Apple makes room for new Macs by rethinking retail Vision Pro demo stations

AppleInsider

Apple is set to streamline its retail displays, making way for new Mac models by downgrading the Apple Vision Pro demo experience.

Apple Vision Pro

Starting November 8, Apple will pilot a revised store layout in select retail locations, merging the Vision Pro demo and display tables. The shift will make space for the latest Mac products, including the M4 models.

The new format will reduce the two separate Vision Pro tables -- a layout for demo and display units -- into a single, multifunctional table. Along with accommodating new Mac displays, Apple's move will address low Vision Pro sales.

Despite high expectations, reports indicate that Vision Pro's reception has been modest, with production potentially limited to fewer than 500,000 units in its initial year.

Apple's pilot program is an experiment that balances product promotion and customer experience. By reducing Vision Pro's physical footprint, Apple can prioritize newer, higher-demand products like the M4 Mac models, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Recalibrating the Vision Pro's Market Position

Apple's decision to consolidate Vision Pro displays reflects a shift in its market strategy. Vision Pro is a premium, niche device rather than a mainstream product.

New Apple M4 chips

Reducing in-store presence means Apple recognizes its limited audience and focuses on high-demand products like the new Macs. The move likely indicates a long-term change, requiring gradual adoption of the Apple Vision Pro to once again claim more retail displays.

Apple has a history of pioneering new product categories, even if they slowly gain traction. The Apple Watch, for instance, started modestly before evolving into a flagship product line that reshaped the wearables market.

Similarly, Vision Pro may still find its place within the Apple ecosystem but isn't going to reach mainstream adoption given its high price and complex use case.

Vision Pro's evolving retail presence may influence its development. If sales and customer feedback from the pilot program indicate limited interest, Apple might refine the next iteration, making it more affordable to broaden appeal.



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Pema

Smart move. No place for dead merch when the retail space is needed for hot items around the holiday season. 

Cesar Battistini Maziero

Apple needs to rethink the vision pro.

Back to the drawing board.

coolfactor

Cesar Battistini Maziero said:

Apple needs to rethink the vision pro.

Back to the drawing board.

It's the Vision "Pro", not a Consumer product, so selling in consumer stores doesn't make a lot of sense. Does Apple have Sales teams visiting corporations that could benefit from the Pro? A consumer version of the Vision headset is coming. Their only mistake was trying to sell the Pro direct to consumers.

mattinoz

I can’t read the vibe here. Did you mean to suggest this was some adhoc thing that happened and not just the plan from when the area was installed.  

Only have one store to judge from but it seems to me Apple do move things around and to the front/ground to suit different marketing pushes. 

mattinoz

Cesar Battistini Maziero said:

Apple needs to rethink the vision pro.

Back to the drawing board.

I’m sure they never left the drawing board. 

I also doubt you’ll like the response. 

charlesn

From Tim Cook's interview with WSJ: 

“Over time, everything gets better, and it too will have its course of getting better and better,” Cook says. “I think it’s just arguably a success today from an ecosystem-being-built-out point of view. At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product. Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for. Fortunately, there’s enough people who are in that camp that it’s exciting.”

As anyone who knows Apple has known for a long time. Apple is committed to Vision Pro for the long term, it sees AVP as a future-focused product that would be developed over years and was well aware that it wasn't releasing a device for the mass market. I'm not at all surprised about the reduction in AVP retail demo space. I'm sure that the bulk of "people who want to have tomorrow's technology today" have made their purchases over the past year, at least as AVP currently stands. I'm sure sales have slowed greatly now, so setting aside valuable retail space for AVP demos doesn't make the sense that it did earlier this year. I fully expect sales will remain very slow pending further compelling developments in use cases or hardware for AVP. And I'm absolutely positive Apple expects this, too.

