We’re shocked.
Hindsight 20/20
It’s been less than three months since Apple released its uber-expensive Vision Pro virtual reality headset — and it sounds like the tech giant is reportedly struggling to sell existing stock.
As Bloomberg reports, barely anybody is even booking demos to try the $3,500 device out at stores. Sales have also gone “from a couple of units a day to just a handful in a whole week,” employees tell Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, early adopters are already finding that there simply isn’t much to do with the device apart from watching movies alone. Even the Bloomberg writer admitted that he’s down to using the device “maybe once or twice a week.”
In short, the device, which Apple spent eight years and billions of dollars developing, seems to be going out with a whimper — and a follow-up to the device likely won’t surface for another couple years.
Apple Paperweight
The news comes after a growing number of users started to find that the hefty headset was too uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time, leading to everything from headaches and black eyes to burst blood vessels.
Reviews were mixed when the device started shipping earlier this year. The device’s eye-watering price tag didn’t help matters either.
Just weeks after coughing up $3,500 for the device, some users even started to return them to stores.
And as Gizmodo points out, nobody’s even really talking about the device three months down the line, with Vision Pros largely collecting dust.
In short, people expected the tremendous hype to die down — and here we are.
Apple’s struggles to bring a hot new VR headset to market highlights just how stale the VR industry has gotten. Even Meta, which sells headsets that cost a tiny fraction, is facing major headwinds in convincing people, young folks in particular, to buy them.
Are the days of VR headsets numbered, or is there still a chance we’ll see a next-generation headset beat all expectations and breathe new life into the space?
Sure, the Vision Pro wasn’t really expected to do that — but if Apple and Meta can’t pull it off, who can?
More on the headset: Another Apple VR Side Effect: Black Eyes
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