Originally published at: Vision Pro Value Poll Results: $500–$1000 or Nothing - TidBITS
The top answer in last week’s poll suggests that many TidBITS readers consider the Vision Pro to be equivalent in value to an iPhone, iPad, or external display and thus worth between $500 and $1000. Nearly as many people said they wouldn’t buy one at any price.
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By the way, considering the issues with special glasses prescription inserts needed and not being able to use it while wearing contact lenses - how do the demo them in Apple Stores?
Good question. I suppose they might have a sample pack of Zeiss lenses for those who normally wear glasses. Maybe not perfect, but maybe good enough for demo purposes.
WRT contacts, according to what @xdev wrote, it’s primarily an issue with hard lenses and (I think) the majority of contact lens wearers wear soft lenses. But even with hard lenses, the device will work, but it may not track your eyes as well as it should.
But, IMO, this is a good thing. If it won’t track your eyes well in the store, then that’s a clear sign that you shouldn’t bring one home, because it won’t work any better there.
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I demoed the Vision Pro and was absolutely astounded. Apple has truly done it again- they are defining a category of device and software that I think really is the future…
But it’s not quite the present. The demo really was astonishing, but I can’t think of what I would do with it to justify its high price. However, I am both a radiologist and a pillot, and I would buy one in a minute if I could use the Vision Pro for training in either of these realms. I just hope these sort of niche pursuits will justify someone’s time and money to develop apps to serve them. For that, I will wait and hope.
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Apple has a machine that will analyze your current eyeglasses and figure out the best match among the numerous Zeiss demo lenses they have on hand at the store. It takes just a moment, and worked very well for me. Interestingly, as a sign of their commitment to privacy, the lenses and machines don’t reveal your prescription to the employees, and the analysis is not stored or associated with you. (per the employee who led my demo)
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After watching the dozen 3D movies available, it would go into the closet. Perhaps Apple could rent them by the month?
I think you asked the wrong question. We’re now approaching 2 weeks since release. Ask the same question, but only of people who’ve sat through the demo. I bet you’ll get DRAMATICALLY different results. My sister and I are VERY MUCH senior citizens, but we were both absolutely blown away by the demo tutorial. We both said we would not buy one NOW, my sister because it was heavy on her head and she didn’t need it, me because I think it should be regarded as a prototype. And, as to its value, it’s actually an M2 MacBook Pro with TWO 4 K OLED screens and almost more cameras than you can count, so expecting Apple to sell it for $500 is just not going to happen.
The other thing that cannot be emphasized enough is that it’s a PROFOUNDLY isolating device. If you think looking at a gathering of friends at a restaurant where they’re all ignoring each other while thumbing their iPhones, just wait till they all have high powered computers with 3 D screens “glued” to their faces!!!
Knowing Apple, you’d think employees received a nice gift, maybe a Vision Pro, after the completion of the project. Wrong! They received a picture of the unit.
I do not own a Vision Pro and won’t be able to afford one anytime soon, but I am fascinated by the technology and would be very interested in seeing updates.
I am excited to see future versions, as I expect Apple to focus on addressing precisely this isolation issue.
You’re making this sound very attractive for airline travel 
It would be cool being en route somewhere and watching an immersive video of the destination instead of listening to the annoying person next to you.
With bulk buying power it may not be much more than current entertainment systems which need to be engineered into seating.
I’m afraid that’s not at ALL likely to happen, even on ultra-luxury carriers such as Emirates or Singapore Airlines. First, the devices require an initial setup that is far from trivial and itself requires 10-20 minutes of an attendant’s time. Second, if you consider what’s actually IN the device, the $3500 (or more) price for each unit is actually quite reasonable (as I mentioned above, it’s an M2 Pro processor based computer with TWO OLED screens, multiple cameras and sensors, and NOT just a peripheral. Additionally only a portion of travelers would be able to use the device without corrective lenses, and while Apple maintains an inventory of common prescriptions in its stores for people to use in demonstrations, actual PURCHASE of a device includes making certain that the Zeiss lenses precisely match the owner’s prescription if corrective lenses are to be used at all.
