Tim Cook shares same sentiment on Vision Pro as former head of Oculus
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently appeared in an interview where he was asked all sorts of juicy questions including his plans to retire as CEO. One of those questions — as was inevitable — was about the Apple Vision Pro and its poor sales. And what Tim Cook replied with basically showed that he agrees with what the former head of Oculus had said about the headset.
Back when the Vision Pro was still a new product and making waves in the XR (Extended Reality) industry it got lots of praise and criticism. Hugo Barra, former head of Oculus, wrote a very long blog post where he outlined the pros and cons of Apple’s headset. While he saw lots of potential for it — namely in live sports viewing — he also also called the Vision Pro an over-engineered devkit.
His reasoning was that the headset was jam packed with redundant sensors and other doodads that really did not need to present. This obviously drove up the cost significantly and put the headset out of reach for most consumers and even diehard VR enthusiasts.
Barra talked about how a lot of first generation products often did something similar in order to prove themselves as worthy contenders in an existing market. Nevertheless, the aluminum and glass frame and gimmicks like EyeSight (the external display) ramped up the cost of the headset in order to make it seem more premium.
Cook’s statement on it being an “early adopter product” shows that Apple is finally willing to admit that it did not sell as much as it wanted. It also shows that the company is still invested in making it a widely adopted technology in the future. As revealed by industry insider Mark Gurman in the past: Apple’s end goal is a form of AR glasses and the Vision Pro was a compromise.
Cook also said that the Vision Pro ecosystem was growing at a satisfactory pace. He said he used his Vision Pro all the time and kept seeing new apps being made.
No doubt about that: it’s one of the best AR headsets ever made. But it’ll need to drop a zero or two from the price tag before it can take on the likes of the Meta Quest 3S in sales numbers.
It’s an early adopter product, for people who want tomorrow’s technology today.
Back when the Vision Pro was still a new product and making waves in the XR (Extended Reality) industry it got lots of praise and criticism. Hugo Barra, former head of Oculus, wrote a very long blog post where he outlined the pros and cons of Apple’s headset. While he saw lots of potential for it — namely in live sports viewing — he also also called the Vision Pro an over-engineered devkit.
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Barra talked about how a lot of first generation products often did something similar in order to prove themselves as worthy contenders in an existing market. Nevertheless, the aluminum and glass frame and gimmicks like EyeSight (the external display) ramped up the cost of the headset in order to make it seem more premium.
Cook’s statement on it being an “early adopter product” shows that Apple is finally willing to admit that it did not sell as much as it wanted. It also shows that the company is still invested in making it a widely adopted technology in the future. As revealed by industry insider Mark Gurman in the past: Apple’s end goal is a form of AR glasses and the Vision Pro was a compromise.
Yes, it’s a progression over time in terms of what happens with form factors. AR is a huge deal.
— Tim Cook (CEO at Apple), Wired, December 2024
Cook also said that the Vision Pro ecosystem was growing at a satisfactory pace. He said he used his Vision Pro all the time and kept seeing new apps being made.
No doubt about that: it’s one of the best AR headsets ever made. But it’ll need to drop a zero or two from the price tag before it can take on the likes of the Meta Quest 3S in sales numbers.
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