Apple Vision Pro - What is the True Cost?
Apple revealed their Vision Pro headset on Monday, and one of the biggest concerns people have about it is the $3,499 price tag. Everyone keeps saying that it is way too expensive, but no one has really mentioned the fact that Apple stated:
“Apple Vision Pro, starts at $3,499.”
Did you catch that? That’s right, it STARTS at $3,499.
So what will be the true “out the door” price? We can only speculate, but let’s gather some numbers.
I’m going to say that AppleCare+ for the Apple Vision Pro will be around $500. I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out. If the $5,000 ProDisplay XDR which is a stationary product, costs $500 for AppleCare+, it really isn’t a far fetch to assume that the Apple Vision Pro will have a similar price. The Apple Vision Pro is more prone to bumps, drops, and is probably more delicate with all its sensors and cameras. I don’t normally tell people to buy AppleCare+ (even though I do buy it myself), but I would strongly recommend everyone to get AppleCare+ this time around because the Vision Pro is an amazing piece of technology that will cost you big time if you break it. I would say that out of warranty coverage would be $999, since it sounds psychologically better than $1,000. This is being reasonable when you consider that an iPhone 14 Pro Max screen replacement out of warranty is $379. That is 34% of the cost of the base model iPhone Pro Max. With that extrapolation, the Vision Pro out of warranty repair would be $1,200, but I’m “optimistic” at $999.
Let’s talk about that charging brick with magnetic cable. You get one with the headset, and you will want to buy another one because it is another proprietary magnetic charging system. You don’t have any spares lying around, and most of your friends won’t either. God forbid you lose it or damage it and then have to wait forever to get another one if they’re on backorder. Considering Apple charges $100 for the MagSafe battery pack, this is much more significant and sophisticated with a higher capacity battery, so let’s be generous and call it $200 for the brick. The cable seems to be detachable from the brick, so let’s add another $50 for the cable. On the plus side, the charging brick does look elegant, and even looks like the original iPhone.
What about memory upgrades? Let’s hope that the Vision Pro starts at at least 256GB. Add $200 for 512GB and another $200 for 1TB. I’m basing this from iPhone pricing. I would probably keep the base storage option for myself.
How about a nice stand to keep your Apple Vision Pro looking smug and fresh, and to prevent it from sliding around on your desk. Let’s price that at $100. How about a carrying case for when you’re on the go, just like the lady in the hotel room in Apple’s keynote? I mean after all, not that many people will have this device, so you can show it to your family and friends, but you don’t want to wear it across town. Another $100.
Do you wear glasses? Well, you have to purchase special lens inserts that attach magnetically to the Vision Pro. Those are rumored to be around $300-600 per Mark Gurman.
So far, our total is $4,450 without lens inserts, and $4,750 with lens inserts (assuming $300):
Apple Vision Pro - $3,500
AppleCare+ - $500
Extra charging brick - $200
Extra charging cable - $50
Apple Vision Pro Stand - $100
Carrying case - $100
Custom prescription lens inserts - $300-$600
Let’s stop there. Now let’s add sales tax which averages to 5%. Our grand final total is a whopping $4,673 without lens inserts, and $4,987 with lens inserts.
I haven’t even gotten into the different head band options that will probably be available, but you can easily expect each band to cost around $100. Once again, I think I’m being generous with this price because those much tinier Apple Watch Ultra bands also start at $99.
You can see how this $3,500 device can easily creep into the $5,000 mark. Even the people who were able to stomach the $3,500 price tag might think twice when the costs get that high.
I primarily wear glasses, but I do wear contacts when I play sports. Let’s see what the cost of those Zeiss lenses are before I go full throttle on contact lenses.