Cutting corners: Following reports that sales of Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headset have been falling as fast as interest in the device, a renowned analyst has claimed that demand is so low that Apple has slashed its shipment forecast for the rest of the year. Furthermore, it may decide not to release a new model in 2025.
We heard over the weekend that the Vision Pro headset Apple spent eight years and billions of dollars developing was rapidly losing steam in terms of both interest and sales.
After between 160,000 and 180,000 devices were sold in pre-orders across a weekend in January ahead of the official launch, reports claimed Apple Stores were now selling just a handful of units per week. In-store demo bookings were right down, too, and many of those who do book often don’t turn up.
Now, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has echoed those reports. He writes that Cupertino has cut its Vision Pro shipments to 400,000 to 450,000 units, around half the 800,000 units that were originally planned, due to waning demand.
Kuo adds that Apple cut the orders ahead of the Vision Pro launching in markets outside of the US, the only location it’s currently available. This indicates that demand in the United States has fallen sharply beyond expectations, according to the analyst, and that Apple expects similar cool demand in other regions.
Apple releases Apple vision pro … resulting in rise of Appleholes
Driver using apple vision pro while driving getting pulled over by police. People using them in public…..Appleholes… pic.twitter.com/GcyM1fmj9K– Darth Intra (@darthintra) February 4, 2024
It’s not just shipments that are being affected; Kuo believes that Apple will now be adjusting its headset roadmap. It was expected that the company would release a cheaper, lighter model in the second half of next year, addressing two of the biggest complaints about the Vision Pro. But Kuo says there may be no new headset from Apple next year. Apple also expects year-on-year shipments of the current Vision Pro to decline in 2025 – no surprise there.
Despite so many reviews hailing it as a technical marvel thanks to its micro-OLED display and impressive interface, the Vision Pro remains a niche product. That massive price combined with a lack of a killer app makes the headset a hard sell for consumers beyond die-hard Apple fans, which is probably why Apple has started really pushing the Vision Pro as an enterprise product.