it while wearing this.

MY IDEVICE

Apple seeded the seventh beta of visionOS 27 to developers on Monday, carrying build number 24M5359a and arriving a week after beta 6. The public release is still expected this fall. Beta 7 itself is mostly stability and bug-fix work, because the larger additions landed earlier in the cycle.

Three days earlier Apple had largely shut down the Vision Pro team working on gaming and pared back the group producing immersive video, with about 100 people cut from the Vision Products Group. The fall release still carries the full feature set: Siri AI that answers questions about what the wearer is looking at, panorama photos converted into environments, curved app windows, higher-frame-rate object tracking, and support for PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers. On the video side Apple has said it will make fewer immersive films in-house and lean on third-party 3D content.

Update, Aug 25, 6:04 AM CT: Build 24M5359a reached public beta testers on August 25 as visionOS 27 public beta 5, per The Mac Observer.

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