Apple Vision Pro Sales Slow To A Trickle Despite Months Of Gushing Tech Press Hype
When the Apple Vision Pro launched back in February, the press had a sustained, two-month straight orgasm over the product’s potential to transform VR and the world of spatial computing.
Downplayed were little sticking points like the lack of app support; the short battery life (despite a bulky external battery pack Steve Jobs would have never approved of); the need for expensive additional prescription lenses for glasses wearers (more complex issues like astigmatism weren’t supported); or the fact that VR makes about 40 to 70 percent of the target audience for these products want to puke.
Much like the Metaverse, the Apple Vision Pro roared into the tech press hype bubble like a freight train, then retreated like a bit of a simpering wimp. Reports are now that sales for the headsets are fairly pathetic:
“Some Apple stores are reportedly down to selling just a handful of Vision Pros in an entire week, according to Bloomberg. The hype around the Apple Vision Pro has fallen dramatically since the headset sold 180,000 units during its January pre-order weekend. Demand for demos of the technology is also reportedly “way down” since the product’s launch. Even worse, the report says, many people who book appointments to test Vision Pros simply don’t show up anymore.”
It was clear that this was basically a glorified prototype aimed at helping Apple figure out future iterations that people can actually afford and that can make it through an entire movie without having to charge the battery. But at the same time Apple wanted to present the impression that this was utterly transformative technology, available today that would transform the way you work and play.
This has all been fairly representative of a tech press that, over the years, has become more of an extension of tech company marketing departments than any sort of journalistic endeavor. The vast majority of the Vision Pro coverage implied this was a product that would be utterly revolutionary; yet as Bloomberg notes, even avid early adopters seem to have forgotten the headset exists:
“I had initially used the Vision Pro whenever I watched a movie or YouTube, or when I wanted a more immersive screen for my Mac at home. These days, with the initial buzz wearing off, it seems clear that the Vision Pro is too cumbersome to use on a daily basis. Going through the process of attaching the battery, booting it up and navigating the interface often doesn’t feel worth it. And a killer app hasn’t emerged that would compel me to pick it up. It’s far easier to just use my laptop as a laptop and watch video on either my computer or big-screen TV.”
So again you’ve got a tech press hype cycle that professed we were witnessing something revolutionary, only for the product to wind up being… not that. Lost in a lot of the tech coverage for the Vision Pro was the fact that people just generally don’t like having a giant sweaty piece of plastic strapped to their fucking face.
The first thing Vision Pro fans will say to justify a lack of public interest is that this wasn’t supposed to sell well. That it was a water-testing prototype designed to benefit future iterations. And maybe that’s true; maybe it isn’t. Maybe Apple (a company that’s shifted from Jobs-era risk taking innovation to quality-focused iteration) will be the company that nails the perfect VR experience.
But I think it’s equally possible they won’t be. That they’re supplanted by a hungrier, smaller, less risk-averse and younger company. In which case all early adopters will be left with is hype-filled memories and a very expensive relic.
I’m interested in VR. I still think it holds promise. I’ve owned numerous headsets. I’ve tinkered with most modern VR apps and gaming titles. And I still generally don’t think this tech truly becomes interesting until cords are eliminated, self-contained battery life becomes wholly irrelevant, weight is a non-factor, and the interfaces become seamlessly intuitive to the point of near-magic.
We’re still quite a way from all of that, no matter how much wish-casting the technology press tech industry marketing apparatus engage in.