The Apple Vision Pro has officially flooded the US in the past few days, and there's been a lot of praise surrounding the tech giant's first mixed reality headset, regardless of the eye-popping $3,499 price tag that belongs to the base storage model. The device, in its current state, is comparable to Apple's iPad lineup, and one report predicts that there will come a time when sales of these AR headsets start to have a detrimental impact on tablet shipments.
The Apple Vision Pro excels at many tasks that can be done on an iPad, but it needs to gain popularity before anything else does
Head-worn wearables have been downplayed as the future of Apple's Mac lineup or a replacement for the iPhone. In the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Gurman stated that although the Apple Vision Pro is still in its early days, it could end up cannibalizing iPad sales. It is reported that the company's latest headphones can deliver a much better experience than what the iPad was designed to handle.
Over the years, Apple has tried to market its iPad lineup as an alternative to the Mac or laptop. In terms of hardware, the California-based “thin and light” giant easily outshines the competition, but its Achilles' heel has always been iPadOS. Even with keyboard and mouse support, along with bringing professional apps to the platform, like Final Cut, the strategy didn't work out as well as the company had hoped. In its recent Q1 2024 earnings call, Apple once again reported declining tablet sales, which has been the topic of this section for the past few quarters.
“That's where the Vision Pro comes in. There's been a lot of talk that the headphones could be the future of the Mac or a replacement for the iPhone. I don't think either of them is true. After using the $3,499 device for about a week, I think the Vision The Pro can instead deconstruct the iPad. It has the potential to provide a much better experience for the key tasks that Apple's tablet is designed to handle. But don't get me wrong, it's still very early days.
In my testing, the Vision Pro excelled at streaming video, performing light work tasks, and sending email and other messages. It's also great for displaying photos and acting as an external Mac monitor. This makes it an alternative to your computer when you're sitting on the couch, in bed, or on the plane — the same places you might use your iPad.
However, for the Apple Vision Pro to be as successful as the iPad, there are countless hurdles it needs to scale, and it's not just the ridiculous pricing that's an obstacle, but other details mentioned in the latest newsletter.
“But today's Vision Pro is more of a preview of the future than the future itself. It's too heavy and cumbersome, the battery life is too short, and there aren't enough dedicated apps. For all its strengths, VisionOS is more buggy than you'd normally expect from a An Apple product, even the first generation.
To address the pricing issue, Apple is reportedly working on a lower-cost model, but we don't expect it to arrive before 2025. Also, when that happens, there may be toned down features to match its affordability, such as a lower-quality display, along with the possibility of… Switch to the iPhone chipset instead of the Mac chip. Of course, it will take many years for this category to mature, and only then can we update readers on whether the Apple Vision Pro is ready to replace the iPad.
