Apple to sell Vision Pro in US next month

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Apple will start selling its Vision Pro headsets in the US next month, just as the tech giant faces growing pressure over slowing iPhone sales, especially in China, which prompted its shares to take a beating this year.

Sales of the mixed reality headset will start from February 2 with US customers able to pre-order it from January 19 at a starting price of $3,499, Apple said on Monday. The headset, Apple’s most significant new product launch since the Apple Watch in 2015, will be made available online and in all of its US physical stores.

Apple’s shares have fallen nearly 6 per cent this year after two banks downgraded their ratings last week. Trading on Monday showed 2024’s first day of gains for the stock, with a 1.3 per cent rise.

The launch of the Vision Pro headset last year reignited enthusiasm in virtual and augmented reality start-ups that have been starved of funding from investors who have preferred to bet on artificial intelligence groups. The tech giant argued the headset would revolutionise mobile computing, just as the iPhone did, and usher in an era in “spatial computing”.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, on Monday called the headset “the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created”.

“The Vision Pro is going to be a major product for Apple over the long term, that is, the next five to 10 years,” said Gene Munster at Deepwater Asset Management. “People don’t appreciate the value of spatial computing until they’ve experienced it.”

Munster however added that the “first year is going to be extremely slow in terms of delivered units”.

The Vision Pro headset, powered by Apple’s new operating system visionOS, adds a digital overlay to the real world, with users navigating it with their eyes, voice and hands. The “immersive video” format will give users a 180-degree interactive experience, and they will be able to play games on the App Store and through Apple Arcade. Apple claims the device also offers the “perfect workspace” for multitasking and collaborating.

Apple first unveiled the headset in June 2023 after seven years in development. But, faced with the complexity of the design, Apple cut production forecasts from 1mn to 400,000 in 2024.

Apple declined to comment on when the device would be made available outside of the US and how many units the company expects to ship in 2024.

Analysts have been cautious in their expectations of Vision Pro sales. In a note in December, UBS analysts said the device would initially have a “limited financial impact”.

Apple’s push of its Vision Pro comes as sales of its existing hardware are faltering. Last week Barclays and Piper Sandler both downgraded their ratings on Apple’s stock, citing concerns about weak demand for the iPhone in 2024.

Meanwhile on Sunday Jefferies analysts said that Apple iPhone sales in China — where it faces resurgent competition from Huawei — dropped by 30 per cent in the first week of 2024.

Apple is particularly exposed to macroeconomic shifts in China, not just in terms of sales but also in terms of its supply chains, which it is trying to diversify to countries like India and Vietnam.