Apple gives Vision Pro an M5 boost and a comfier band

Anyone who used the original Apple Vision Pro knows the feeling: incredible screens, top-tier pass-through, and a neck ache that kicks in after 45 minutes. Apple just dropped an updated version aimed squarely at fixing that fatigue while giving the internals a massive horsepower boost.

The new Vision Pro ditches the old M2 for Apple's upcoming M5 chip and introduces a completely redesigned Dual Knit Band. Pre-orders are live now, with units hitting shelves on October 22.

Tungsten counterweights and M5 horsepower

Instead of completely overhauling the front glass, Apple tackled the comfort problem mechanically. The new Dual Knit Band features a dual-rib 3D-knitted strap where the lower portion is embedded with tungsten inserts. These act as a counterweight against the front-heavy headset, paired with a dual-function Fit Dial. Good news for early adopters: the band is backward-compatible with the first-gen Vision Pro and sold separately.

Under the hood, the M5 chip is built on a third-generation 3nm process. It packs a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU that brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to the headset.

Combined with custom micro-OLED displays, the M5 renders 10 percent more pixels than before, giving sharper text and crisper environments. The display can now hit up to 120Hz to reduce motion blur during real-world pass-through and Mac Virtual Display sessions.

Battery life gets a modest bump to 2.5 hours of general use and up to 3 hours of video playback. Meanwhile, the 16-core Neural Engine speeds up system AI tasks, like Persona generation and spatial photo conversions, by up to 50 percent, while doubling AI throughput for third-party apps.

Controllers and styluses enter the room

Apple's purist approach to hand-and-eye tracking is finally giving way to reality. The updated headset now officially supports Sony's PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, unlocking six-degrees-of-freedom motion tracking, haptics, and finger-touch detection for serious spatial gaming.

For enterprise and design workflows, there is also support for Logitech Muse, a dedicated spatial digital pencil for precision sketching and 3D modeling.

On the software side, visionOS 26 introduces persistent room widgets, improved Personas, and broader camera format playback. Apple Immersive is also locking down live sports, with select NBA Lakers games coming to users in local broadcast territories.

Why it matters

This update is a clear course correction from Cupertino. Instead of waiting years for a radically lighter second-generation redesign, Apple is patching the headset's biggest flaws in place.

For users, if you already own the first Vision Pro, you probably don't need to drop thousands on the M5 edition just yet, but picking up the new Dual Knit Band with the tungsten counterweight looks like a no-brainer upgrade. For creative pros and developers on the fence, the addition of 120Hz, real ray tracing, and actual physical controllers makes spatial computing far more viable for daily work and gaming.

For the XR industry, Apple's embrace of PS VR2 controllers is a massive admission. It proves that pure hand tracking, while magical for simple UI navigation, simply cannot replace tactile feedback for gaming and precision tasks. The downside? Adding counterweights does not reduce the total mass sitting on your skull, it just balances it better. The real mainstream breakthrough will still have to wait until Apple figures out how to actually shave the hardware's physical weight.