Of course, if your “ask” is just for an immersive video that could be created by the carrier, I’m pretty sure Apple would love to help carrier’s create those (for a price, of course), and Apple would be happy to sell the carriers iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras to create those 3D videos (the Vision Pro can create them itself, but they’re in a smaller pixel content, square image format).
My point was that before iPhones, we talked to each other. Now, many, many of us walk to work or drive to work with our phones consuming much of our awareness, and the Vision Pro raises that to a new level. I think you’re right that at some point it may be possible for multiple people to share the same entertainment content (possibly even taking account their relative positions to the virtual “source” or the audio and video), but the device is FAR more isolating than is the iPhone.
No, we didn’t. We watched television. Before that, we listened to the radio. Before that, we read newspapers. Humans have always found ways to ignore each other.
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True story: when my boys first were old enough to have (and need) iPhones, they were still YOUNG enough to enjoy family experiences. I don’t remember where we were going, but they were together in the back seat, and VERY quiet. I glanced through the rear-view mirror and found them thumbing their iPhones. I exclaimed something akin to “good grief! We’re all together as a family. At least NOW you could talk to each other.” They responded, almost in unison “we ARE talking to each other; we’re just not talking to YOU!”
But, if you go take the demo at an Apple Store and DON’T come away from the experience wondering at least a LITTLE that you were as far away from the world as Elton John’s lonely Rocketman (the guy in the song, not the movie), I’d be surprised.
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I probably would, right now. When lots of people have them (or a future version of them) and I’m sitting in a room with lots of people who are scattered around the world? It’ll be highly social.
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That will require LOTS of revisions to both hardware AND software. However, it IS truly a revolutionary product, and like most revolutions, it doesn’t arrive on scene fully baked.
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I think it’s strange that some people said they wouldn’t buy the Vision Pro at any price, because it implies they are cowed by new technology and daunted by the prospect of using something with as slippery-smooth a UI as the VP.
I am always curious about new products from a tech company with a track record as sensational as Apple’s. So, I scheduled a demo at my local Apple Store and experienced the VP for my first time yesterday evening.
I was absolutely wowed! It was an absolute pleasure to use and the apps were nothing short of breathtaking. I’ll be buying one as soon as I take care of some other expenses at the end of this month, and I encourage anyone with a modicum of curiosity about new tech paradigms to take a demo at very least.
As to the expense, yes, it’s priced in the neighborhood of a top new TV or MacBook Pro Extreme — and I’m sure I’ll get more benefit from the Vision Pro than I would from either of these items. For one, I’m a photographer, and the VP will allow me to view and —one day soon, I hope — work on my photos on the ultimate screen, not to mention take 3D videos with the built-in camera. For another, I enjoy watching movies, and the VP provides me with my own private iMax theater.
Finally, I’d compare the expense to the substantially greater amount I recently spent on a classic leather reclining chair. Does the chair boost my productivity? Not in the sense of making it faster to write a piece —but it gives added value to every moment I spend listening to an audio book, watching a movie or reading a novel. It will make my moments of relaxation three times as relaxing and absorbing. And, similar to my classic leather chair, it’s impossibly cool! Yes, there’s value to that. It’s a giant step into the future, and when that future arrives in the form of lighter and more compact visual computers, this will remain a piece of history, I’m in.
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Zoom is already available for the Vision Pro (though the current app seems quite buggy) so I think it’s closer than we might suspect.
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Not for me. I just simply have no interest in buying this particular product with its limitations, which includes the fact that I’d be isolating myself from my wife in order to use this product. We are both retired, together 95% or so of the time, and do not watch the same media most of the time, but we already have several TVs that allow that - this wouldn’t add any value at all for me.
A future product that replaces my eyeglasses with augmented reality in a product with all-day battery life - sure, I’ll be ready for that. If I’m still alive to enjoy it…
I do have a demo scheduled on Thursday. It won’t lead to a sale, but I do want to see how it works, etc. It looks like a great product, and maybe if I was single and 40 years younger I’d consider it if the price was right, but not for me now.
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