When I first got my hands on the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year, it felt like magic.
Though I wasn't quite sure what I'd use the $3,500 “spatial computing” headset for, I loved it. I carried it everywhere for weeks, enduring judgemental (or jealous?) looks from coworkers at the office, strangers in coffee shops, and fellow passengers on airplanes. I even used the Vision Pro in the backseat of a Waymo self-driving car, and I think it deserves a “Mr. San Francisco” award.
But the novelty has worn off, and I barely use the Vision Pro anymore — once every few weeks I strap it to my head for some focused writing or to watch movies in bed while my wife sleeps — and otherwise it just sits on a shelf gathering dust.
Apple hasn't released sales figures, but analysts estimate the device was a flop, selling fewer units than expected. Shortly after its release, social media was abuzz with enthusiastic videos of “Vision Bros” wearing the headset in public, but that's no longer the case. Some early buyers have returned their Vision Pros for refunds, and second-hand headsets are selling on second-hand sites for as little as $2,500.
I surveyed other Vision Pro owners I know (mostly journalists and techies) and found that even among them, very few use Vision Pro.
“I haven't touched mine in a month,” one friend texted me. “It's a shame because you were being so bold.”
At its annual developers conference on Monday, Apple announced several new features for the Vision Pro, including a new version of its VisionOS operating system, new gesture controls and a way to turn old photos into 3D “spatial photos” that can be viewed on the device. Apple also said it will soon start selling the Vision Pro in countries including China, Japan and the UK.
But these were modest tweaks, not the sweeping improvements many Vision Pro fans were hoping for, and the Vision Pro has been overshadowed by Apple's newer, shinier project: generative AI, which the company is calling “Apple Intelligence” and is rolling out to many of its products and services, including an improved version of Siri coming to iPhones this year.
That's enough to make me wonder: Is Apple about to give up on a device that just a few months ago was being touted by its executives as the future of computing?
Since you probably don't own a Vision Pro, I won't bore you with all my complaints about it and why I think Apple has lost interest in it, but here are some of the most glaring shortcomings:
First, and most obviously, there's the cost. Apple may think that $3,500 is a reasonable price for a first-generation device. Become familiar That's a reasonable price, considering all the expensive, cutting-edge components packed into it, but $3,500 is far more than most consumers would consider paying for an experimental device that doesn't replace a smartphone or laptop and doesn't fulfill any obvious need in life.
The headset itself doesn't bother me, but as many reviewers have noted, it's too heavy to wear comfortably for long periods of time (my longest session with the Vision Pro was three hours, after which I felt a bit hungover.) But there are plenty of other annoying hardware issues: Carrying around an external battery pack is a pain, it doesn't work well in dark or dimly lit rooms, and there's no good way to input text, so if you want to use the Vision Pro for text-based work, you'll need to use a Bluetooth keyboard.
The Vision Pro still lacks some basic features: You can't make or receive calls with it like iPhone users can with a Mac or iPad, it only works with Apple's Magic Trackpad, not Bluetooth mice, and the guest mode (which you show to friends when they ask to try out the Vision Pro) is a mess.
But the Vision Pro's biggest disappointment is its near-total lack of good apps. Even months after launch, there are still no native apps for YouTube or Netflix. No Spotify, Instagram or DoorDash. (You can use some of those services in your web browser or with unofficial third-party apps, but it's less user-friendly.)
Some of these apps haven't been developed because of corporate squabbles. (Google and Meta, for example, each have their own virtual-reality ambitions and perhaps don't want to boost Apple's product by developing apps.) But others are the result of a lack of confidence: Developers don't want to build apps for a platform no one uses. Developer reluctance so far (Apple said Monday that only about 2,000 apps have been developed for the Vision Pro) speaks to the device's lukewarm reception.
Apple has also been slow to update its own products for Vision Pro, such as a series of “immersive videos” shot with special 3D cameras and released through Apple TV. These videos, including a prehistoric nature film and a “rehearsal room” video of Alicia Keys and her band performing songs, were made to show off Vision Pro's high-resolution graphics and “spatial audio” capabilities, one of the best things Vision Pro can do.
But Apple doesn't release new immersive videos with any regularity, and when they run out, the Vision Pro just shows you 2D content that's mostly the same as what you'd see on a TV or iPad. It's fun to occasionally turn on the Vision Pro and watch “Dune Part 2” on a screen the size of a basketball court, but most of the time it's just not worth the trouble.
I still think the Vision Pro is a fantastic piece of technology; all of my friends who have tried it have marveled at it and said how futuristic it feels (though obviously no one has bought one for themselves). And if Apple is content to leave the Vision Pro as a niche entertainment device, then so be it.
But if Apple wants Vision Pro to appeal to the masses, they need to make some changes. They need to lower the price (yes, even if it means selling the headset at a loss), they need to fix bugs, polish the rough edges, and release more immersive content. And most urgently, they need to find and fund a potential killer app—a new game, productivity tool, or entertainment experience that takes advantage of Vision Pro's capabilities. That alone could be reason enough to buy a Vision Pro.
To be fair, the Vision Pro is still a new product, and it's taken other Apple products a generation or two to find their footing. (The Apple Watch was launched as a premium fashion accessory, and famously struggled to gain traction until people realized fitness tracking was its marquee feature.) The company has repeatedly described the Vision Pro as an early experiment — “tomorrow's technology today,” in Apple CEO Tim Cook's words — not a finished product.
But I worry that Vision Pro has descended into dangerous hell. It's not Apple's flashiest new project — it's all AI stuff that has Wall Street raving about it and lots of users excited — and it's not one of Apple's big, established cash cows, like the iPhone or iPad, where people buy even if each version is only marginally better than the last.
The Vision Pro just needs a little more love, and a little more vision, to realize its potential. Apple needs better answers to basic questions like: What is it for? How will this improve my life and make me more productive than something I could buy for $3,500? What can this do that a laptop or a big TV can't?
If not, Vision Pro may be doomed to obsolescence, and I and my fellow Vision Bros may emerge as the Google Glassholes of 2024, a brave but ultimately foolish group of nerds who bet on a new technology of the future and lost.