On February 2, local time, Apple's much-anticipated Vision Pro headset went on sale in the United States, CEO Cook was present in person, and Apple stores in New York were crowded.
In Apple's vision, Vision Pro represents the beginning of spatial computing. Despite being as high as $3,499, Vision Pro has made a splash on social platforms, with tech enthusiasts driving in headsets, exercising, crossing the street, and riding the subway, scrambling to post in-depth reviews.
But in stark contrast to this craze was the market's muter reaction — on the day the Vision Pro went on sale, Apple's stock price was up 054%。From February 2 to 8, Apple's stock price rose by just 133%。
From the perspective of market acceptance, the outside world has mixed reviews of Vision Pro. Some analysts believe that it may be difficult to translate into a significant revenue driver, while others believe that it is expected to be a game-changer for the industry in the future.
Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush** in the United States, said in a comment email to the National Business Daily that Vision Pro represents a new beginning. With 2.2 billion active iOS devices worldwide, Apple's ecosystem will provide a huge market for it.
On the day the product was launched, some technology enthusiasts in China went to the American store to pick up the product for the first time. Every time the reporter found one of the Vision Pro enthusiasts for in-depth communication, and wore the product.
Vision Pro body **Photo by reporter Zheng Yuhang.
Vision Pro has set off a craze on social platforms, and in addition to technology enthusiasts, major ** including The Verge, Wall Street**, CNBC, and other major ** have also published in-depth evaluation articles. Combined with the reporter's personal experience and foreign media evaluation, we have roughly summarized the four advantages and disadvantages of Vision Pro.
Advantage 1: Stunning visual clarity
According to the feedback of the Apple enthusiast, "because the Vision Pro does not use real optical perspective, but records through multiple external cameras, and then forms light feedback to the human eye after processing by the built-in chip, the real experience latency is very low, which is more amazing." ”
OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy said on the X platform that the visual clarity of the Vision Pro is far greater than any previous device, which is amazing. When you put on your device, content that is rendered entirely virtually, such as on-screen displays, is crystal clear and stress-free to read.
Screenshot of Vision Pro screen recordingAdvantage 2: A creative "spatial computing" experience
According to CNBC's review, Vision Pro offers a new type of experience that Apple calls "spatial computing." "You sit in your own world, look at the digital world, and then put different apps around you. "It's reminiscent of the iPhone era, when Apple introduced multi-touch displays, and it changed the way we interact with our phones." ”
Vision Pro ScreenshotsKarpathy was impressed by the experience, "I felt very creative when designing and thinking about how to lay out all the apps in my space. My mind was completely activated and my imagination was limitless. ”
Advantage 3: A leap forward in hand-eye tracking technology
For Vision Pro experiencers, their gaze is the equivalent of a pointer to the operation, and the device tracks the eye through sensors. CNBC, The Verge, and Karpathy reviews all say that the accuracy of eye tracking has taken a leap forward, which is very impressive.
In actual operation, the enthusiast also feedback, whether it is opening an application, viewing an album, ** movie or browsing the web, "eye movement" and "gesture" tracking are very smooth, after a while, smaller icons can also be operated accurately, and there is no operation stuck, unrecognizable phenomenon.
"Eye Movement" and "Gesture" Tracking Evaluation **Photo by reporter Zheng YuhangAdvantage 4: High connection with the Apple ecosystem
In many feedbacks, it has been mentioned that the integration of Vision Pro and Apple's ecosystem is very high. This is precisely because Apple wants to make the Vision Pro a complete device, on a par with the Mac and iPad in Apple's ecosystem.
At the same time, there are some imperfections in the freshly baked Vision Pro.
Disadvantage 1: The user experience is not perfect
Karpathy believes that the Vision Pro deviates from Apple's usual brand image in a way. In some ways, the product may be highly polished, while in others it may be crude, underthought, or even clearly problematic. For example, he encountered bugs such as FaceID not recognizing and unlocking, and iMessage not displaying properly.
After using it, the enthusiast also reported that after the user has a certain level of proficiency, he wants to operate quickly, and there are also some small bugs in the "eye movement" and "gesture" tracking, such as wanting to select but never being selected, or an important file is deleted directly by mistake, which is crazy. Just like the facial recognition and fingerprint recognition of the iPhone, it is easy to not recognize it after too long, and it needs to be reset. In the nearly a week of experience with Vision Pro, I have already reset the "Eye Movement" and "Gestures" settings due to this issue.
This gives the impression that the product seems to have been rushed to market, with the basic user interface and user experience interactions failing to be perfected and lacking in thoughtfulness and debugging. Karpathy wrote.
Disadvantage 2: Not lightweight enough
This is a widely complained about problem, and the Vision Pro itself weighs between 600 and 650 grams. Weight is a disadvantage that cannot be ignored in most people's experience, and even with the necessary dual headbands, it is not forgotten.
The Verge commented on the review, "The most striking thing about the hardware after a while is that it's heavy. He said that while the double ring strap keeps it stable, it doesn't really reduce the overall weight of the headset when it's put on.
Every time the reporter also feedback, after wearing it for a long time, it feels like the head is pressed, and after wearing it for 30 minutes and taking off the headset, there are also red indentations on the forehead.
Disadvantage 3: Digital characters are not natural enough
Although some people think that the effect of the digital avatar is very good, many foreign media have commented that the digital avatar of Vision Pro is not natural enough, and there will even be some "uncanny valley effect".
The Verge review points out that there is still a long way to go in this technology. "In Musk's words, the digital personas are really impressive, but they're also very bad. The review reads.
