If the Apple Vision Pro is out of stock, there's a good reason. Ming Chi Kuo estimates that if Apple had planned eighty units at launch, more than twice that number would have already found a buyer. More specifically, the Taiwanese researcher estimates that no fewer than two hundred thousand controlled mixed reality headsets have been purchased since January. However, we can hardly be sure. And for good reason: The manufacturer does not communicate sales figures for the device. This is unlikely to be the case in the coming months.
When Apple reports its quarterly financial results, it actually breaks them down into product categories. There we find Macs, iPads, iPhones and even services and wearables. However, as the name suggests, this last term covers both the AirPods Pro wireless headphones and the second-generation Apple Watch Ultra connected watches, or most likely even the Vision Pro. The mountain could bring in up to five hundred billion dollars for Tim Cook's company in the coming years. That's exactly what the investment bank Morgan Stanley says, closely followed by shareholders who bet on AAPL shares on the Wall Street stock exchange.
These predictions, when correlated with the progress of Apple's other connected device lines, are reminiscent of the meteoric growth of the iPhone segment since 2007. Others will see this as the pattern followed by the Apple Watch, which was also available at a very expensive price when first released, but is now available in France for under 300 euros. However, the country is not yet eligible for the Cupertino mixed reality headset as it is only accessible if you live in the US. However, it is still possible to bypass this restriction by using Shipito.
But you have to pay the price. In fact, the headset is therefore not immediately available in the Apple Store. However, the only other way to get it today seems to be by purchasing it through a peer-to-peer resale platform like eBay. Apart from the fact that the sums requested to finance the framework are more than unreasonable: the amounts sometimes amount to more than eight thousand dollars, at the time of writing these lines more than seven thousand euros.
Apple already wants you to give up your iPhone
In fact, to better understand Apple's mixed reality ambitions, we need to look at the rumors that surfaced in our columns last year. Then we read that an informant close to the Californian company claims to know that the company is preparing in the long term to “replace” the iPhone with its augmented reality solutions. And it's not a utopia: with certain connected glasses such as Solos (cycling) or Google Glass, it is already possible to overlay information in real time with your surroundings without losing comfort. The problem is that the solutions involved are currently not perfect.
Although Xreal offers its own spatial computer (a term that Apple also uses) on glasses, the device does not benefit from an on-board operating system as comprehensive as visionOS. We could also cite the case of frame glasses, but this time the goal is not the same. In fact, the pair is aimed more at developers with an open source platform that everyone can edit in their own way. The offering still has a lot going for it, especially given the price positioning, which is light years away from that of the Vision Pro.
But how ?
The real question that then arises is that of a device that can actually provide us with all the tools already available on the iPhone, but in a format that is not only comfortable but also affordable and efficient. In contrast to Google Glass, there is no question of overheating. Apple knows how to do it: The new MacBook Airs don't have the slightest fan, but you can still run the Adobe suite on your lap in the summer without having to worry about burning your thighs. The pricing issue, in turn, could be resolved much sooner than we think, as a second mixed reality headset would hit the market with a similar value proposition to the iPhone SE 2025with Tim Cook.
Speaking of which Comfort, which is perhaps the most technical dimension of this challenge. Mark Zuckerberg recently explained it; Since the Quest 3 is lighter, we can already see it as an alternative to the Vision Pro and weighs more than six hundred grams on the scales. But Apple's progress in this area will be gradual, and we'll certainly have to wait until the fourth generation of its VR mounts to finally have something to hold onto, according to Mark Gurman.
However, the Bloomberg journalist forgets that the manufacturer is also preparing smart lenses, ignoring almost all physical limitations.
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From: Keleops AG