This is such a wild product unveiling. The dystopian scenes of a dad photographing his playing children through the mask that separates him from those same children; the FaceTime with an avatar that looks merely okay, making the idea of FaceTiming with an avatar on both ends of the call seem oddly pointless; the high cost; ... and then the fact that it does look like an incredible piece of technology. The subtle hand gestures, the almost trope-y at this point potential to have a giant screen wherever you are, the reality dial, etc. all looked amazing. But then again, the size, intrusiveness, battery life, etc. It was an unveiling with incredible downsides to go with seemingly every bit of appeal.

I like that it has those highs and lows. Maybe it's not for me, but it's a real swing at something.

I won't lie, I dig this. Yes, there appear to be some issues that make it less than perfect, but it's a gen 1 product. When I buy into this, it'll likely be around gen 3, same as it was with iPhone.

But I don't like what Apple is. I don't like how quickly they're making formerly class-leading products obsolete these days. I think of the iPhone X, and how it was "the most advanced iPhone yet", and their promises of how future-proofed it was, only for it to suffer from OS rot just a few short years later. It's not planned obsolescence as such, it's just tech rushing along at a breathtaking pace. But it still leaves me uncomfortable at how expensive it is to feel like the device you use is still relevant.

So it leaves me feeling that people who spend $3500 on a Vision Pro will have a very expensive paperweight within four years. A paperweight whose pretensions to 'Pro' work will never really reach any further than the iPad Pro. Because until Apple can refine the tech to make it more profitable and mainstream than a Mac, they will nerf the software somehow, making users need both. They did it to iPad, they'll do it Vision.

Man I really don't want Apple leading any new industry. I'm team Quest here. Say what you want but Quest devices have been a million times more open than anything Apple has put out ever. This seems like a very bad thing for the VR ecosystem :(

Honestly, I don't think even Apple can get close to the value of Quest line. Quest 3 is going to be 7 times cheaper and have the same capabilities with added value of existing ecosystem. Could this be the first real failed product in a while?

So...did Apple just recreate the Hololens?

My guess (going by that price tag) is this isn't meant for an individual to purchase. They'll probably market it towards companies

"Apple's product web site says that battery can support "up to 2 hours of use," or all-day use while plugged in to a wall outlet."

This would kill me, I hate VR/AR being tethered, and if the 2 hours battery life (there estimate which I don't trust) is accurate, it would not be worth it for me, especially that price.

I understand why it's so expensive, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was barely any mark up on it, but like this is not going to be purchased by a lot of people (imo), not for the price of a used car.

My friends parents are rich, maybe they'll get it and I can try it.

At $3500 the Meta Quest lineup of products immediately looks better in comparison.

I feel like so many of these companies doing XR are trying to lean out of the fact that wearing a headset like that is inherently isolating, all because they want to sell to anyone other than the market of people that created these devices in the first place and gave VR its initial groundswell in the early 2010s, people who want to play games alone in their rooms who are completely fine with that. If these XR companies just accepted that that's a really great market for these devices and then actually focused on them being a gaming platform I feel like the XR market would be a lot healthier overall. But instead we have to swing for the fences because these tech companies want to compete with smartphones(?) instead of with the PlayStation 5.

These devices are made worse because of that.

i really want AR to take off but bigger devices with higher price tags is probably not the way

Definitely not on board with the $3499 price tag, so I won't be a first-gen adopter, but this is the first AR/VR headset that's actually made me want one, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the whole landscape looks like in a few years once (hopefully/maybe) prices have come down a bit.