Reducing price isn't and shouldn't be a goal right now. Meta proves, quarter after quarter, that media consumption headsets priced for the masses isn't a business, it's a dead end for nothing but selling hardware at a loss, now up to $1.5 billion in losses per month and counting after ten years of trying. Right now, it needs to be about exciting new use cases for AVP's unique capabilities and a streamlining of the hardware as technological development allows. Both goals will be hard to achieve. As has been discussed, it's difficult to get developers on-board with a new, expensive-to-develop-for platform and a tiny user base to sell to. I would hope that Apple is putting its mountain of cash to work in making it worthwhile for developers to participate at this early stage. Price reductions will follow, as they inevitably do--nobody needs to work on that. What Apple MUST do next is broaden AVP's appeal with new use cases that expand the buyer pool beyond early adopters. 

apple4thewin

I know of an Apple store near me that has already combined to one table for months now

BirderGuy

Only 500,000?  That would account for 1.75 BILLION dollars in sales, not including add-ons.  Not to mention that in the first year, due to the technology and complexity of the Vision Pro, that may have been the upper limit of what they could manufacture.  A product that takes in nearly 2 billion dollars is in no way a failure.  It is the first step in a bigger plan most people,(myself included), don’t have the imaginations to comprehend what Apple will come up with next.  If a future version sells for what I pay for an iPhone Pro, I’ll skip the iPhone upgrade and get the “Vision Mini” or whatever they choose to call it.  All you folks who think Vision Pro is a failure, get back to me when you create a product that sells nearly 500,000 units in the first year and has over a billion dollars in sales, then I’ll maybe respect what you have to say. 

robin huber

I was among the first to get an AVP demo last February. At the mall store where I got it there was a single table “devoted” to AVP.  I quote devoted because it really wasn’t much different than most other table, and was clearly being multipurposed. Yesterday I went back to show my visiting brother the demo. The table was the same with the exception that there were a couple of AVP carrying cases decorating/indicating the table’s purpose. The drawer with demo supplies was still at the end, and the Rx glasses reader there as well. 

I made two appointments back-to-back for us. The results made it clear that the whole thing had been somewhat downgraded. First, it took 20 minutes for our demo person to become availabl (there were no other appointments showing for that day) with a couple of apologies. Second, he had a good deal of trouble getting things set up to work properly. Even after he did, it was clear that the tray bearer was overdue with the goods and our guy was treading water. By this time it was already into the time scheduled for my appointed that followed. I told the guy to forget about mine and just make sure my brother got the whole experience. I looked over the guy’s shoulder to see what my brother was experiencing. I was surprised to see that the fun part at the end—the videos—had been changed from a few longish clips to a lot of quick cuts featuring a lot of sports. The Alicia Keyes session that I found most engaging, was reduced to just another quick cut between basketball dunks. Nonetheless, my brother was blown away by the demo once it got going. Final note. The wonderful knob-adjusted head band is gone from the demo units, replaced by a cheesy Velcro band with top of head band. Not a great selling point—loses a lot of its lux feel. 

Our team member apologized to me and said that there were optional demos for those like me who have already done the original one. I asked about the short submarine film that Apple produced for AVP, and if they might ever use it as an AVP demo. He’d never heard of it. I’ll come back at a later date to check out alternate demos. Hoping for a bit of a price drop, or availability of refurb units in the future. 

9secondkox2

mattinoz said:

I can’t read the vibe here. Did you mean to suggest this was some adhoc thing that happened and not just the plan from when the area was installed.  

Only have one store to judge from but it seems to me Apple do move things around and to the front/ground to suit different marketing pushes. 

Apple, like any successful retailer, focuses on what sells. Retail space is precious. If it sells, it gets save. Look back at the ipod. Always prominent. Same with iPhone. Apple Vision Pro doesn’t sell. It arrived, sold what it was going to sell, and fizzled. But there were high hopes. So it continued to get pushed. But it’s just not working. So it get deprioritized. It’s normal, responsible business. 

A cheaper model won’t likely fare any better. It’s a concept isdue. Once it’s a pair of glasses, that may change. 

9secondkox2

BirderGuy said:

Only 500,000?  That would account for 1.75 BILLION dollars in sales, not including add-ons.  Not to mention that in the first year, due to the technology and complexity of the Vision Pro, that may have been the upper limit of what they could manufacture.  A product that takes in nearly 2 billion dollars is in no way a failure.  It is the first step in a bigger plan most people,(myself included), don’t have the imaginations to comprehend what Apple will come up with next.  If a future version sells for what I pay for an iPhone Pro, I’ll skip the iPhone upgrade and get the “Vision Mini” or whatever they choose to call it.  All you folks who think Vision Pro is a failure, get back to me when you create a product that sells nearly 500,000 units in the first year and has over a billion dollars in sales, then I’ll maybe respect what you have to say. 

