On February 2nd local time, Apple's first head display product, Vision Pro, was officially released in the United States. CEO Tim Cook and employees welcomed customers waiting in line at the flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
The starting price of the Vision Pro is $3499, which is the second major product line released by Apple since the launch of the Apple Watch 9 years ago.
A bit cool, a bit heavy
Although it rained heavily in New York on that day, it couldn't resist the enthusiasm of consumers. According to reports, before the launch at 8 o'clock, hundreds of customers from around the world were queuing up at the store entrance.
Khalil Badran became the first owner of Vision Pro at 8am local time. "Compared to all the AR and VR glasses I have tried on the market, the highlight of Vision Pro is that its screen pixel density is unparalleled among products in the same price range. Secondly, Apple's design in user interface and other aspects is really amazing," he told a reporter from First Financial
"In less than 5 minutes of wearing the Vision Pro, I felt like I was moving the screen in front of me like Tom Cruise in the movie 'Minority Report', which was fantastic," Badland added. "The experience of using eye tracking and hand tracking was smooth and seamless."
Due to the first day appointment being based on a first come, first served principle and only open for on-site registration, a reporter from First Financial visited two Apple stores and scheduled an on-site try on that afternoon.
Product fitting needs to be done one-on-one under the guidance of staff. The reporter first completed a facial scan, selected the appropriate Vision Pro to wear based on the face shape, and learned three basic operating gestures. The entire trial wearing process takes about 25 minutes.
After wearing Vision Pro, the screen inside looks like one or more floating screens, and the screen size and distance can be controlled through eye contact and gestures. The windows can be opened or closed, and the real scene outside the glasses can also be seen. The overall surround feeling and immersion are in place. Although not wearing headphones, the spatial sound is very good, the picture is very clear, and there is no sense of graininess.
If we have to talk about the problem, perhaps the only downside is that after wearing it for a long time, the feeling of wearing it is relatively heavy. Although to solve the weight issue, Apple has separately connected the battery and can put it in a bag to reduce some weight.
Badland told reporters that this is a cool and carefully considered product, once again highlighting Apple's advantages in details and software design.
"For most people, it's easy to use. Even users who are not very interested in technology can quickly get started," Badland said, considering recommending Vision Pro to parents.
A reporter from First Financial News saw at the scene that a mother accompanied her 16-year-old son to purchase the Vision Pro. The mother expressed that her son loves Apple's products and wants to work in design in the future, so she decided to provide support.
However, the mother also expressed concerns about self-discipline issues, as parents do not know exactly what their child is doing after wearing the Vision Pro.
Apple's "Placeholder"
Guo Ming, an analyst at Tianfeng International Securities, predicts that in the first pre order weekend of last month, Apple sold approximately 160000 to 180000 Vision Pro units.
Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, has raised the Vision Pro's shipment forecast for this year from the initial 300000 units to 600000.
He told First Financial reporters that in the era of artificial intelligence revolution, Apple, with a base of 2.2 billion active users, will usher in a new round of explosive moments, and Vision Pro is just the "tip of the iceberg" of its many releases.
Badland believes that the price of $3500 is still very expensive for most people, "I think this is a placeholder to push Vision OS to the public. When headsets eventually become cheaper, the ecosystem will be established."
Driven by the wave of artificial intelligence, US technology stocks have shown astonishing trends over the past year. Nvidia has risen by 205%, Meta has risen by 151%, Microsoft and Amazon have risen by 55% and 52% respectively, and Alphabet has risen by 32%. Compared to this, Apple's growth rate in the past year has only been 23%.
Due to lower than expected iPhone 15 sales, analysts at Barclays downgraded Apple's rating from "flat" to "underweight" at the beginning of this year, with a target price of $160.
On the 1st local time, Apple released its fourth quarter financial report last year, showing a revenue of $119.58 billion in the previous quarter, with a market expectation of $117.97 billion, compared to $117.15 billion in the same period last year. Among them, the revenue of the China region was 20.82 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 13%.
"Apple is indeed experiencing some growth challenges. China is the key to Apple's growth story and a necessary factor for its stock price to ultimately rise," said Ives
"For Cupertino, this is both an opportunity and a challenge," added Ives.