Apples The Vision Pro mixed reality headset can be available in additional countries outside the US starting Friday.
Customers in Australia should purchase the headset starting Friday morning. The Vision Pro will even hit shelves in Canada, France, Germany and the UK as soon as stores open.
This happens after the headset Debut on the Asian markets – China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore – on June 28.
At certainly one of Apple's largest stores on London's Regent Street, customers have booked appointments for demos of the Vision Pro. While Apple has long allowed potential customers to check other devices in-store, the Vision Pro is a brand new product with a hefty price tag.
Established hardware just like the iPhone can normally be pre-ordered online without much fuss or hands-on testing, however the Vision Pro demos offer Apple a likelihood to persuade folks that they need to shell out $3,499 for the headset – far costlier than other mass-market headsets.
Bryan Ma, vp of International Data Corporation, said there isn’t a doubt that Vision Pro is generating great excitement since it is “a relatively new product category that is far from the mainstream.” It can also be a product “from Apple whose implementation is far ahead of the competition.”
The challenge, nonetheless, is whether or not Apple can maintain the keenness of the primary few weeks and convert it into sustainable sales, Ma said.
“This will be difficult, not only given the current astronomical price, but also given that the ecosystem of applications and use cases is still evolving,” Ma said in an emailed comment.
In the primary quarter Meta maintained its top position within the mixed/virtual reality headset market, while Apple's recent entry catapulted it to second place, based on a IDC report published on June 18. ByteDance, Xreal and HTC were also in the highest 5.
“Both Metas Quest 3 and Vision Pro have helped educate users and inspired developers to create mixed reality content that blends the digital and physical worlds,” IDC said.
“Unfortunately, the user had to pay a premium for this,” IDC added, referring to the high prices.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst at TF International Securities, Apple has lowered its sales expectations for the Vision Pro from 700,000 to 800,000 previously to around 400,000 to 450,000 units in 2024. Kuo attributed the lower delivery forecast to falling demand.
“We expect Apple to ship about 400,000 units this year, nearly half of which will be outside the U.S., representing a total market of 7.3 million units. This increase may increase even faster as hardware prices fall and application utility increases,” Ma said.
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