Apple Has Sold Approximately 200k Vision Pro Headsets | Hacker News Reader

Apple Has Sold Approximately 200k Vision Pro Headsets

macrumors.com

59 pointsmfiguiere43 comments

Not bad considering Apple sold 270k $500 1st iPhones on its 1st week domestically:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_(1st_generation)#cite_n...

Magic Leap sold 6,000 units in the six months following their initial launch, after planning to sell 1M (later revised to 100K) in their first year.

Someone screwed up marketing. I would have bought one. Never even heard they were on the market. Never saw one in person outside E3, where the line was so long I never got to try it.

Agree. They failed to capitalize on their existing brand awareness. All it would have taken was a coordinated, concentrated, 3-4 week GTM motion leading up to product availability.

That's $700m USD. It's going to be hard for people to call that a failure, but they will.

Revenue. They aren't free to build and it probably cost a great deal to develop. Is it a success if you sell $700m USD but are still $4 billion* in the hole?

* Made up number.

Apparently the margin on them is ~45%, so if they do okay I can see that hole being dug out within a few years.

Others have mentioned as well that it seems like this platform might not strictly be a bet on VR. It might also be a proving ground for vision systems and realtime processing capabilities. If that's the case, the information and development advances they can make with this experience might allow them to execute on bigger plans. That could be a car for example. I'm not sure what I think of that, but I don't doubt the product may have been partially justified because it allows shared progress with bigger picture plans. That would make going in the hole okay in a sense, because you'd have to go in the hole either way. At least this way you get a bit back and prove out technologies in the wild.

45% before R&D costs, which have to be amortized somehow.

Somehow? Wild guess, but maybe they will be selling the product of that R&D for more than 10 days.

I doubt it’s less than 10 days. And there are ongoing software development costs. Apple still can’t print money without lots of investment.

I don't know if Apple accounts for R&D the same way other normal companies, ones that don't have $60 billion in cash on hand, do.

The company I work for expects each individual R&D effort to pay off and track that effort under a myriad of overhead/IRAD/misc charge numbers. Companies like Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft just shovel money into that fire.

I think it's a game of scale. Even if they are in the hole, customer acquisition and services revenue makes it worthwhile. It's a long term game.

Apple is positioned in high-end, high-margin products.

I obviously don't know what their costs and financial and sales plans are wrt. the Vision Pro but I think it is fair to assume that the pricing is set for a high margin within that plan.

Now, considering the high price and seemingly niche target, personally I am impressed that they already sold 200k units.

I called it a failure and stand by that statement. There is no killer app / feature on this product, the only thing keeping it alive is the "Apple hype". I imagine the few consumers that bought into it will soon realize its uselessness (the rest being FOMO developers porting their existing 2D apps to the platform).

There will be no "Apple Vision Pro 2".

Are you familiar with Davinci surgical robotics?

I remember these kinds of comments when the first iPad came out. “It’s just a big iPod Touch”.

These kinds of statements are why it's going to succeed. Apple hasn't failed in the last 20 years, so that of course means this attempt won't fail either. You get enough devs hyped up because it's an infallible Apple product, they rush to build a bunch of apps for it to get their name out there, people buy it because it says Apple on it, it's claimed as the winner because it's got the most apps and has made the most money. Technical considerations are only secondary at best

Not sure how many devs they’ll get. Of course they’ll get some, but we refocused to invest in PWA’s because of Apple and Googles App Store behavior…we’re certainly not the only devs doing this.

I have a problem identifying what hole tablets have filled, or even what devices they've truly replaced. When the iPad was released, many outlets were making silly claims like laptops will be gone within 5-10 years.

The touchscreen smartphone has almost entirely replaced the landline and dumb/feature cell phones. The iPad has possibly replaced laptops for some, but otherwise it's replaced the... portable DVD player?

I don't see VR headsets replacing the phone or the laptop or the desktop as long as I have something to strap to my head. It's a matter of form factor, longevity, and convenience.

IMHO they were right at the time of release, it took a while to develop the OS, ecosystem, etc

Care to place a bet?

Yes. HoloLens came out 8 years ago, at the same price point and pretty much with the same set of features (only slightly larger). The only reason it flopped (and Microsoft stopped investing in it) is lack of compelling applications.

