Apple is launching today its Vision Pro headset in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. This marks the first expansion of the headset’s availability following its initial launch in the US back in February.
The Apple Vision Pro is Apple’s first big new product launch in years, but its $3,499 price in the US makes it quite prohibitive. A recent report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple had cut Vision Pro orders before launching the headset outside of the US due to faltering demand.
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Apple still recommends customers interested in the mixed reality headset to book a one-on-one guided demo at an Apple Store before purchasing one. At its WWDC developer conference earlier this month, Apple also detailed upcoming features coming with visionOS 2 later this year, including new gestures for navigating the OS and a higher resolution and larger size for the Mac Virtual Display feature.
The Apple Vision Pro already benefits from a pretty strong app ecosystem with over 2,000 native apps and more than 1.5 million compatible iOS and iPadOS apps. However, Apple will need to lower the cost of its headset if it wants to be more competitive. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company has already prototyped a cheaper model that could be more reliant on a tethered Mac or iPhone. However, that may still not be enough to compete with the $499 Meta Quest 3 and upcoming mixed-reality headsets that will be using Meta’s Horizon OS.