The Apple Vision Pro had a ton of hype, hardware, and features set behind it to help the company take this category to new heights. Unfortunately, the launch in the U.S. has yet to bear fruit, as previous shipment estimates revealed that the AR headset did not even touch 100,000 units in the region. It was clear that the device would not record 500,000 sales in a single year, but Apple could still offset these losses by launching the head-mounted wearable overseas, including China. Sadly, a rumor claims that the product is yet to garner sufficient popularity, as its return rate is 50 percent.

Analyst previously mentioned that even if pricing was not the issue, the use case for the majority of buyers is highly limited

The exact shipment estimates were not shared by @mycrow_sdog, but he shared a Weibo post where an individual stated that the return rate of the Apple Vision Pro is 50 percent. The sales of the mixed-reality headset would already have been low due to its ludicrous pricing, with Apple charging customers $3,499 for the base model that comes with 256GB of internal storage. However, it appears that this is not the only reason why customers are not thrilled to make the Apple Vision Pro their daily driver, and it is something that TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also pointed out earlier.

It appears that the same problem that plagued the U.S. market is afflicting China, likely due to the relatively small customer base for AR headsets. In addition to being expensive, Kuo stated that the Apple Vision Pro brings little to the table regarding utility, resulting in buyers returning it. Assuming customers had the same $3,499 budget to invest either in the headset or other Apple products such as a powerful Mac or an iPhone, they would likely purchase a multitude of devices that deliver a meaningful level of utility so they are used over and over again.

 

Apple has been reported to be working on a low-cost version of the headset for many years, as it aims to capture the less expensive segment by introducing an affordable solution with cut-down features. However, even if the technology giant can scale the high pricing obstacle, these headsets must be useful to justify a purchase. Hopefully, with the introduction of more applications, particularly productivity-focused ones, we will see the Apple Vision Pro’s popularity skyrocket.