What happens if Apple does actually step away from the Vision Pro?

by Ru Howe | June 2026

As Meta moves away from the metaverse, MacRumours is now reporting that Apple are stepping back from the Vision Pro. (Just to be clear, Apple hasn’t officially confirmed this.)

It’s the latest in a long string of signs that chunky VR helmets are no longer seen as the future of socialising and entertainment.

That’s not denying that the Vision Pro headset isn’t an incredible piece of technology – but even incredible technology needs an effective marketing strategy, an accessible price point and intriguing, engaging content to reel viewers in.

For me, this lack of usable content has been a real pitfall. Little thought has been given to allowing creators to craft good interactive content for an interactive device. App developers using game engines like Unity and Unreal have high development costs and no clear ROI – making it an unappealing prospect.

That said, VR headsets do have a place, now and in the future. But it doesn’t look like it’s in socialising and entertainment.

It might seem that VR is fading away, but there are still some powerful experiences being made in training, education and edutainment.  In the last few months, we’ve seen reports of nurse training that improves practical skills development, CPR training for England Football that replicates match conditions, and VR wellbeing spaces to calm anxiety around exams, ADHD and home troubles in London secondary schools. So perhaps there’s still space for VR to thrive here.

In the meantime, at Stornaway we are focusing on the growing demand of interactive adaptive video on other devices, including 360 video. There may be some more VR related announcements coming for Stornaway’s web platform… watch this space.

If you’re interested in keeping up with the latest in video and immersive media, you’ll find my new quickfire video series ‘What’s new in video (and is it useful?) handy. Find and follow on LinkedIn.