Apple has finally found a use for Vision Pro – smart glasses

the Vision Pro He had a hard time. Not only has it struggled to find an audience since its release in 2024, but recent reports suggest that Apple is ditching a cheaper, lighter version to instead work on the hottest new gadget for 2025: Smart glasses. If you’re reading between the lines and thinking “Vision Pro is cooked,” I can’t say I blame you. But even if that is He is Cooked, a new report suggests that at least one aspect could persist, and perhaps finally find a foothold, in the new form factor.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports VisionOS, the Vision Pro operating system, will make its way into Apple’s popular smart glasses (which Bloomberg reported they were working on earlier this month). On the one hand, duh. Using VisionOS, Apple’s only operating system designed for mixed reality, is an obvious choice, especially since Vision Pro’s user interface is easily one of its best and biggest selling points. But it’s not just moving things around, according to the report: there’s an evolution.

According to Bloomberg, VisionOS on a pair of smart glasses will have two modes: one for when it’s paired with your glasses iPhonewhich are stripped down and become more useful on the go, and the other when you pair your glasses with them – and this is where things get interesting –MacBook. This is another rare detail about Apple’s very much-in-development smart glasses, and it gives us a glimpse into how they will work.

The decision to differentiate the modes suggests that Apple’s smart glasses can compete not only with existing glasses like them Ray-Ban meta screenwhich has a simple user interface for navigation, messaging, photos, videos, and phone pairing, but it also has larger, headphone-like hardware (like the Vision Pro) that parallels a MacBook. It’s anyone’s guess what these more advanced capabilities might be, but Apple’s smart glasses, if the display is beautiful enough and the chip is powerful enough, could lean into entertainment, gaming, or other laptop-like features.

There’s a possible hint about the UI here as well. While Apple could very well tweak VisionOS to accommodate different input methods on a pair of smart glasses, the operating system, in its current form, is a fit for the Vision Pro’s user interface, which combines hand and eye tracking for a new “spatial computing” experience that uses pinches and other finger gestures. The resulting user experience feels more refined than that of competitors Meta and Her Quest 3/3S displays. Does this mean that Apple Glasses will use hand and eye tracking technology? Who will say? But if Gorman’s reporting is accurate, the foundation for an Apple-like smart glasses UI is in place.

Regardless of how it turns out, one thing is clear: While Apple may not see a lot of promise in the Vision Pro hardware, it clearly sees value in VisionOS. And to be honest, I am. Despite the responsiveness and novelty of the Meta’s Neural Band (the wristband that records inputs into the Meta smart glasses), the need to combine smart glasses with wearable glasses doesn’t seem ideal. If Apple can transfer the convenience and sleekness of VisionOS to a pair of smart glasses (especially in a non-wearable way), they’ll be making huge progress, and that’s not even taking into account Opportunities provided by Apple’s direct integration With iPhone and MacBook. All of this means that it looks like Apple may have finally figured out what to do with the Vision Pro, and the answer is to turn it into a pair of smart glasses.