Apple Vision Pro Was Almost Called 'Reality Pro'

[MockT]

Changed direction because the Reality Check and RiP jokes would have been too easy.

They saw it coming.

 

[ignatius345]

They care because they feel Apple should have spent that money on a small phone or airports or something else they don’t make anymore. 🙂

That's... not how it works.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

That's... not how it works.

It’s ABSOLUTELY not how it works, but the people that care will think it works like that anyway.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

I mean, neither the iPhone, iPad nor the Mac can be considered “affordable mainstream products”. Why would anyone expect otherwise for anything Apple releases?

Those are all very affordable. An iPhone is next to nothing through the carriers. An iPad is $349 (not counting the whole industry shortage prices). And a MacBook Air is amazing, lasts for years, and a MacBook Neo is very affordable.

 

[Basic75]

Those are all very affordable. An iPhone is next to nothing through the carriers.

But monthly payments are not the same thing as a nearly free phone?

 

[Steve Adams]

Really bummed they cancelled it. Would have loved to have seen this become an affordable mainstream product.

That's the entire thing. There is a product like this that's mainstream and affordable. The Meta quest. It's 95 percent of the AVP for one tenth the cost.

 

[clg82]

Let’s add some nuance here. The Bloomberg report didn’t state that the Apple Vision Pro line was canceled—only that production for gaming and video-specific content has slowed down.

In fact, VisionOS code includes references to upcoming hardware iterations. There is a strong, growing market for spatial computing in enterprise, robotics, surgery, aviation, and for professionals who need high-resolution portable displays. That’s precisely why the device remains on sale and software updates continue. Calling the Vision Pro a failure is like calling the Apple TV or iPhone Air a failure—it’s just inaccurate reporting. Notice these ariticles never list what success would be, just that it failed which is an opinion piece masquarding as news ;-)

^^^found the guy that bought one...

 

[HaHaRich!]

That's the entire thing. There is a product like this that's mainstream and affordable. The Meta quest. It's 95 percent of the AVP for one tenth the cost.

Eh. More like 33% of the same device for 15% of the price: The Meta Quest 3 has half the ram, less than half the pixels, and 1/4 the processing power for about 1/6th the retail price of the Vision Pro. Not saying it's not a better value, but its far from 95% of the same device. The Quest 3S has even worse displays, (neither Quest has OLED for true-black displays, so worse resolution and far worse color accuracy), and the 3s displays have worse image latency which is a bigger trigger for motion sickness, but you get to give Mark Zuckerberg even less of your cash with the 3s so that's a plus. At 256gb, you are only $150 away from the much better 3 so it's not a great deal. Not saying the Quest isn't a good buy, but the comparison is way further than 95%/10%

 

[turbineseaplane]

Eh. More like 33% of the same device for 15% of the price: The Meta Quest 3 has half the ram, less than half the pixels, and 1/4 the processing power for about 1/6th the retail price of the Vision Pro. Not saying it's not a better value, but its far from 95% of the same device. The Quest 3S has even worse displays, (neither Quest has OLED for true-black displays, so worse resolution and far worse color accuracy), and the 3s displays have worse image latency which is a bigger trigger for motion sickness, but you get to give Mark Zuckerberg even less of your cash with the 3s so that's a plus. At 256gb, you are only $150 away from the much better 3 so it's not a great deal. Not saying the Quest isn't a good buy, but the comparison is way further than 95%/10%

What the Quest does have is a mainstream purpose that moves a ton of units.

Gaming

Apple completely fumbled the ball by not making that a priority (or at least one of them) of the AVP.

 

[Kevin2055]

Actually it is to deter from reality.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Those are all very affordable. An iPhone is next to nothing through the carriers. An iPad is $349 (not counting the whole industry shortage prices). And a MacBook Air is amazing, lasts for years, and a MacBook Neo is very affordable.

Affordable for you, agreed.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

But monthly payments are not the same thing as a nearly free phone?

Folks in a higher tax bracket may not feel better off, but that doesn’t change the fact that for almost everything Apple sells, there’s other products that perform similar functions for half as much money or less.

