M5 Apple Vision Pro Out Now, But M2 Model Can’t Be Traded In

The M5 Vision Pro is now shipping and available in Apple Stores, but the company confirmed that the M2 model can’t be traded in.

Apple announced and opened preorders for the headset last week. The company describes the chipset’s improved CPU as delivering “faster load times for apps and widgets and more responsive web browsing”, while the GPU renders at 10% higher resolution by default, supports 120Hz refresh rate “for reduced motion blur when users look at their physical surroundings”, and brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading.

Meanwhile, M5’s improved Neural Engine makes AI features like setting up your Persona or generating Spatial Scenes 50% faster, Apple says, and AI tasks in third-party apps up to 2x faster.

The new Vision Pro has a stated battery life of up to 2.5 hours of general use or 3 hours of video playback, 30 minutes longer than what Apple rated the original. Given that the battery is the same, this suggests Apple has configured the M5 chip for balanced efficiency, rather than maximum performance.

While the original Apple Vision Pro came with two straps in the box, the pre-attached stretchable 3D-knitted Solo Knit Band, without top support, and the optional more traditional Dual Loop Band with top support, the M5 Vision Pro comes with a single Dual Knit Band, combining the benefits of both.

The Dual Knit Band’s upper and lower strap sections are 3D-knitted as a single piece and are separately adjusted with the single dial, which pops out. It comes in small, medium, and large sizes, like the previous bands.

The rear part of the band has embedded tungsten inserts, a material more than twice as dense as the stainless steel, providing a greater counterbalance to the weight of the headset itself. In fact, the Dual Knit Band is 150 grams heavier than the Solo Knit Band, Apple’s specs suggest.

The Dual Knit Band is also compatible with the original Apple Vision Pro as a $99 accessory, available now but currently backordered.

Apple’s Dual Knit Band for Vision Pro headsets.

The M5 Apple Vision Pro is available now in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Hong Kong, the UAE, Singapore, and China. It will be available in South Korea and Taiwan “later”.

The original Vision Pro was discontinued last week, and the new model is priced identically: $3500 for the 256GB storage option, $3700 for 512GB, or $3900 for 1TB.

As with the original Vision Pro, prescription inserts from ZEISS are priced at $150, and the official travel case is $200. It’s also compatible with the same accessories as the original, as it has the same physical design.

Today, Apple confirmed that the M2 Vision Pro is not eligible for trade-in, so existing owners hoping to upgrade will have to pay the full price, which they might offset by selling their headset on a marketplace like eBay.

The launch comes just hours after Samsung launched Galaxy XR, the first headset with Google’s new Android XR platform, at around half the price.