William Gallagher
Apple's long-rumored AR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, is now available to buy in Apple Stores — at least while stocks last.
There have been rumors of an Apple virtual reality for more than a decade, but 8 years, 11 months and 13 days ago, Apple was granted a patent for one. It was terrible: the patent expected you to wear a plastic bandana and slip your iPhone into it, with the screen facing you.
No wonder a month later in March 2015, Piper Jaffrey claimed that Apple had an experimental small team that had been tasked with doing headsets with style.
Apple Vision Pro retail setup at Rockaway Apple StoreIt was a long road from there to around 2018 or 2019, when Tim Cook says he first tried on what would ultimately become the Apple Vision Pro.
No wonder he was excited the night before Apple Vision Pro released.
Tomorrow morning, Apple Vision Pro is here! pic.twitter.com/V6CTpvVrpr
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 2, 2024
After all those years, all that work, and so much secrecy that literally hundreds of patents were filed so carefully that nobody noticed them, Apple has done it.
As of Friday, February 2, 2024, the finished Apple Vision Pro is arriving in the hands of people who pre-ordered, and it is going on display in Apple Stores across America. AppleInsider's Wes Hilliard will be reporting from Apple Downtown Nashville where he's picking up his 1TB Apple Vision Pro.
Apple Vision Pro and the battery packWes is one of many AppleInsider writers who will have their own Apple Vision Pro on February 2, so expect detailed coverage of the headset's different options. Also the different experiences as our writers look to see how — or whether — Apple Vision Pro will make a difference to their work and play.
This is a whole new product category for Apple, the first since the Apple Watch back in 2015, and we're all just at the start of it. That decade or so of secret research within Apple is one thing, but now it's out in the real world, we're going to see and learn so much more.
Not least because there's an argument that actually it's far from finished.
Even so, February 2, 2024, is a milestone in what's been a very long product gestation. Back in 2014, Apple was under sufficient criticism about how it wasn't releasing new devices, that Tim Cook made a rare comment about it.
"There will be new categories," Cook said. "We're not ready to talk about it, but we're working on some really great stuff."
Apple Vision Pro is available now, starting at $3,499. Pre-orders sold out within minutes, though, and Apple was believed to have only made a few units, compared to a typical iPhone, iPad, or Mac launch.
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Chip Loder
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
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Christine McKee
6 Comments
Apple Vision Pro is available now, starting at $3,499. Pre-orders sold out within minutes, though, and Apple was believed to have only made a few units, compared to a typical iPhone launch.
Can you name another product in Apple’s lineup that comes even close to making as many units available, at launch, as the iPhone?
Not sure that many people will bite at that entry price, but enough will, to keep development going and in 2-3 years give us version 2.0.
Oh and the competition are warming up their copy machines.
Well no kidding.
I’ve seen reviews from Joanna Stern, John Gruber, MKBHD and iJustine and this looks like a very compelling 1.0 product.
Just drove by one of the local Apple stores and it seemed relatively quiet. I suppose with the VP fitting process requiring an appointment it’ll avoid the big crowds swarming the store on launch day. I hope it does well.
My advice after a couple of hours of use: take breaks. Unlike when using any other Apple device, your eyes are always working at a fixed focal distance. With any other device, you can take a moment to gaze into the distance, for example. With VP, you can relax your eyes but then focusing to re-engage the eye-pointing UI can take a bit of effort, can be a bit discombobulating, and informs just how hard the eyes (in particular the muscles used for focusing) are working.
I wouldn't want to presume to guess the appeal and market for the VP. Unlike Steve 'the clown' Ballmer who on seeing the iPhone said, 'it's sure to fail - there is no market for it'. And then went on to purchase Nokia for $12.9 Billion dollars and fire sold it for $1.9 Billion. The all time buy high/sell low.
My feeling is that VP 1.0 will find a market with professional use. Enough will be sold to make Apple do VP 2.0 commercial edition at $1599 and hundreds if not thousands of apps. Once that happens I am in.