Apple Vision Pro Faces Production Cuts as Sales Stall

Apple slashes headset output and ad spend while leaning into cheaper Vision hardware and future AI smart glasses.

Summary

• Apple has reportedly hit a major snag with the Vision Pro, as manufacturing partner Luxshare halted production in early 2025
• Market research estimates show a massive drop in momentum, with only 45,000 units shipped during the “crucial” 2025 holiday quarter — a fraction of the 390,000 units shipped during its 2024 launch year
• Data indicates Apple slashed its digital advertising spend for the device by over 95% in key markets like the U.S. and UK during 2025, signaling a shift in focus away from the $3,499 USD headset

Apple’s hyped Vision Pro is hitting a hard reality check. Multiple reports say Apple’s Chinese partner Luxshare halted production in early 2025 and that only about 45,000 units shipped in the crucial 2025 holiday quarter, versus 390,000 in its 2024 launch year.

At $3,499 USD and still only officially sold in 13 countries, the headset stayed locked in early-adopter territory. Reviewers and users called out the heavy, front-loaded design, short battery life, and a thin app ecosystem that never matched the promise of “spatial computing.” Marketing tells the story even louder. Sensor Tower data suggests Apple cut digital ad spend for Vision Pro by more than 95% across key markets in 2025, a sharp contrast to the full-court press that accompanied its 2024 rollout.

Meta’s cheaper Quest lineup now owns around 80% of the VR market, and the entire headset space reportedly shrank 14% year-on-year. That leaves Apple trying to build a new platform while the category itself cools.

Analysts frame Vision Pro as a rare miss for a company used to iPhone-level scale, but Apple’s own positioning has always been different. From day one, the official line pitched Vision Pro as a “revolutionary spatial computer” aimed at redefining interfaces, not instantly replacing the iPhone.

Behind the scenes, Apple is already pivoting. Supply-chain chatter and recent coverage point to a cheaper Vision model, a deeper push into AI-driven smart glasses, and a long game where today’s flawed headset is just the dev kit for whatever finally cracks the face-computing code.