A previously overlooked Apple patent from 2008 indicates that the tech giant has been developing the Vision Pro for an extended period. This patent was discovered by Dan Moren from Macworld while he was exploring the Internet Archive. Although the old documentation includes just a single diagram, it strikingly resembles the Vision Pro’s display panel.
The patent details a wearable display equipped with advanced sensors designed to “mimic the sensation of being in a virtual environment.” It also notes that these sensors would be capable of monitoring head and eye movements. Although the technology Apple envisioned during that time likely varies significantly from what’s currently used, the overall design and form factor of the headset show remarkable consistency.
It’s common knowledge that Apple and various tech companies pursue patents extensively, leading many to assume back in 2008 that this concept would never see the light of day. However, the tech industry thrives on long-term projects—take Meta’s Orion initiative, which is a decade in the making and still years away from release.
The existence of this patent doesn’t definitively mean that Apple was actively pursuing the Vision Pro back in 2008. It might have simply served as a conceptual exploration, patented for potential future applications. If Apple did seriously consider creating the device, it wouldn’t have taken extensive research to determine that achieving the desired size, weight, and cost benchmarks at that time would have been virtually impossible.
Looking ahead, speculation surrounds both a second-generation Vision Pro and a more affordable version of the current model. The specifics of Apple’s plans remain uncertain, but there’s a clear consumer demand for enhancements in both weight and pricing.