Cons 4: Expensive
The Vision Pro starts at a whopping $3,499, which is much higher than Meta's popular Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset. According to reports, the displays are the main reason why the Vision Pro is so expensive, they are the core of the Vision Pro experience, and the reason why the entire device works properly. The two displays worn by the headset represent a huge leap forward in display technology, both are micro microOLED, with 23 million pixels and a size of only 75 microns, which is about the size of a red blood cell.
On the day of the sale of Vision Pro, Apple's stock price failed to meet expectations, up 054%。From the 2nd to the 8th, Apple's stock price rose by only 136%。The market has given relatively muted feedback, which is in stark contrast to the hot evaluation craze on the Internet.
According to King Lip, chief strategist at Baker**Enue Wealth Management, he is not so impressed with the Vision Pro, "If you look at the previously released products – AirPods or iWatch – these products are clearly innovations aimed at the masses and these devices have led to Apple's profitable growth and soaring revenues. But for a $3,500 device, even if it's outstanding, I'm not sure if it's an innovation for the masses and more likely a novelty toy for the 'privileged.'" ”
Cost is a big factor in the Vision Pro's distraction. According to foreign media, there are many companies with headset products, as Apple's competitor, the popular Meta Quest 2 is priced at only $500, and the recent ThinkReality VRX released by Lenovo starts at $1299. The high cost of Vision Pro** can be difficult to translate into a significant revenue driver.
On the other hand, there is an argument that the limitations of the Vision Pro itself may imply that it cannot really take the market by storm. According to The Verge, the Apple Vision Pro is the best consumer headset ever, and that's exactly the problem.
Although the headset is not a new concept, Apple is the first company to set its sights on making the headset a spatial computer, and the company wants to bring spatial computing to the forefront of the market with the Vision Pro. The company's vision is to make the Vision Pro a complete device that can go toe-to-toe with the Mac and iPad in Apple's device ecosystem.
To accomplish this goal, Apple has had to make some trade-offs. For example, to integrate all this technology into a headset, the weight of the product is so heavy that Apple has to use an external battery. The battery can last for two and a half hours. And once the battery is disconnected, the power supply** is completely cut off. According to the reporter's measurement, the battery module is only used for 2 to 3 hours when it is fully charged.
For Apple itself, the company faces the problem of weak growth. For the full fiscal year 2023, the company had total net sales of 3,832US$8.5 billion, down 3% year-on-year; Net profit was 969US$9.5 billion, down 3% year-on-year. The company posted its fourth consecutive quarter of revenue decline, the longest decline since 2001.
On February 2, Apple announced its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, with net revenue of 1195 for the quarterUS$7.5 billion, an increase of 2% year-on-year; Net profit was 339US$1.6 billion, an increase of 13% over the same period. Despite year-over-year growth in net and net income, revenue in Greater China decreased 13% year-over-year. Analysts worry that Apple is losing market share in China, the most critical growth region, in the face of stiff competition from Chinese electronics.
At the beginning of this year, due to a patent infringement lawsuit, the Apple Watch in the United States lost the ability to monitor blood oxygen, and product sales are expected to perform poorly, which is even worse for Apple.
In such a situation, whether Vision Pro can become a "game changer" and whether it can bring huge profits to Apple has become the focus of discussion in the industry. Although the response of the capital market has been muted, and the industry is full of voices that "Vision Pro may not really be popular in the market", at the same time, there are many people who are optimistic that Vision Pro will become a game changer in the industry.
Dan Ives told every reporter that Vision Pro represents a new beginning, with 2.2 billion active iOS devices (users) worldwide, and Apple's ecosystem will provide a huge market for it.
Our industry research shows that the next version of the Vision Pro 2 will be in the sub-$2,000 range, with 2-3 models likely to be released. In the coming years, the Vision Pro will resemble the form factor of sunglasses and provide users with a wider range of coverage and features. "Given its aggressive pre-orders, Apple is expected to sell 600,000 units in 2024 and more than 1 million Vision Pro units by fiscal 2025." ”
At the same time, he believes that in the future, Apple will be committed to integrating generative AI into the headset, which will mark the beginning of a new growth area for Apple's ** user base.
This is Apple's first foray into the AI space, and we expect Apple to first discuss building an independent AI app store at WWDC this summer. Vision Pro's ultimate goal is to work alongside iPhones and other Apple devices in the coming years, and many AI use cases will explode in areas such as health, fitness, sports, and more. He said.
Bank of America estimates that Vision Pro could add 68 89 cents to Apple's earnings per share over the next 5 years. Morgan Stanley**, Apple's headphone business will "conservatively" increase to $4 billion a year in revenue after four years.
In addition, many venture capitalists believe that Vision Pro will bring a huge opportunity in the enterprise space. Morgan Stanley said it was "ripe for adoption," especially in terms of virtual simulation, digital showrooms, remote training, and virtual marketing.
Brad Harrison, founder of early-stage venture capital firm Scout Ventures, believes that Apple's ecosystem is a guarantee that businesses will adopt the Vision Pro and that the device will be truly integrated into the workplace. Apple understands enterprise applications very well, and this month the company has incorporated Vision Pro into Apple's device management process, enabling IT teams to manage the device in the same way it handles iPhones, iPads, watches, and Macs.
According to Harrison, "We've reached an inflection point where the availability of hardware, ease of use, integration with existing platforms, and demand will lead to growth in a truly AR-based business." ”
National Business Daily.