The Vision Pro headset was internally called “Reality Pro” for a significant portion of its development before Apple settled on the name it ultimately shipped with, according to the prototype collector and leaker known as “Kosutami.”
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The name Reality Pro is not new information. BloombergMark Gurman of Mark Gurman reported in September 2022 that Apple’s first headset would likely launch under the name “Apple Reality Pro.” In August 2022, trademark applications for “Reality One”, “Reality Pro”, and “Reality Processor” surfaced in the United States and several other countries, filed through a shell company called Immersive Health Solutions LLC, a tactic Apple has previously used to keep upcoming product names secret.
These filings follow an earlier trademark application for “RealityOS” dated December 2021 and filed by another apparent front company, Realityo Systems LLC, after developers previously spotted references to RealityOS in Apple’s own software and App Store download logs. By mid-2023, additional trademark activity emerged for terms such as “xrOS”, “xrProOS”, “realityproOS”, and “realOS”.
Apple finally unveiled the headset as the Vision Pro at WWDC 2023, seemingly dropping the Reality branding entirely for the device and its operating system, which ships as visionOS. The change came late enough in development that traces of the old naming, like the string highlighted by Kosutami, persisted in internal builds and software.
Apple has reportedly retained the trademark rights to “Reality Pro” and “Reality One,” which could be important in China, where Huawei has a ten-year license to the Vision Pro brand until 2031. Gurman said Apple could rely on the Reality Pro brand in markets where Vision Pro is not available as a brand.
Vision Pro launched in the United States in February 2024 at a price of $3,499. Apple this week laid off about 100 members of its Vision Products group and largely shuttered its Vision Pro gaming and immersive video teams. The cuts follow reports that Apple has effectively shelved the product line, having already canceled both a redesigned Vision Pro 2 and the cheaper “Vision Air,” with the company’s focus instead shifting to smart glasses.
