Apple Vision Pro will reportedly have a very slow rollout.
Officially Apple Vision Pro is set to go on sale in "early 2024" in the US for $3500, and then in more (as yet undisclosed) countries "later" in the year.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports the headset will initially be exclusively sold in Apple Stores and on Apple's website, unlike most other Apple products which are also sold by third party retailers at launch.
Apple is planning to add a special Vision Pro section to its stores with demos and fitting tools for prospective buyers, but this section will reportedly initially only be in stores in "major areas" such as New York and Los Angeles.
Accessing this section of these stores will require an appointment, Gurman writes, so staff have time to demo the headset to each prospective buyer and measure their head to ensure they buy the most comfortable strap size.
Gurman also repeated his earlier reporting that many testers find Vision Pro too heavy after multiple hours of continuous use, now saying that people with smaller heads "struggle to wear the headset for more than half an hour or so".
David Heaney
For later in 2024, Gurman reports Apple is "discussing the UK and Canada as two of its first international markets with Asia and Europe soon after, although a final decision hasn’t been made" and is working on localizing the device for Australia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, and China.
The slow and limited rollout could be the result of the widely reported issues with the headset's mass production. Vision Pro is reportedly the "most complicated" device Apple has ever designed, and Sony can reportedly only make enough ultra-high resolution microdisplays for less than half a million units per year.
Earlier this week The Financial Times reported Apple was making "drastic cuts" to the production forecast, with some sole suppliers reportedly saying they were only asked for enough components for 150,000 units in the first year.
David Heaney
