Apple Vision Pro is surprisingly durable in first YouTube drop test

Owners of the Apple Vision Pro will probably be keen to avoid dropping their fresh $3,500 hardware purchase anytime soon. But, just like other headsets and mobile electronics, they're likely to take a tumble at some point.

YouTube durability tests are usually a bad indicator as to the hardiness of electronics, yet they are popular enough for some channels to spend the money on new devices and to rapidly test them just after launch. This is often observed with iPhone launches, but while some do try to be logical with their approach, many skip the scientific rigor in favor of seeing a smashed screen quicker.

Mercifully, the first "durability test" video for the Apple Vision Pro that has made it to YouTube does so with a fairly methodical approach. One that also offers good news to would-be Apple Vision Pro buyers.

Sam Kohl for AppleTrackposted a video late on Friday's release day, putting the Apple Vision Pro through gravity-led impact testing. The initial drop was from roughly waist height onto a thick rug, as a demonstration that the Light Seal's connection isn't really strong enough to grab the headset assembly with.

Before continuing, he purposefully walked around his house, bumping the headset into various walls, doors, and corners. Kohl spotted small scuffs on the front glass after 20 face-based impacts, as well as some harder hand-held hits to the wall.

Kohl also pointed out that there are no notifications for being too close to a wall in the passthrough view, only when immersed in the environment.

The third drop, from head height or about six feet onto a wooden floor, added a few more scuffs to the front glass but it also broke the right speaker. By the fourth, the right side arm suffered a small crack near the hinge.

The fifth, onto the rug from above head height showed stress on the left side arm, near the speaker. Drop six, from about 7 foot onto the wooden floor, saw the light shield go flying and more damage to the arms.

Increasing the height further to about 8 feet, the front glass continued to survive, albeit with more scuffs.

The eighth drop, the last of the video, saw Kohl drop the Apple Vision Pro from the ceiling of the room, approximately ten feet, onto the wooden floor. At this height, and after repeated dropping directly onto the front of the headset, the glass finally gave way.

While it seemed terminal, it turned out that only the external glass had shattered. Another panel directly below, as well as all of the sensors and cameras, were still perfectly fine and undamaged.

That front glass also pretty much stayed in one piece, rather than shattering into smaller pieces.

After peeling away the damaged front glass as one piece, the Apple Vision Pro continued to function normally, with a fully working external screen and a seemingly unchanged passthrough view.

"This is actually stupidly durable," comments Kohl. "I've never seen a curved piece of glass that holds up this well."

While tempting to emulate, AppleInsider does not recommend replicating the drop tests at home with your own Apple Vision Pro.

AppleCare for Apple Vision Pro costs $499 with a further fee of $299 per incident of damage repair. Repairing a damaged Apple Vision Pro screen without AppleCare will cost up to $2,399.