Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
That doesn’t include the considerable R&D. They have patents for this product going back 15 or more years.

There was some diagrams where a headset was connected to an iPod of the era. Imagine coming to Apple in 2005 and this shipping in 2024. More than half your professional career spent on a product that took almost 20 years to ship. Wild.

With Vision Pro it’s not so much about today, it’s about where it could be in 5 years, 10 years? Price will come down, but I don’t foresee this product line ever being a $299 iPad or $899 MacBook Air. A $499 Quest competing with the PlayStation during Black Friday, Apple isn’t going for.
Very good point. Much like when I worked at AutoDesk years ago, where the manufacturing cost (CD duplication, manuals, etc) was $75 for a product selling for $2500.
 
Apple selling ridiculously Overpriced items,
that THEY retire, way to early, when did this start to happen?
 
Homepod was mispriced. This product is intentionally priced high to manage the demand. Apple can't manufacture that many, and wants to sell only to early adopters.
That is such an absurd statement. No company ever wants to limit sales of their products, especially Apple. Look at how certain iPhone releases had long shipping times due to manufacturing complications. Did Apple the next year start selling a $3,000 iPhone just to limit the buyers? No. Apple would prefer to sell out and create long waits, it builds up hype due to the scarcity. Apple is now only a for profit company, they aren’t the “Think Different” company we once knew.

Look at how other companies are trying new ideas (Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Ring, Lenovo “Project Crystal”, XReal Air Pro 2, etc.) when Apple releases their first “new” product in years AVP, and it’s a VR headset. VR has been around for DECADES. Let’s not forget both Google and Samsung entered and exited the VR market years ago. Diehard Apple fans treat Apple as they can do no wrong and are “forward thinking” and neglect what other companies are doing and trying.
 
If that was the case then why not sell it for $2,000-2,500 where they could still make a profit? If they really cared about investing in the future or a quick cash grab they could have sold it for $1,500 and took a small loss.

What would be the sense in that? This product is supply limited, not demand limited. If you can only make 100 of something, why would you willingly sacrifice revenue? That’s just bad business.

What I mean is something else. If your primary goal is to make some quick money, there are much more easier ways to invest your cash instead of building a device as complex and convoluted as the Vision Pro.
 
What would be the sense in that? This product is supply limited, not demand limited. If you can only make 100 of something, why would you willingly sacrifice revenue? That’s just bad business.

What I mean is something else. If your primary goal is to make some quick money, there are much more easier ways to invest your cash instead of building a device as complex and convoluted as the Vision Pro.
Building up the indie developer base. Still missing the "killer app" but Tim is too focused on profits.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
Not sure if you’re new here but this is MacRumors. By mid morning, you’ll have plenty of comments arguing both sides, “it’s factored in”, “no it’s not!”

The obvious should always be stated.

Where’s Captain Obvious when you need him?
 
If they'd sell it for 1000, I would consider buying it.
I tested it out and it is indeed really cool to watch movies professionally recorded for that (not that spacial video that the iPhone does...). But for everything else, a laptop is just still miles ahead.
 
The suggestion that R&D would justify a retail price three times larger than the components cost is ludicrous. R&D is a very small part of Apple costs and in the last few years it hasn’t grown at all (in fact I think it has gone down). Apple invests very little in research, and it shows in the lacklustre amount of innovation we saw in the last few years. Vision Pro is no exception, there is very little in the realm of innovation, and it’s best quality are the displays that Apple doesn’t design and doesn’t produce but just buys.
 
I think the only purpose I’d ever use it for would be panoramic “spatial” concerts I couldn’t attend. I don’t watch movies and I don’t like mobile games, but I do love music, and there’s a lot of bands I can’t see anymore.
 
Wether technically it could happen or not I really wish the compute unit was dumped in the battery pack too, just like a lumpy iPhone in your pocket or whatever. Leave the R1 chip in the headset to handle user input and low latency passthrough. This would surely reduce the bulk and complexity of the headset a fair amount. It would also let you upgrade the compute unit independent of the 'screen' in the future.
 
Last edited:
Of course R&D is a big chunk, but the price tag is still ridiculous. A lot of R&D went into the first iPhone, iPad and watch too and the price was reasonable. Yes, the market is bigger but with such high price tag the market will remain small.
Apple had to reduce the price of the iPhone 1. In 2024 dollars that iPhone would cost $733 in line with the iPhone 15. So whether the VPs price are inline with their function, expensive to you or overpriced to you, it’s all how you look at it.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
That is such an absurd statement. No company ever wants to limit sales of their products, especially Apple. Look at how certain iPhone releases had long shipping times due to manufacturing complications. Did Apple the next year start selling a $3,000 iPhone just to limit the buyers? No. Apple would prefer to sell out and create long waits, it builds up hype due to the scarcity. Apple is now only a for profit company, they aren’t the “Think Different” company we once knew.

Look at how other companies are trying new ideas (Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Ring, Lenovo “Project Crystal”, XReal Air Pro 2, etc.) when Apple releases their first “new” product in years AVP, and it’s a VR headset. VR has been around for DECADES. Let’s not forget both Google and Samsung entered and exited the VR market years ago. Diehard Apple fans treat Apple as they can do no wrong and are “forward thinking” and neglect what other companies are doing and trying.
Apple has always been a for profit company....
 
Apple does not sell products for a loss. That's never how Apple has worked.
AFAIK, the only time they came close was quite a few years ago when there was a spate of people being burned alive or electrocuted by fake phone chargers. Apple announced a phone charger amnesty where people could bring their dodgy chargers to an Apple Store and Apple would replace them with the real thing at cost.
 
From the comments I have seen on YouTube it looks like that even with software improvements the EyeSight feature is pretty useless with a dim display acting as a poor cousin of just removing the headset to talk to someone. It was a clever idea to reduce a barrier between the user and company but I don't think it has much legs.

For this reason, weight and costs I wouldn't expect it to survive to mk.II. A black plastic visor with just a few swirly LEDs underneath (like the Homepod 'display') would be enough to lower the weight and bring down the costs.

That weight also seems to be a big complaint and needs to be lowered and repositioned. I'm not knocking the AVP; I think its a brilliant piece of cutting edge hardware but mk.I is clearly just a kind of beta version to be tested at scale by people buying into its idea.
damn your engineering expertise is top notch👍 what major tech company do you invent for? na na you must be another Tim Cook running a Trillion dollar company…you need to go which over to Apple they need your wisdom and guidance ASAP
 
I have been using mine around an hour every day absolutely love it. Worth the price IMO. Doesn't really matter if it cost too much or if it becomes extinct. From my perspective what is important is the enjoyment and satisfaction level.
 
I just want a nice set of HUD glasses that bluetooth to my phone. Let my phone be the “computer”. Much simpler and lighter.
"Simpler"; what you need for that instead of displays is: a camera filming each eye, camera's pointing outwards, miniature projectors projecting an image in each eye that moves the image based on where your eyes point so the projected image stays still relative to where the surroundings fall on your retina. All this within milliseconds.

projecting things upon the transparent glasses or using transparent displays instead of glasses won't work since your eyes can't focus that close. there's nothing "simpler" about that solution.

EDIT for clarity: yes, you can focus that close in the Vision Pro because of lenses in front of the display, but with transparent glasses that would not be a solution, since the rest of the world you look at through the glasses would then end up out of focus
 
Last edited:
the components used in Vision Pro are estimated to cost Apple a total of $1,542.
So a whopping $1,958 in profit for the $3500 base model? Tim must be literally swimming in profits like Scrooge McDuck. 💰


scrooge-mcduck-swimming-in-money.jpg
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.