Vivo Unveils ‘Vision’ MR Headset, Drawing Inspiration from Apple’s Design and Name

Here we are again with another contender in the Vision Pro knock-off arena, and this time it’s carrying the ‘Vision’ name along for the ride.

Enter Vivo—a Chinese company that’s not the most famous of brands globally but certainly noteworthy for its practical, mid-range smartphones. They’re consistently up there within the top five smartphone manufacturers in terms of market share.

Today, at the Boao Forum for Asia held in China’s picturesque Hainan Province, Vivo took its first leap into the world of XR with its latest offering, the Vivo Vision. The company released a statement emphasizing this move as a part of their broader strategy to delve into both robotics and XR technologies, calling Vivo Vision a “significant milestone” in their mixed reality journey.

At first glance, the specifics of the Vivo Vision remain shrouded in mystery. We’re still in the dark regarding the device’s specs, the operating system it’ll run on, its release date, and its global availability and pricing. All we really know so far is how it’s going to look from the outside.

A prototype was displayed at Vivo’s booth during the Boao Forum for Asia. From what we can see, Vivo is taking a few pages out of Apple’s Vision Pro design book. They’ve incorporated a distinct headstrap style, a digital crown button, and a magnetically-attached external battery, all inspired by its predecessor.

Interestingly, Vivo’s smartphones typically run on customized Android versions. They use Funtouch OS for their international devices and Origin OS for those sold within China. When it comes to their debut XR device, they might just continue this trend with Google’s forthcoming Android XR OS, anticipated to debut alongside Samsung’s mixed reality venture, ‘Project Moohan,’ expected later this year. However, this remains speculative for the moment.

The release of the Vivo Vision highlights a growing trend among Chinese manufacturers crafting their own versions of the Vision Pro. Earlier this year, Play for Dream’s MR headset made waves at CES 2025, drawing significant attention and receiving high praise from former Quest engineer Amanda Watson, who deemed it “absolutely the best all-around HMD demo I saw on the floor today.”