Kuo: Low-Cost Apple Vision Pro Might Be Canceled

[rmatosinhos]

Apple Vision Pro will be the next Touchbar...​

 

[siddavis]

Well, yeah. The new modus operandi is for generation 2 they'll change the color of the the "Pro" model at the same price and call it all new, but then release an "Ultra" version that includes what would normally have been in version 2 and charge 30-50% more.

 

[nvmls]

or, the $3,500 piece is in fact the low-cost one. A trillionaire can dream.

Includes free 20 min. flight with Ryanair.

 

[McWetty]

VR/AR is inherently antisocial. It won't catch on until everyone is a shut-in autist. Maybe Gen Alpha

My son has autism and is very social. How about we leave the disability generalizations checked at the door…

 

[lysingur]

Well, yeah. The new modus operandi is for generation 2 they'll change the color of the the "Pro" model at the same price and call it all new, but then release an "Ultra" version that includes what would normally have been in version 2 and charge 30-50% more.

I think you nailed it right there.

 

[AlexESP]

Now who’s going to bother to develop for a user base of 400k when you can just release a dumb IAP game for the millions on iOS is the real question

For the same reason you’d have been clever to start developing for the iPhone when it sold 1 million units a year.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Remove the M2 chip. Tether Vision to iphone 15 Pro with an M2 battery.

Boom! That's $1,000 sliced off the price.

 

[dannyyankou]

Unless as joked often, PRO to Apple stands for PROfit. Brand it pro to command a premium price (and profit).

From here, they can append MAX & ULTRA just was easily as we can speculate they drop PRO to cut revenue & profit per unit sold. Only one of those seems much more likely to me. 💰💰💰

Ok… But every lineup of theirs that has a pro model has a lower cost option.

 

[MrGimper]

Is the band “Fine Woven”?

 

[JDHiro]

This is likely a strategy shift more than anything. Apple likely decided that they need to be on the cutting edge of hardware to make this experience truly compelling, and they want to design an experience that convinces people of the higher price.

A lower cost product, by design, would have to make compromises and be an inferior experience -- which we all know translates to a poor VR experience. Apple is no Google Cardboard.

 

[TVreporter]

Was this low-cost model going to be a FineWoven version?

Cook has gambled millions on Vision Pro - either it will cement his legacy or send him unceremoniously out the door.

 

[klasma]

I see this particular benefit so clearly and yet too many seem to lack an ability to see this at all. Stick this and a keyboard or bottom half of a MB in a bag and you have the much desired 17" MB... and an 18" MB... and a 20"MB... and a 27" MB... and a 50" MB wherever you want to do anything on a laptop. If we're willing to shell out $2499 for "starting at" for 16" MB now, what would we pay for a 20" MB or a 27" MB?

Want a 27" iMac before Apple decides to make one? Here it is... along with the 30" that some want, the 32" others want and a 40" and 50" one too. Ultra-wide iMac anyone? How about TWO ultra-wides?

Want an iPad Mini for small size and light weight? Want an iPad Max for big screen size? Want a BIGGER iPad Max than Apple has made yet? Instead of buying 3 iPads, how about let one purchase come with all screen sizes and then some?

Wish you could bring your biggest TV with you on your travels? Watch your big screen on the plane? In the hotel? Or how about an even bigger screen in such places?

Here it all is... all in the SAME package at the SAME weight for a SINGLE price.

Make it do this one thing well- an ANY-size screen available for any mobile purposes- and I'm sold, even if it does nothing else. I paid about $2K for a rigidly-fixed size desktop screen, far too heavy & cumbersome to probably ever move from where it sits right now. I love it for the productivity having plenty of screen gives me. When I have to shift from it to a "tiny" 16" MBpro screen, that productivity plunges. Vpro offers the ability to have the big screen with me wherever I go/am.

I hope it can do this one thing well. If $2K for a forever-anchored, single-sized screen is easily justified, $1500 more for one that can be with me anywhere I travel seems like quite a great buy to me.

Yeah, the thing is that virtual and physical reality are just not the same, as people will discover when trying this out for a while.

 

[BuffaloTF]

400,000? Kuo was expecting 1 million? Those are both generous. I didn’t get the feeling that this first gen was targeting anything more than developers and enthusiasts and that subsequent versions would be the ones they’d expect to sell.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yeah, the thing is that virtual and physical reality are just not the same, as people will discover when trying this out for a while.

