On June 27th, the official website of Apple China showed that the Chinese version of Apple Vision Pro will be officially released on June 28th, starting at a price of 29999 yuan. The official website of Apple China has launched a countdown to the release of Vision Pro, calculated in seconds, and has already opened a Vision Pro reservation experience. From an industry perspective, the Chinese version of Vision Pro is bound to spark a discussion frenzy, but in terms of sales, the high price inevitably makes consumers think twice. Additionally, whether there is enough ecological content to match the Chinese version of Vision Pro is a market concern.
Booking is popular
A Beijing Business Daily reporter logged into the Apple official website and found that consumers who want to make an appointment to experience Vision Pro need to have an Apple account. After logging in, they need to choose the offline store and time they want to go. Relevant matters need to be notified and confirmed by email. After making an appointment, consumers can enjoy a 30 minute Vision Pro demo experience. If users wear glasses, Apple also reminds them to bring them to the store so that they can choose the corresponding lenses on Vision Pro.
Although it is not yet available for sale, the reservation experience in the Beijing area has been scheduled for July 3rd. The reporter learned during the visit that there are also "fruit fans" who are not in a hurry to go to Apple stores, because there are now merchants offering Vision Pro experience services in shopping malls in Wangjing and Dawang Road, which cost about 100 yuan per hour.
A user who has experienced it told reporters that Vision Pro brings an unprecedented feeling. Firstly, gesture recognition is particularly precise, and the operation is natural and smooth. Especially with its unique eye tracking function, it allows users to use the iPhone in an almost all-round and immersive way. However, some users also claim that the Vision Pro is heavy and feels heavy, taking less than an hour. Even 30 minutes of use can put a burden on the neck, and for some users with narrow and short nose bridges, the Vision Pro cannot fully fit the face and may leak light, which affects the immersive experience.
From an industry perspective, the launch of Vision Pro in mainland China will undoubtedly become a new hotspot in consumer electronics, and it will also form a peak in shipments in the short term. However, it is not clear how long this enthusiasm will last.
Industry Observer Major General Ding told Beijing Business Daily reporters that from the sales situation in the United States in recent months, there are still many people who want to experience Vision Pro, and the actual number of buyers is limited. The buyers are mainly technology enthusiasts. On the one hand, this is because the product has a higher price and limited usage scenarios compared to mobile phones, which makes consumers have to think twice; On the other hand, in situations where demand is uncertain, Apple will not rashly lay out its products on a large scale, as product image is a necessary consideration.
The data also confirms expert opinions. Public information has revealed that the situation with Vision Pro is not as optimistic as expected. Apple predicts that sales in 2024 will only be 400000-450000 units, a significant decrease from the previous forecast of 700000-800000 units. Renowned analyst Guo Minggui pointed out that Apple reduced Vision Pro production orders in the early stages, which can also be seen as a preliminary assessment of Apple's market acceptance.
Content Shortcomings
Another industry viewpoint points out that the logic of hardware shipment cannot be simply used to consider Vision Pro. In recent years, Apple's development strategy has changed, and beyond hardware, the Apple ecosystem and content services have become new growth points, playing an increasingly important role. It can be said that hardware such as iPhone and iPad are the "entry points" of the Apple ecosystem, and Vision Pro's mission is to continue to expand the territory of the Apple ecosystem.
This is also reflected in the data. According to Apple's latest financial report, service revenue has become the company's biggest highlight. This project has the highest profit margin and accounts for 20% of total revenue. The service business sector increased by 14.2% year-on-year in the second quarter, about 23.87 billion US dollars, higher than the market expectation of 23.28 billion US dollars, and has reached a new high for five consecutive quarters. Apple's service businesses include Apple Music, TV+streaming platforms, and iCloud subscriptions, with the main revenue coming from the App Store. At the same time, revenue from iPhones and iPads has declined.
In order to improve the content ecosystem, an App Store has also been launched alongside Vision Pro. Apple has stated that the Vision Pro App Store will contain over one million applications, of which over 600 have been specifically developed for Vision Pro. In addition to audiovisual and gaming, productivity tools such as Keynote, Microsoft Office, and Zoom have also been adjusted based on Vision Pro.
But after the release of Vision Pro in China, the market is concerned that the content ecosystem may not keep up. General Ding believes that nowadays, major manufacturers including Apple are focusing on user stickiness, and the key is to include and fix users in their own "ecosystem". However, third-party applications are also constantly competing for users. In the North American market, Apple can cooperate with Microsoft and other streaming media companies to share user resources, but this strategy may be difficult to replicate in Chinese Mainland. The difference in user habits is an important barrier, which may also be the resistance faced by the Bank of China version of Vision Pro.
Experts believe that although many domestic enterprises are currently engaged in the development of Vision Pro adapted content, there is still a distance from a truly mature ecosystem, which is also a common dilemma in the VR and XR fields.