Buy Apple Vision Pro? These glasses are not for you yet

Would you prefer to buy the Apple Vision Pro now? Not me. It’s expensive, clunky and you can’t do many special things with it yet. But that’s also totally fine. Why? I’m going to explain that to you.

Buy Apple Vision Pro or not?

“We do one more thing!” Apple CEO Tim Cook enthusiastically exclaimed towards the end of the WWDC 2023 keynote Monday evening. Finally, the company could publicly reveal its worst-kept secret ever: glasses for virtual and augmented reality. The glasses are called Vision Pro and will be available from 2024 in limited countries from $ 3499.

It is the first time since the Apple Watch in 2014 that the company has introduced a completely new product category. So it is not surprising that Cook was so enthusiastic. This is exciting and these glasses may change the way we interact with technology as much as the iPhone did. You just have to look a few years ahead for that.

Price too high

First of all, the Vision Pro has a huge price tag. If you see how thin the glasses are compared to other VR glasses on the market and what kind of hardware they contain, the price is justifiable. In practice, however, this is not a realistic purchase for most people.

You also still need other Apple devices to get the most out of the glasses. The apps within the new visionOS will take you a long way, but to really work well you need a Mac whose screen you can borrow to look at from your glasses.

Before revealing the price, Apple tried to argue that the glasses are not that expensive at all, if you consider that you no longer have to buy a huge television and surround set to watch movies. But the company seems to forget that we like to watch things with others. If you turn on a movie with your partner, children or housemates, these glasses are of no use to you.

Just virtual screens

What was particularly striking during the presentation is that Apple barely went beyond these virtual screens. The focus was very much on doing work, but if you can add digital elements to the real world, isn’t there so much more fun to come up with?

Apple kicked off the WWDC keynote with a cool video that literally showed people’s creative thoughts as bubbles in the world. It is then disappointing that Apple itself does not dare to dream beyond screens to work on.

In addition, it is difficult to imagine that you want to wear such glasses all day long. Compared to other VR goggles on the market, the Vision Pro is relatively thin and small, but it’s still a bulky ski goggle that you put on your head. Moreover, it is also quite heavy at 500 grams. It looks weird, especially if your eyes are projected in front. The glasses will probably pinch or feel warm and the battery will only last two hours.

Read also: Apple Vision Pro: the most important facts (that you didn’t know yet)

But none of that matters

So there are quite a few reasons not to get very excited about the Vision Pro, but that’s because these glasses are not yet intended for you. This is a beta version for which developers will make beautiful things in the near future. In addition, a relatively small number of enthusiasts will use the glasses on a daily basis.

Like the iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and other devices, Apple will continue to develop the Vision Pro in the coming years. Future versions will look much better, among other things. Remember when people were ashamed of the design of the first AirPods with those long legs? Now look at how we’re all doing.

Above all, developers will work to create cool applications that go far beyond virtual screens. And if all goes well, we will have several glasses in different price categories in a few years’ time, so that this technology becomes accessible to everyone.

It’s an unwritten rule never to buy the first version of a new Apple product and the Vision Pro is no different, but we can’t wait for the version of these glasses to hit the market in a few years.

More announcements during WWDC 2023

During WWDC 2023, Apple announced new products at a rapid pace. The company is coming with new MacBooks and Macs and your iPhone will get a lot of new functions in iOS 17. Your AirPods will also be able to do more and watchOS 10 will change a lot for your Apple Watch.