Today, Apple has seen fit to release iOS 17, watchOS 10, and a plethora of other beta updates for developers to test out the new features. Alongside, the company has also seen fit to release the second beta of its forthcoming visionOS platform for the Apple Vision Pro. The company also recently announced that it will be sending out Vision Pro kits to developers so they can test out the new firmware and report changes and issues.

Apple has released beta 2 of visionOS to developers for testing purposes ahead of Vision Pro developer kits

Apple already seeded the first beta of visionOS to developers for testing purposes. However, since developers do not have a device to test it on, the SDK can only be accessed through Xcode in a virtual setting. The latest visionOS beta 2 arrives almost a month after the original beta. Once developers receive the developer kits of the Vision Pro, we would discover additional information related to the headset.

There are two potential reasons for releasing the visionOS beta at this stage before the headset goes on sale early next year. The company wants developers to curate and report bugs and issues present in the visonOS operating system. visionOS will rest in the beta phase for at least six months to nine months before the headset is released. This will give developers plenty of time to discover bugs and report issues.

Another reason why a developer beta is necessary is to develop proper use cases for Vision Pro. It was recently covered that developers hold immense importance at this stage of developing applications that could mark the headset's success. It remains to be seen how the market will respond to Apple's $3,499 augmented reality headset, given how there are cheaper options available on the market.

The company has already begun accepting applications from developers to test the new developer kits of the Vision Pro. Once the kits are released, they will potentially run on Apple's developer beta of visionOS. Developers would continue to test the beta until the headset goes on sale next year, The company has not given us an exact launch date of the product but we suspect that it will arrive at the company's Spring event.

Apple is also working on budget variants of the Vision Pro but it will take years before a cheaper version is available, Furthermore, it is not yet clear if the budget variant will feature a competitive price tag. We will share more details on what is new in the latest visionOS beta as soon as developers are done tinkering with the latest build.