China Fund News reporter Niu Siruo
On June 28th, Apple's Vision Pro national version was officially on sale, making its debut in the Asian market, with options of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB three versions, with prices starting at 29999 yuan.
The number of seats for the directly managed store experience is fully booked
On the first day of sale, the reporter visited the Apple direct store in Shenzhen and found that the Vision Pro in the store had arrived, and the supply was relatively sufficient. Vision Pro comes with a Chinese Simplified Chinese system and adapts to domestic localized social, film and television entertainment software, such as Weibo, iQiyi, Migu Video, etc. In addition to the main body, Apple also offers two additional accessories separately for consumers to purchase, the Apple Vision Pro Travel Pod and the Zeiss Optical Lens (Nearsightedness Lens and Farsightedness Lens).
However, if you want to wear the experience, you need to queue up to make an appointment, and Apple's in-store retail team will provide 30 minutes of one-on-one service, including assisting consumers with various features of the Vision Pro, including assisting consumers with wearing and setting up. However, according to the reporter's understanding, on the day of the sale, the experience quota of the two directly-operated stores in Shenzhen was full, and it was already scheduled for early July.
It is worth noting that Apple's official website does not currently provide users with the service of picking up Vision Pro in stores, and can only make an offline appointment or have it delivered to your door. However, thanks to the dual factors of new product launches and summer vacation purchases, the staff of Apple stores told reporters that the flow of people in the store today ushered in the highest value in nearly two months.
As Apple's largest service provider in China, Aisid has the right to act as an agent for multiple series of Apple's products in its self-operated Coodoo Apple Reseller (APR) stores, but according to the reporter's interview with its store staff, at present, Shenzhen Coodoo stores do not provide Vision Pro experience and sales, and its online mall has not yet launched Vision Pro.
Since its release, Apple's Vision Pro does not seem to have caused a sales boom comparable to that of the iPhone, and similar products have not caused waves in the electronic components market. According to the reporter's visit to a number of stores in Shenzhen Huaqiangbei electronics market, it was found that products similar to Vision Pro appeared at the beginning of this year, with prices ranging from 1000 yuan to 2000 yuan, although it is only one-tenth of the price of Vision Pro, it has not attracted too much attention from consumers, and it is still a store with high customer flow of traditional electronic products such as mobile phones, watches, and computers.
The VR headset products shown to reporters by many merchants are all the same one, named VisionSE. One of the merchants told reporters that the product is currently sold mainly overseas, but its revenue generation is still not comparable with mobile phones, watches and other products.
Through the actual experience of the product, the reporter found that this product is equipped with an Android system, and you can download the APP by yourself after networking, which can realize functions such as taking pictures, games, and watching movies, but there is a big gap in both the operation experience and the function - you can't see the external environment, the clarity of the picture will change because of the head turning action, and the operation needs to rely on handles and buttons.
In addition, the merchant revealed to reporters that there will be a product priced at about 4000 about to be listed, and the software is currently being tested, and the functions and operating experience will be benchmarked against Apple's Vision Pro, but the business did not show the reporter information about the product prototype or manual. As for its future sales, the merchant bluntly said: "The headset is not just needed, it is more like a toy, the market for this kind of product has not yet been opened, and it is difficult to bring good sales if the price is too high."
Headsets may be "civilianized"
It is worth noting that according to overseas media sources, Apple plans to suspend the research and development of the next-generation Vision Pro, and will release a headset with fewer functions and lower prices by the end of 2025.
According to Donghai Securities Research and Analysis, Vision Pro's high pricing is destined to make its first users mainly enthusiasts and app developers, rather than the general public. The purpose is to anchor the MR software and hardware standards through the first MR product, attract developers in the Apple ecosystem to join and cultivate the Vision OS software ecosystem, and then launch affordable second-generation products when the time is ripe, so as to attract mass consumers.
Apple previously expected Vision Pro sales to reach 800,000 units in 2024, but due to multiple factors, the demand for Vision Pro reversed expectations when it was first released, and the demand growth rate fell all the way, causing Apple to lower its sales forecast by nearly 50%.
According to the research and analysis of Galaxy Securities, compared with similar devices such as MetaQuest2, the price of Vision Pro is too high, and it faces the battery pack battery life and wearing comfort problems caused by excessive weight. In the short term, the global launch of Vision Pro may still face a similar dilemma as in the United States; However, in the long run, the continuous optimization of the Vision Pro application ecosystem is expected to break through the current demand bottleneck and boost the demand for replacement, and the XR industry is expected to accelerate.
Editor: Captain
Review: Muyu