Vision Pro New World Notes Reader Survey Results: Nearly 1 in 5 Want to Buy the Headset This Year... But Almost Half Don't Want One At All

Here's the results of my super scientific survey on buying the Vision Pro. Among the 80 respondents asked when they plan to buy Apple's HMD, a strong plurality of 45% chose "Never".

On the other side, 50% said they do want a Vision Pro... at some point. Some sooner than later.

10% answered "Now", which is a pretty strong result for a device costing some $3500. Add to that the 9% who answered, "Within a year of launch if reviews are generally good".

Or to put it another way: Despite the high price, nearly 1 in 5 respondents say they plan to buy the Apple Vision Pro this year.

Unsurprisingly, the 2nd largest preference was price-driven, with 20% expressing interest when the Vision Pro was priced under $500. Less than 10% are holding out for a more modest price cut down to $2500 or $1500.

So there you go. While this is a totally casual poll, I do think it's fair to say it roughly reflects the consumer interest of people who read this blog, i.e. people who are highly interested in virtual worlds and VR/AR-related technology. In other words, Apple Vision Pro's target market.

But even if New World Notes readers are ideal early adopters of technology like the Vision Pro, most are holding out for a heavy price cut -- while nearly half are just simply not interested.

Here's some responses from readers:

As a power user for PCVR, I'm not the target demographic. I'm not exactly sure who is, but it's not me. -- Adeon Writer 

I will order the second generation. The concept is good and would suit me as a retired man living alone but it’s such a great leap that I’d rather someone else adopts it early. -- Tom

As a developer, there are a lot of hoops (with a price tag) that I would have to jump through before I could develop on it. But I would probably buy one if I had a good business-related reason, e.g. porting a successful mixed-reality app to VisionOS. As a consumer, the price would have to drop below about 300 USD. (Which sounds outlandish, but that's what it would be worth to me considering that it wouldn't replace any of my (SteamVR) headsets nor any of my Apple devices nor any other device.) -- Martin K.

Personally I'm also in the "Wait until it's $300" category -- assuming, that is, early sales are good enough for Apple to keep making more models and cutting the price.

Comments

[Matthew Ball]

I dare say that it’s foolish for (nearly) anyone to say they will “never” buy a product they’ve not yet tried (and almost no one has), at any price (and implicitly, at any future revision). To say nothing of the company that produces it. To that end, it recalls Universal McCann’s somewhat infamous study from before the iPhone

"The simple truth: convergence [as in the case of the iPhone] is a compromise driven by financial limitations, not aspiration. In the markets where multiple devices are affordable, the vast majority would prefer that to one device fits all," wrote the report’s author. Only 31% of Americans surveyed said they wanted a device with multiple capabilities, and that dropped to 27% in Japan… In the US, 60% of mobile phone users already own three or more specialist devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players and portable media devices. Demand was highest in Mexico, where 79% said they would like one converged device, with 72% in Malaysia and Brazil, 70% in India and 65% in the Philippines, although the mobile markets in these countries are driven by very cheap or free handsets."

Of course, there is selection bias in contrasting a failed study for a hit device - which is to say, it does not at all validate HMDs overall, let alone now, or in this product - but the circumstances here are quite similar!

[Adeon Writer]

"one device that fits all" applies to phones, but not VR headsets, which must be worn on your face.

This puts them in much more min-max situation, where you don't want to have more weight on your face than what you need. A mess of features you won't use are quite literally deadweight, directly correlating with the amount of discomfort you will have while using the device.