Apple Vision Pro: Revolutionary Tech or Costly Flop?

The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset may be called one of the major disappointments of the consumer technology market since its inception. Though the engineering is exceptional, the price tag of $3,499 coupled with some early issues that some early adopters faced has somewhat reduced the glamour of this gadget which Apple’s CEO Tim Cook declared as “the new dawn for computing”.

Apple Vision Pro: Revolutionary Tech or Costly Flop?

The last Apple earnings call barely touches base on the headset, only mentioning some general stuff, such as earnings from sales, a lot of AI and machine-learning gibberish, and iPad and Macbook sales. As one can observe, Tim Cook provided a little insight into the 50% of Fortune 100 companies, who have already purchased Apple Vision Pro units and subsequently initiated projects involving its use for tasks that could not have been undertaken before.

The fact that several of the world’s best companies bought at least one of the new headsets can be explained, and this is because at least half of them are from the tech industry or technology-adjacent sectors that probably wanted to realize long how the new doohickey works.

Overall, Apple as the number one technology company on the Forbes’ 2023 list made a bet-the-move and drove hard on the new add-on, saying, “Vision Pro is a whole new product concept in the market as a spatial computer, seamlessly blending digital content with the physical world, and keeping people present and connected to others” thus indicating a big step forward for the company.

While some companies experience a surge of demand, followed by a drop, the sales overall seem to be rather gloomy. As of late media sources claim that Apple cut down production volumes by half before the headset launch in the US, which means that demand in the US wasn’t as large as expected.

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Although the astronomical price tag is likely to be the condition for many people being unable to purchase one, the Vision Pro enchanted only positive reviews. Some of them complained about the weight and the bulky design of the device. Some faced inconsistencies in the features, and the feeling of detachment.

While every “revolutionary” new product release is likely to have its bugs, Apple’s apparent refusal to disclose the sales revenue of Vision Pro is a cause for concern. The absence of such information may be pointing towards a sub-optimal level of consumer interest. It seems that there haven’t been many sales beyond a few units even though some companies have bought in, although time will tell if this is simply an early slow adoption issue or worse, it turns out we have a new Apple “Hockey Puck Mouse” type product that isn’t well received.

Source | Via