Apple Vision Pro failed to sell out on launch day

In something of a surprise, the Apple Vision Pro failed to sellout on launch day despite reportedly very limited availability. The device comes in three capacities starting at $3,500 for the base 256GB model, rising to $3,699 for the 512GB model with the 1TB model topping out at $3,899. While the 256GB variant of the Vision Pro was quickly backordered to March and then beyond on launch day, the initial supplies of the 512GB and 1TB models did not sell out.

YouTuber Aaron Zollo (@zollotech) tweeted that the day after launch that both of the higher capacity Vision Pro units were still available for in-store pick-up. At the time of writing, however, this was no longer the case with in-store pick-up unavailable with all models now showing shipping times slipping to 5-6 weeks. Even with the Vision Pro only available in the US, Apple has been building the hype machine around the device heralding it as ushering in the “era of spatial computing”.  

According to highly regarded Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple may have only had between 60,000 to 80,000 Vision Pro units available for launch day. Even for a device starting at an eye-watering $3,500 ranging through to $3,899, pundits expected the device to quickly sell out. Competing AR and VR headsets have never enjoyed widespread popularity and it appears that Apple may also struggle to gain traction despite its brand and marketing firepower.

The latest round of pre-launch media reviews pointed to concerns around the weight of the Vision Pro, which has been revealed to weigh as much as a 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Apps and other experiences at launch also appear to be underwhelming with Apple itself only developing 15 spatialized stock apps for the device. Third party interest is also low with Netflix, YouTube, Spotify and others revealing they have no plans to create spatialized versions of their apps for the device.

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