Apple's Vision Pro headsets are "still very niche" despite a sellout in pre-ordering, expert says

Apple sold upward of 160,000 of the mixed-reality devices after pre-orders began on Jan. 17

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The Vision Pro headset on display at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The Vision Pro headset on display at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Image: Loren Elliott (Reuters)

Apple sold between 160,000 and 180,000 Visio Pro headsets over the weekend during pre-orders, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, who’s written extensively about the product on Medium. But the mixed-reality device won’t be super popular with the general public anytime soon, he indicated.

Kuo said order volumes remained unchanged two days after the initial sellout when pre-orders opened on Jan. 17, indicating that “demand may quickly taper off after the core fans and heavy users place their orders.”

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Apple had also set a low target for the Vision Pro. It only produced about 60,000 to 80,000 headsets for its official Feb. 2 launch, making it easy for the company to quickly sell out. Kuo also noted that Apple has a “massive user base” of more than 1.2 billion people, so to meet its target, it just needed a tiny fraction (0.007%) of them to pre-order the Vision Pro. Hence, the product is still “very niche,” he said.

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The pricey headsets ($3,499) have garnered mixed reviews. Some have called them easy-to-use and high-quality, even believing they can change the future of the workplace, while others have scorned their bulkiness.

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Apple shares rose 1.2% in Monday trading, to $193.93.