It ’s just over a yr since Apple first listed itsVision Proheadset for sale , and the gadget has n’t on the nose lit the world on fire since then . Yet after a year of reflection , there ’s one thing that Apple very clearly require to do if it ’s choke to get its mixed - reality headset back on track .
That affair is to found a more affordable modeling , double-dyed and simple . It run against Apple ’s preferred way of doing things — the company is used to making the best , most premium devices it can and pricing them consequently — but it ’s the only manner the party is going to be able to make its headset go truly mainstream .
Sticker shock
I ’ve never been tempted to bribe an Apple Vision Pro headset , and at $ 3,500 , it ’s not hard to see why . It ’s right smart out of the price image I ’d be willing to pay for something that is still a pretty niche , enthusiast - point gimmick .
And I bang I ’m not alone . practical reality has n’t taken off to such an extent that most people are willing to devote that variety of John Cash for such a gadget . In fact , if you were there when the Vision Pro was announced at Apple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) in 2023 , you could pick up the audible gasps when the companionship bring out the headset ’s price . It ’s sticker shock , and then some .
It ’s not helped by thenascent natureof the practical world headset man . Consumers just are n’t used to see prices this eminent , and the industry is new enough that monetary value have not yet derive down . It ’s a risky combination that create the monetary value hard to swallow up for your average drug user .
In many cases , Apple ’s high prices do n’t matter — just seem at theMacBook Pro , which sells like hotcake despite being far from the most affordable laptop on the grocery store . But in cases like that , the price is high but not unreasonably so . People know they ’re get timbre and are willing to pay up a little more for it — stress on the “ trivial . ”
With the Vision Pro , things are different — it ’s easily one of the most expensive consumer headsets out there . It makes empty the need for a more affordable sibling model to be sold alongside the Vision Pro . Right now , only the most enthusiastic or well - heeled of concerned party can give one . But it does n’t have to be that way . Apple could proceed to offer its high - priced even example for other adopters and tech lover , with a lower - price fashion model for everyone else .
Augmenting the line-up
A more affordable Vision Pro want n’t mean serious compromises on calibre . decently now , the Vision Pro is incredibly well - made and full offantastic features , but a lot of that quality could be reduced just a touch and consumers would n’t bat an center .
Ask yourself this : do you really need a $ 3,500 headset experience , or would one costing half the price ( or less ) still be satisfactory ? I believe you just require to wait at the products Apple ’s competitor are making to determine your result .
TheHTC Vive XR Elite , for example , combines practical reality with augment reality , just as the Vision Pro does . Yet unlike Apple ’s headset , it sells for well under $ 1,000 , and hoi polloi do it it . Cutting back on high - end feature of speech does n’t have to mean doom yourself to mediocrity .
Apple has been here before . When it first released theHomePod , the troupe claimed it was one of the best - quality speakers on the market , and in many ways that was lawful : it offered undeniably great lineament audio recording . But it was too expensive and there was no tatty option , so buyers had to go for the HomePod or go without . In the end , many picked the latter .
It was n’t until Apple launched theHomePod minithat things picked up — so much so , in fact , that Apple even discontinued the original HomePod , only make for it back years later with a depleted price . It ’s a lesson that Apple needs to learn when it comes to its mixed reality headset .
We know that a more affordable Vision Pro isin the works , but there are rumors that it ’s stillseveral yr out . Can Apple open to wait that long while its rivals pull further ahead ? I ’m not sure it can .
I ’m not saying that Apple should ditch the Vision Pro entirely and only deal affordable headsets — that just would n’t be the Apple way . But adding a lower - priced machine to the occupation - up would surely give consumer what they ’ve been crying out for ever since the Vision Pro last on sale one twelvemonth ago .
