Apple halts Vision Pro production
According to The Information and seconded by Kotsku
https://kotaku.com/apple-vision-pro-vr-mixed-reality-report-1851731279
seems too many are unsold.
https://kotaku.com/apple-vision-pro-vr-mixed-reality-report-1851731279
seems too many are unsold.
Most of us predicted this back when it was a rumor and here it is. Wasn’t exactly difficult to forecast.
Apple may still attempt to produce a cheaper version or change the form factor entirely. Do all is not lost, especially if they come out with glasses.
Feel bad for everyone who jumped on the avision Pro though. The upside is that Apple doesn’t abandon its customers even when the product flops.
Comments
How did someone vote this as informative?
to recap the claim is they ordered parts for 500,000 but parts for tens of thousands (which being generous means 50 to 60 thousand max)* are sitting unused. Sales estimates still sit somewhere around 400,000 which depending what spin you want to influence for is either good, bad or interesting 🤔
* the authors clearly want to create negative sentiment so you’d have to think they’re rounded up to “parts for hundreds of thousands” if they thought they’d get away with it.
There are different models sold here:
https://en.shiftall.net/products/meganex
https://en.shiftall.net/products/meganex8k
The 8K ones claim to be the same resolution as AVP and sold at $1899. That one uses a head strap to take the weight away from the face and eyes:
It's good that it can be tilted up but this still looks too bulky. The cushion would probably be better on the top of the head rather than the forehead, possibly have a strap around the back to prevent it tilting forward. The video shows it being adjusted at 12:40 and they've still made it too cumbersome and bulky:
The visor part should be as compact as possible and the light blockers don't have to be hard material, it could be fabric that is retractable. If someone is in a darkened room, they might prefer to not use blockers as it allows airflow and the ability to see below like if you are eating or drinking.
They should also look nicer to wear. The Visor VR headset looks good:
This one is setup like glasses so puts weight on the face. If Apple had the main part of the visor attached to a head strap, this would be comfortable and people would want to wear them more.
For controllers, wristbands would be the most Apple-like option where you don't have to hold anything that restricts movement:
https://immersive-technology.com/virtualreality/facebook-developing-vr-wristband-that-operates-via-brain-signals/
They could do spatial hand tracking instead of wrist signals and they'd allow using inanimate objects.
There needs to be some improvement to the display supply chain. The displays are too expensive and Sony can't make enough. These cheaper brand units will ship less than 1/10th Apple's ones. If they can tile the displays, they'd be able to use 1/4 of a 4K tile for the middle 50% of the display and use lower resolution for peripheral vision. This gives them 4x supply and much lower display cost.
Making glasses like XREAL One Pro is another route they could go:
https://us.shop.xreal.com/products/xreal-one-pro
They'd be better having passthrough cameras so that when it's in dimmed mode, it shows the environment blended with the digital content. If they can use fisheye lenses, they'd capture more data with fewer cameras like one on each side, maybe one in the middle.
If the XREAL One type device was on a head band, that would avoid the pressure on the nose.
Some mixture of these form factors will produce a nice looking, comfortable device at a reasonable price.