This month, Apple released its first truly anticipated product in years, the Apple Vision Pro. It’s a groundbreaking device, with some of the best hardware specs and the most impressive performance of any commercial headset ever released. It’s also a $3,500 toy, one that an untold number of people seem to regret taking home. If you’re one of them, time is running out.
Hands-On With Meta Quest 3
Apple’s return policy is 14 days. If you buy online, that starts from the day you receive it. But if you waited in line outside a store to pick it up an Apple Vision Pro on release day, that means that Friday, February 16th, is your last day for a refund. The clock is ticking.
After weeks of breathless reviews about the latest luxury item, many early adopters seem to be feeling the pains of buyer remorse.
The Vision Bros aren’t happy. A quick social media scan brings up dozens of users who say they took the product back to the store. One X/Twitter user wrote a 775-word manifesto about why they’re abandoning Apple’s first headset. “Goodbye, Vision Pro,” another X user said, with a sad picture of their headset back in its original box. “The era of spatial computing is very much not here yet.”
In Apple’s defense, VR headsets are a brand new category that’s nowhere near maturity. Several now ubiquitous devices including the iPad and the Apple Watch met a similar response when the first generations of these products hit store shelves. Some leaders in the tech world are still quite optimistic about Vision Pro’s future. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it “the second most impressive tech since the iPhone.”
Others, on the other hand, aren’t so quick to celebrate. Mark Zuckerberg posted a video on Instagram Tuesday mocking the new device.
“Some fanboys get upset whenever anyone dares to question if Apple is going to be a leader in a new category,” Zuckerberg said. “I finally tried Apple’s Vision Pro, and you know, I have to say that, before this, I expected that Quest would be the better value for most people since it’s like really good and it’s like seven times less expensive. But after using it, I just don’t think that Quest is the better value, I think Quest is the better product, period.”
