Yesterday it was reported that Apple laid off an unknown number of people dedicated to VR development, the Apple Vision Group, which aligns with incoming CEO John Ternus reportedly putting the category “on ice,” but apparently there are deeper cuts.
The tech giant is laying off people who worked on Siri and AI, reports Bloomberg‘ Mark Gurman (a subscription is required to read the article).
Approximately 100 employees who were part of the Vision Products Group have been laid off, with Apple also cutting 100 people from its Siri and software groups as the company is “largely shutting down” the Vision Pro teams focused on gaming and immersive content, he adds.
Apple told Gurman this: While we will create new roles as part of this change, it will also impact a limited number of existing roles. We are grateful to these team members for their contributions, and we are committed to supporting them throughout their transition, including opportunities to apply for other roles at Apple.
Despite the cuts to the Vision Products Group, employees were told that the Vision Pro and visionOS operating system aren’t being eliminated. Plus, Gurman says that Apple continues to work on AI smart glasses — the rumored “Apple Glasses” — expected in 2027, but that device won’t support 3D gaming or video.
Immersive Video team layoffs are apparently being done to cut cost as each episode of an immersive video costs millions of dollars to film. Instead, Apple will make fewer videos in-house depending on other companies to make such content, Gurman says.
There have long been conflicting reports about the future of the Apple Vision Pro. On April 30, MacRumors reported that Apple had stopped work on the Vision Pro. However, in a May Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said we won’t see a new version of the spatial computer for at least two years. He said Apple continues to develop new technologies and materials with the goal of eventually producing a less expensive and less heavy version of the Vision Pro. However, there’s no active development on the device, and the rumored “Vision Air” is no longer being worked on, Gurman added.
At one point Apple was reportedly working on a version of the spatial computer that would be 40% lighter and more than 50% cheaper. In October 2025 Bloomberg said the project had been canceled as Apple was moving the resources allotted to it to the company’s smart glasses product.
Even comments from Ternus, who takes over from Tim Cook as Apple CEO on September 1, have hinted at a future for the Vision Pro (though he could have changed his mind.)
In a Tom’s Guide’s interview published in April, he was asked about how he views Vision Pro and the spatial computing category overall.
Here’s what he said: I think we’re still very much in the early innings of spatial computing. We are super excited about it. The Vision Pro is an extraordinary product. As Joz said, it’s like we reached into the future and pulled it into the present. And people are continuing to find exciting new use cases for it. There’s a lot of compelling stuff in enterprise, in medicine, in other things, and that’s going to continue to grow. It’s fun, we’re at the beginning of the journey.
Despite the cutbacks, Gurman says Apple is still planning a new Vision Pro for release, likely near the end of 2028.
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