Absolutely no one will "watch TV" with a sweatband weight around their head; some may feel compelled to lie that they do to justify the stupid purchase decision they made, but no one will really do it, and absolutely no one will buy an "Apple Vision Pro 2" if Apple ever makes it.

Of course, I'm holding up hope that Apple makes an amazing tech leap and creates something the size and weight of regular eyeglasses, but slim chance of that.

If, in the next two years, from the date of this comment, Apple announces a new generation of vision pro, or another product of the same category, you will transfer to me $10 in a way to be agreed upon at the time. If that does not happen, I will send you $10 in any way you please. My contact info is in my profile. Agreed?

Eyewitness here.

I bet someone built a SaaS for this purpose already, right? Escrow, interest, all that :)

But yes, I'm willing to take the bet.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33736245

I added a calendar event on my cal for jan 29, 2026 to check on this. my contact info will remain in my profile.

Is it wise to make a judgement on a product that hasn’t even shipped?

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

Also no real keyboard and no blackberry messenger app. Certainly nobody will ever buy this!

The question is does this tech need a killer app or does it needs to become more light weight, no external wired battery, etc... essentially becoming almost like normal glasses.

> There will be no "Apple Vision Pro 2".

I agree 100%. That’s not an Apple-like name for a second iteration consider device. Their second iteration will have a better name.

Probably Vision Pro Max

People are thinking about this product the wrong way. I don't think even Apple are expecting it to be a runaway seller like the iPhone. It may not have a killer app at launch, but it has a bunch of potential. Apple learned with the Watch that products can take on a life of their own after launch. What was initially sold as a general purpose watch has turned into a health, fitness and notifications device.

I have no personal interest in buying the Vision Pro, I can't justify the cost as I don't see a use case for me other than just wanting to try it. But the device has a ton of potential as a platform I believe it will find its space in the market.

Watches just followed a general market trend they always adapted to. There is no such market for their glasses, they would have to build it. At least at this point in time.

This is what Facebook already failed with. I agree however that the potential is there.

Meta Ray Ban's haven't failed ... i own a pair and they are great for taking pics or videos (its other features with it's latest iteration needs work but pics & videos at 1080p works and looks great). I mean who doesn't wear sunglasses already throughout each week and who doesn't take pictures throughout each week too?

Apple should be releasing it's own Meta Ray Ban type glasses that just take pics and videos along with the Vision Pro as one day they will merge into the next big platform like the iPhone.

Just like the iPad and Apple Watch? LOL. Apple has a lot of room to experiment in this space and the presales numbers show that.

I just kind of wonder how the segment has been doing?

meta/oculus quest, htc vive, valve index, playstation vr, ...

I had the early HTC Vive, which at some point I put on a shelf and have not resurrected. It was fun and novel, but that sort of wore off.

I doubt Apple cares about the sales numbers for a product that seems to be targeted as a prosumer development kit and a way to gently introduce people to the concept of spatial computing before a more significant push with a Gen2 or true consumer version in a few years.

I don't have a need for it and I don't see a real use case for it yet, but I just chuckle at all the debate over its sales, as they seem to be the least important part about it. It will be all about whether or not there are landmark use cases that develop over the next year or two to show that there is potential here.

Personally, I hope the answer is no - I'd rather avoid a future where everyone is walking around with a headset or smart goggles strapped to their face all the time. And I certaintly don't want to wear one all the time.

> I'd rather avoid a future where everyone is walking around with a headset or smart goggles strapped to their face all the time. And I certaintly don't want to wear one all the time.

I pressume people had similar reaction when mobile phones first entered the market. They were big and heavy they came with a strap to carry over shoulder. No chance people would mass-buy it and walk with it everywhere. But look today, when its thinnier than a finger, and everyone wants it.

Once glasses loose its placenta, we will live in different world.

Seems pretty good, I hear it's a bit heavy to be comfortable for a long time unless you have head support. But I think the only thing it has to do to be useful if you have enough disposable income is to be an immersive movie or private computing experience on a plane or road trip or something. The videos of people standing around their houses working or doing facetime calls or something probably aren't going to happen though.

This is by far the most advanced Vision Pro yet.

"200,000 units are ready, with a million more well on the way"

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