Armchair Apple Vision Pro Thoughts 🪑

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As someone who has had neck problems for the past 10 years, the news that the Vision Pro is HEAVY makes me a little hesitant about the first-gen version. My wife bought me a pair of Airpods Max, which I love, but can only use for a limited amount of time because of the weight. Chance Miller over at 9to5Mac has a good write-up on how the Vision Pro weight compares to other headsets.

Don’t get me wrong—I still want one. If I wasn’t currently (desperately) unemployed, I’d 100% find a reason to buy one. (Okay, okay—I’m trying to find a reason to buy one even unemployed).

I agree with Marques that the best use case is when you can lean back with your Vision Pro and secure your head. 

In terms of price, I think it’s a feature, not a bug. The first generation is meant for early adopters and developers and not for the average grandma. Setting Starting the price at $3500 weeds out most mortals (including even a fanboy like me). 

However, the Vision Pro is not just a device; it represents the promise of future technology. If someone can shrink this device down to a pair of glasses or even contacts one day, it could fundamentally change how humans connect with technology and with each other.

The design of the Vision Pro is truly impressive. Apple makes even manufacturing look cool. They are planting their flag and calling their shot, Babe Ruth style. And they have the capital to keep making it better and better.

It was recently reported by Ming-Chi Kuo that Apple sold an estimated 160,000 – 180,000 Vision Pro’s during the initial pre-order weekend. For comparison, Meta sold at least 320K quests during the holidays in 2023 (these numbers are based on Amazon US sales alone, so the number is likely quite higher). And the first Apple Watch sold 8.3 million in its first year in 2015. 

If you do the math, Apple made at least 630 million—which is a spec in the ocean compared to Apple’s iPhone revenue numbers—but would be a huge amount for most companies.

What impresses me the most is the design and overall attention to detail, which is Apple’s specialty. 

Spatial computing ideas that have me excited about the near future:

  • Giant virtual hi-rez screens: who needs 3 monitors when you can have giant virtual monitors all around you
  • Immersive dynamic environments
  • Better posture: instead of constantly crooning over our phones, perhaps this will be eye-level and help promote posture… at least when newer versions are lighter
  • The future of education

I do worry about isolation. As connected as we all are today, we are simultaneously more isolated from each other. Many devices nowadays are personalized experiences. Which makes sense for users (to express your identity, for example) and businesses too (why sell 1 item to a family of 5 when you can sell 5 items for each individual). But you could argue we’re already dealing with this as a society with our phones. I’m optimistic, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

And speaking of eyes, I won’t be getting my eyeballs in a pair of these soon unfortunately, but early reviews should be popping up online any day now… (I’ll be sure to link my favorites.)

— Josh Waggoner

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