Apple might fix its Vision Pro battery problem by strapping it to your head

When Apple finally took the wraps off of the Vision Pro headset during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5, it had much of what we'd been told to expect by all of the rumors and leaks leading up to it. One of those rumors was of course the infamous hip-mounted battery pack, with Apple seemingly keen to make sure that it didn't overload the wearer's head with too much weight. However, it seems that the company might be planning to get around that problem if a new patent is any indication.

That patent was spotted by the eagle eyes at Patently Apple and appears to make reference to placing the battery fo a headset into its band, rather than the main unit itself. The theory is that Apple would be able to get around the issue of front-loading the weight and making the headset uncomfortable by moving the battery's weight to the back of the head.

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This approach also has an added benefit in that it would help to balance out the weight of the main headset component - all of the electronic magic that makes it work, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, and of course those two displays. The patent itself was filed in Europe and references using an attachable headset mount that could house a battery. The result would of course mean that the Vision Pro would no longer need that external hip-mounted battery that some are so worried about. While the battery will no doubt work as intended, the requirement for a cable running to the battery is a concern for people who want to have the absolute most free ofmovements while wearing the headset.

However, it's always important to remember that Apple patents do not always turn into shipping features or products and it's possible that this particular patent will never see the light of day. However, of all the patents that Apple has its name on this one does make plenty of sense given the way it would fix a current Vision Pro issue - or at least a perceived one. Very few people have actually tried the Vision Pro headset to date and with Apple not expected to ship it until around March of 2024, that's unlikely to change any time soon.

Apple is yet to confirm exactly when the Vision Pro will go on sale beyond a very vague timeframe of early 2024, although Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that a March timeframe seems the most likely.