Of course virtual and physical are NOT the same. But neither is having a conversation in person vs. having one on an iPhone... but that didn't exactly doom cell phones.

I have no misconceptions about reality vs. virtual reality. But I am quite excited about an any-size screen in the laptop bag. I'll never comfortably be able to carry the size of screens I like to use in that bag. But this might be next best thing that is as close to real ones as possible without actually being real ones.

 

[bobcomer]

What is going on with Apple they have lost the plot and their plans are all over the place, software is minor and hardware has become minor changes, what happened to Apple, maybe stop with cancelling leather and focus on important stuff

They're drunk on profits.

 

[contacos]

Wrong — Apple has designed it so iOS/iPad apps will be fully usable on visionOS with little work. Native Vision Pro apps will come, but it will take some time because the environment is so new, and Apple understands this.

That’s what they said about Silicon and basically none of my iOS Apps work, in fact the developers down right blocked it and we already see how well non-iPad apps work on iPad …

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Ok… But every lineup of theirs that has a pro model has a lower cost option.

I agree. Which products in any lineup started with PRO branding and then rolled out a non-pro one?

Perhaps to "maximum profit" Apple Inc of 2023, PRO is the new non-pro branding and it works UP from there? After all, does PRO MAX branding really make ANY sense at all?

Instead of <base> and PRO and PRO MAX and ULTRA,
It could now/soon be PRO and MAX and ULTRA and EXTREME.

If so: "But Apple... where's the non-pro version."
Apple: "That's what the competitors sell."

 

[wanha]

I’m called it.

I freaking called it.

This $3500 product will be a massive fail.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what is known in psychology as "confirmation bias"

 

[wanha]

At that volume for $3499, it will be a sold out hit.

Expecting to move 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 annually will require it to cheaper than $3499.

Not necessarily if inflation keeps running rampant 😆

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Remove the M2 chip. Tether Vision to iphone 15 Pro with an M2 battery.

Boom! That's $1,000 sliced off the price.

Make it depend on 2 iPhones and a MBair and price it for FREE.

Or 3.5 Pro monitor stands.

Or about 17 Mac Pro wheels.

Or 175 Apple-branded handkerchiefs.

 

[dannyyankou]

I agree. Which products in any lineup started with PRO branding and then rolled out a non-pro one?

Perhaps to "maximum profit" Apple Inc of 2023, PRO is the new non-pro branding and it works UP from there? After all, does PRO MAX branding really make ANY sense at all?

Instead of <base> and PRO and PRO MAX and ULTRA,
It could now/soon be PRO and MAX and ULTRA and EXTREME.

If so: "But Apple... where's the non-pro version."
Apple: "That's what the competitors sell."

I think you’re looking at it the wrong way.

With most of their lineups, they started with their flagship model and eventually released a low cost version down the line. This has happened with the Mac lineup, the iPod lineup, the iPhone lineup, the iPad lineup, and the Apple Watch lineup. History gives me no reason to believe it won’t be the same with Vision.

 

[Analog Kid]

A second-generation version of the Apple Vision Pro is expected to go into mass production by the first half of 2027 "at the latest," and Kuo says that it is possible there will be no hardware updates for the Vision Pro until then.

3 years between releases is pretty uncharacteristic for something of this sophistication. Homepods, airpods, Apple TVs, down market iPads maybe. But I'd have thought there was a lot of room to benefit from rapid iteration on a high end product like this.

 

[Analog Kid]

When the only thing Tim Cook could come up with was “watching Ted Lasso” when asked what he uses his Vision Pro for last week you just knew this isn’t going to be a successful product.

Yeah, that was pretty weak, but I imagine it was the result of a "Quick, quick! What do normal people do?" mental search.

 

[PsykX]

Cancelled... for now.
Obviously it will be coming in a matter of years. Just like all Apple products have a "regular", a "mini" or an "SE" line.

 

[Piggie]

IMHO the biggest issue is even if Apple slashed the price down to $1000, which would never happen.
Still most typical consumers would not want it.
Even $500 most people won't want one.

The only way this type of product is genuinely going to become mainstream is for it to be built into some "almost" normal looking eye-wear which is way way wayyyyyy off into the future.