A peculiar report claims that work on a key component of a lower-cost version of the Apple Vision Pro is winding down, and that it’s because Apple is more interested in AI.
This new report appears to be specifically about the Apple Vision Air, the previously-rumoured Apple Vision Pro successor, that would save money by having lower resolution screens. According to The Elec, Samsung was developing a G-VR display, using a glass-substrate micro-OLED.
That project is reportedly ending.
“As Apple turns to AI smart glass instead of XR headsets,” says an unspecified industry source, “the [momentum] to develop glass substrate-based VR displays has been lost.”
Discussions about shutting down development, or possibly even a decision about ending it, seemingly took place early in 2026. But the report says the work continues at present, and that Samsung intends to end it in September.
If the report is accurate, then even if Apple didn’t decide until now that it no longer wants the project to continue, that’s two more months of presumably unpaid development work. There may be contract terms that dictate timings, but then it would be unusual if the contract didn’t place other conditions, such as keeping the technology exclusive.
Yet the same report says Samsung will continue to develop lower-cost headset displays for itself. The suggestion is that what was presumably a confidential development agreement with Apple may produce screens for Samsung, but the project will be cancelled in September.
It’s more likely that the report means that Samsung is continuing to develop its own lower-cost headsets, even as Apple suspends its plans for an Apple Vision Pro successor. Samsung is said to have separately been developing screens with between 1,600 and 1,700 pixels per inch, which is approximately half that of the current Apple Vision Pro displays.
That figure is also slightly higher than the 1,500ppi that Apple was said to be considering back in 2024.
Apple turns to AI
The claim is specifically that Apple is suspending its efforts toward a Apple Vision Pro successor because its attention is now on AI smart glasses. The report also expressly says that this is a business decision, that it is not because there is some fault in the lower-resolution screen that has been developed.
So there must be some more work to be done, or the project would have ended the moment Apple started saying it was losing interest. But the project must be successful enough that it is worth pursuing until September.
The most recent rumors regarding a lower-cost Apple Vision Pro predicted that it wouldn’t be released until at least 2028 or 2029. There are perhaps other ways that Apple could lower the cost of the headset, but the screens are the most expensive component so it seems unlikely that development of those would stop if it is close to completion.
As for the report that Apple is now more interested in AI, that appears to be solely speculation. The idea seems to be that Apple was once seen as being behind in AI, but is now doing more, so if it stops doing anything else, it’s because of AI.
But reports of the death of the Apple Vision Air back in October 2025 put the blame on Apple instead focusing on smart glasses. This is the Apple Glass idea where users wear spectacles instead of a full headset.
Even Apple has finite resources, so it must choose what to work on, and that focus will surely change over time. Yet concentrating on smart glasses versus a headset seems to be more likely than Apple abandoning spatial computing, especially following Ternus’s enthused promotion of it.
Perhaps Apple has decided to skip over future editions of the Apple Vision Pro and instead go to smart glasses. Ternus has been said to want to cut back on Apple Vision Pro development, although he is effectively running the company already, he could end that project.
All this new report really tells us is that lighter Apple Vision Pro, whether a full headset or Apple Glasses, remains years away.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