 

[Steve Adams]

Eh. More like 33% of the same device for 15% of the price: The Meta Quest 3 has half the ram, less than half the pixels, and 1/4 the processing power for about 1/6th the retail price of the Vision Pro. Not saying it's not a better value, but its far from 95% of the same device. The Quest 3S has even worse displays, (neither Quest has OLED for true-black displays, so worse resolution and far worse color accuracy), and the 3s displays have worse image latency which is a bigger trigger for motion sickness, but you get to give Mark Zuckerberg even less of your cash with the 3s so that's a plus. At 256gb, you are only $150 away from the much better 3 so it's not a great deal. Not saying the Quest isn't a good buy, but the comparison is way further than 95%/10%

Raw processing power and specs mean NOTHING in this category. It's novelty item. The Meta Quest 3 does most everything the AVP does. Consumers using these devices don't care that it has x gigs of ram, and benches at whatever.

And no the comparison is not further away than 95/10. I have used both personally. Yes, Apples device is more premium built but not 3500 dollars better.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

Affordable for you, agreed.

I would say at a very general level for anyone who is going to be buying a computer, tablet, or phone, they are affordable

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

But monthly payments are not the same thing as a nearly free phone?

Anyone in the market for a phone is going to have that. So if you are buying a phone, an iPhone is affordable.

 

[paradox00]

Calling the Vision Pro a failure is like calling the Apple TV or iPhone Air a failure—it’s just inaccurate reporting. Notice these ariticles never list what success would be, just that it failed which is an opinion piece masquarding as news ;-)

It's a failure by the expectations Apple set for themselves, developers and end users. From the announcement press release:

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for computing,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing. Built upon decades of Apple innovation, Vision Pro is years ahead and unlike anything created before — with a revolutionary new input system and thousands of groundbreaking innovations. It unlocks incredible experiences for our users and exciting new opportunities for our developers.”

The Vision Pro wasn't the beginning of a new era of computing. That's what success was supposed to look like, as defined by Tim Cook himself. At least before he retconned a new purpose for Vision Pro after sales dried up less than 6 months after the launch.

So Apple took a big swing and a miss. Who the hell cares? If you didn’t want one, you didn’t have to buy one.

I’m frankly a whole lot more interested when Apple does stuff like try to invent an ambitious 3D virtual computing and entertainment platform that ties into their other hardware -- when they could just be sitting on their hands and selling slight iterations on the hardware they’ve already succeeded at.

I care because I wanted them to make something revolutionary and succeed, not to see it fail because they stumbled on their own hubris. They designed the "new era of computing" around a closed app store and a 30% app cut (thus kneecapping the MacOS capable M2 processor right out of the gate), didn't port any of their own creative apps to the platform (while expecting third party devs to do just that), ignored the things headsets were proven at (games and fitness), added weight and cost for a party trick (eyesight), then added even more cost (carbon fiber frame) to offset some of the needlessly gained weight, all the while ignoring casing materials (plastics) that would have both reduced cost and weight simply because everything must be machined aluminium at Apple.

Apple has all the pieces for the Vision Pro platform to succeed, so it's frustrating to see them fail so badly in the consumer realm. Apple is a consumer electronics company; the AVP seeing uses in medical and industrial fields is great and all, but it still hasn't moved the needle in the consumer market.

 

[Piggie]

I feel those who love VR and want it to continue simply have to face a very sad fact.
It's basically now established there are only a certain small percent of normal consumers who are willing to put on a VR headset to enjoy some media.
Be that a game, a movie, a sporting event etc.

It's nothing like the % of people who are happy to watch a TV or use a smartphone. It's a tiny fraction of that amount.

Companies like META, even if you hate them.... Have over recent years being going flat out to product the cheapest/best headset they can, and the Quest 3 is without doubt amazing value for the tech your are getting.
And they are losing millions/billions desperately trying to get normal people to wear them.

But they have hit a ceiling with willing customers.

Yes, I'm 100% sure you could gain a few more percent of customers with some BIG sporting events, or Media events streamed live for sure.
But it's only going to push the needle a bit.

At some point, you as a company need to ask are you willing to keep investing so much time and money into a sector of the market which is almost at it's limits size wise.

Would your time and money not be spent on things that a vastly larger % of the population are wiling to buy and use.

Hence Smart Glasses.

They are nowhere near as great as VR, or what VR could be like, but at least they can offer something and there is way more chance of them becoming a mass consumer item, simply because so many people are just used to wearing and seeing others wearing glasses and sunglasses.

Yes, we have a vast, and I mean VAST social issue to overcome with the camera/privacy aspect, which will to some extent damage their mass adoption.
Perhaps even kill mass adoption, that's yet to be seen.

But sorry, GIANT companies investing billions into what we know today as VR headsets, I'm sure is almost over....

And I'm sad, but I think I need to accept it.

Its going to remain a niche market which some small companies continue to serve for those customer who love the tech, but not for the BIG boys.