Apple Vision Pro Headset Reportedly Seeing Very Slow Rollout – Tech Live Trends

The Apple Vision headset rollout will be very slow according to a new report.

Apple officially announced that its Vision Pro headset will go on sale in the US in “early 2024” and will be priced at $3500 with launches in additional and yet-to-be-disclosed countries to come “later” in the year.

According to a new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the headset will initially be sold exclusively in Apple Stores and on the Apple website, a deviation from Apple’s previous product launches where the devices were available in third-party retail outlets at launch.

Apple also plans to add a special Vision Pro section to its stores that will feature demos and fitting tools for prospective buyers. However, this section will initially only be available in “major areas” like Los Angeles and New York.

Customers will have to book appointments to access these areas of the store in order to give staff sufficient time to demo the headset to every prospective buyer and take measurements of their heads so they can purchase the most comfortable strap size.

Once again, Gurman reported that many testers have found the Apple Vision Pro headset too heavy for several hours of continuous usage. In a post, he adds that users with smaller heads are struggling to wear the headset “for more than half an hour or so.”

The Bloomberg post also adds that Apple is “discussing the UK and Canada” as its first two international launch markets. These will soon be followed by Asia and Europe although Apple is yet to make a final decision on the launch timelines. Apple is currently working on the localization of the device for Germany, France, Australia, Japan, China, and South Korea.

The slower and more limited rollout is probably due to the mass production issues that have already been widely reported.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset has been described as the “most complicated” device ever designed by Apple. There are also reports that Sony can only make ultra-high resolution microdisplays for half a million units per year.

A report by the Financial Times early this week stated that Apple also made “drastic cuts” on its production forecasts and that some sole suppliers reportedly stated that they had been only asked for components for 150,000 units in the first year of the device’s release.