R&D cost, component, assembly, staffing, and marketing costs are crazy things. Apple had to charge a ton of money because it wasn’t a sure thing like an iPhone. But they also had to puff the margins because they needed to profit even if it didn’t sell. 

500,000 in the first year we hear. But we also heard that number right around launch. Sounds like it sold its numbers right away and then basically died out. Not a good outlook for the future. Headsets are a niche market. It’s just the way it is. 

macxpress

Cesar Battistini Maziero said:

Apple needs to rethink the vision pro.

Back to the drawing board.

AVP also isn't intended for the masses. It's more of an experiment for Apple that they can improve little by little, similar to what they did with the iPhone which was also an experiment at first. So just because it isn't sold in mass quantities doesn't mean it's a failure. It's a future product for Apple and could do very well in the coming years as they release newer ones. 

It's more like AVP doesn't need to take up so much space anymore. There's no need to take up a good portion of the store for demo's now because it's simply not needed. It can now just have its space on a counter like any other Apple product. 

mattinoz

BirderGuy said:

Only 500,000?  That would account for 1.75 BILLION dollars in sales, not including add-ons.  Not to mention that in the first year, due to the technology and complexity of the Vision Pro, that may have been the upper limit of what they could manufacture.  A product that takes in nearly 2 billion dollars is in no way a failure.  It is the first step in a bigger plan most people,(myself included), don’t have the imaginations to comprehend what Apple will come up with next.  If a future version sells for what I pay for an iPhone Pro, I’ll skip the iPhone upgrade and get the “Vision Mini” or whatever they choose to call it.  All you folks who think Vision Pro is a failure, get back to me when you create a product that sells nearly 500,000 units in the first year and has over a billion dollars in sales, then I’ll maybe respect what you have to say. 

Apple Watch - iPad - Vision is Apple core line up by the end of next decade from what I can see. Well plus cloud computing. 
not everyone will own the full set just the parts that make sense to them. 

macgui

So many people are clueless about the Apple Vision Pro and think Apple was trying to make the product they wanted it to be and not what Apple intended it to be. Cook spelled it out and still people just.don't.get it: 

"...At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product. Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for. Fortunately, there’s enough people who are in that camp that it’s exciting.”

Seriously, it couldn't any clearer. So it shouldn't a bit surprising that it's selling closer to the iPhone numbers in 2007 than iPhone numbers in 2024.

When Apple makes one designed for mass market consumers, it will sell better than now. But it will still be a niche product, so those complaining that it's not selling a billion units a year are and will still be fools.

coolfactor said:

It's the Vision "Pro", not a Consumer product, so selling in consumer stores doesn't make a lot of sense. Does Apple have Sales teams visiting corporations that could benefit from the Pro? A consumer version of the Vision headset is coming. Their only mistake was trying to sell the Pro direct to consumers.

'Pro' from Apple doesn't mean what you think it should mean as evidenced by other Apple products labeled 'Pro'. And where are those products sold? In Apple Consumer stores. It makes sense to sell it in a consumer store because that where Apple customers go for Apple products, however niche those products may be. It's estimated that Apple has sold 160,000 to 180,000 AVPs. Most of those have probably been to consumers. So no, there was no 'mistake selling direct to consumers'. Potential buyers need some place to try them out, especially since fitting them to your face is a thing. It's meant to be sold to consumers. Just not a large number of consumers. Again, Cook spelled it out.

"Fortunately, there’s enough people who are in that camp that it’s exciting.”

They'r not meant to be "glasses". That will be a different product entirely should Apple go that route. "Glasses" will not provide anything like the experience of the AVPs. Even competitors AR/VR goggles don't come close to the AVP. Apple released a flagship proof of concept product a lot of people want and have bought. I like flagship. Flagship is good. I don't think I want to wait until late 2025 or spring 2026 for V2. I absolutely don't want Apple Vision Lite, nor wait until maybe 2027 for it either.

Apple Vision Pro is a choice. There are other choices out there. Buy or don't by as you like. Mischaracterizing a product because of ignorance doesn't help anybody.