The first batch of Vision Pro return tide survey: multi-party game, scalpers lose blood
智东西（公众号：zhidxcom）
Author | Xu Shan
Edit | Aqua blue
Recently, foreign media revealed that many of the first batch of Apple Vision Pro are returning Apple's first spatial computing device to retail stores.
Zhidong reported that in the foreign media Cult of Mac return survey, as of February 15, 45% of users chose to return Apple Vision Pro within the no-reason return period.
▲Cult of Mac对Vision Pro发起退货调查（来源：X）
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman even mentioned that Apple retail stores in some big cities can receive 8 returned Apple Vision Pro a day, and the return rate is higher than that of Apple's other series of products.
▲Apple Vision Pro provides experience services for employees in the store (source: Zhidong)
In just 30 days, the sale of Apple's Vision Pro has gone from a high price of 100,000 yuan to a price drop, and it has been returned by many users. Why did Apple's once loyal users turn away the Apple Vision Pro, and what enlightenment will Apple's Vision Pro user feedback bring to the entire headset market?
After many investigations and interviews, we found that behind the return tide of Apple's Vision Pro, it is actually a multi-party game war. In this game, Apple users occupy the main right to speak, and Apple, which seems to be passive, has actually been fully prepared for Apple's Vision Pro, and scalpers who have hoarded a large number of headsets may become the largest group of overturned cars.
1. After the expiration of the 14-day trial, Vision Pro has become a "money-making weapon"
To return or not to return has become the most entangled question for many first Vision Pro users.
According to Apple's official purchase policy, within 14 days of purchasing the Vision Pro, Apple users can apply for a return without any reason. As long as the headset and packaging are intact, Apple will directly "recycle" the Vision Pro.
▲Return standards on Apple's official website (source: Apple)
Compared with Apple's previous harsh conditions such as repairing mobile phones and recycling tablets, Apple's return conditions for Vision Pro are quite generous. According to Bloomberg, all returned headsets will be cleaned up, repackaged and re-put on shelves, and the price will be much cheaper than before.
For many ordinary Apple users, these 14 days are equivalent to the "early trial period" of Apple's Vision Pro. As long as it is used properly, all Apple users can experience the Apple Vision Pro for free for half a month. Returning goods for no reason is also a part of the plan of many YouTube Internet celebrity bloggers. Employees at Apple retail stores revealed that many of the people who came to the store to return goods were bloggers. "No matter which new Apple product will encounter this situation. A retail clerk told Bloomberg. For each user who returns the product, the Apple store staff will do a more detailed investigation to understand the reason for the customer's return.
The other main group of returns is users who are difficult to adapt to immersive headsets. They had to return the goods mainly due to various physical discomfort experiences such as motion sickness and difficulty adapting to eye movements.
These uncomfortable experiences have led to far more than regular Apple Vision Pro returns?
According to the clerk of the Apple retail store, some small Apple flagship stores may not receive return requests for several days in a row, or some stores maintain return orders at around 1-2 units per day, while Apple flagship stores set up in the center of large cities are more likely to receive customer return feedback, sometimes as many as 8 offline return orders for several days in a row. In the context of the low shipments of the first batch of Apple Vision Pro, according to Bloomberg analysis, the actual return rate of the first batch of Apple Vision Pro may be higher than that of other Apple products.
▲苹果零售店上新Vision Pro（来源：X）
In addition, in a small-scale survey of Zhidong, it was found that in addition to Apple die-hard fans and geek users, they basically do not consider returning Apple Vision Pro, and domestic users who buy Apple Vision Pro also do not consider returning Apple Vision Pro due to process and cost reasons. As for the large number of Vision Pros purchased by domestic headset companies, they do not plan to return them, and they use Vision Pro for experience and analysis. Some domestic individual users will also choose to rent the Apple Vision Pro to make a profit, and the rental cost can be as high as 1500 yuan a day.
But for many old scalpers, Apple's Vision Pro is indeed not a "good product". On the eve of the sale of Apple Vision Pro, the price of an Apple Vision Pro can be speculated by scalpers for 100,000 yuan a piece, and 30 days later, the price of Apple Vision Pro is almost close to the original price, and even about to fall below the official price.
▲The price of Vision Pro proposed by scalpers is close to the launch price (source: X)
As a new technology product, Apple presents a more inclusive attitude, welcomes more users to experience Vision Pro, and also gives quite broad return conditions. Many of the first batch of users tasted the "sweetness" in the process of free experience, and successively said that although they chose to return the first-generation Apple Vision Pro, they would still choose to buy the second-generation Apple Vision Pro when it was released. It can be seen that the Apple Vision Pro still attracts the attention of most Apple users, and its product loyalty is still high. Although the original product did have a certain number of returns, the overall was still within Apple's expectations.
2. Why choose to return Apple Vision Pro? Users give five reasons
Many loyal Apple users have also joined the queue to buy the first batch of Apple Vision Pro, becoming the first to experience Apple's Vision Pro. Some of them are people who have never used a headset before, professional 3D software developers, or entrepreneurs who are curious about cutting-edge technology.
The release of Apple's Vision Pro has expanded the inherent headset user group, which is undoubtedly to allow more people to experience the fun of spatial computing devices. But as more and more people participate, a new fact is gradually emerging in front of everyone: not everyone is suitable for the Apple Vision Pro, and the current Apple Vision Pro is not for everyone.
According to various surveys, the first batch of Apple Vision Pro users chose to return products for five main categories: low cost performance, inability to use as a productivity tool, large difference between the advertised product and experience, uncomfortable experience, and dissatisfaction with the product design itself.
1. The price of Vision Pro is too high, far exceeding user expectations
The first is the price, which is $3,999, which even Apple app developers think is too high. Sebastian de With, the developer of the Halide iPhone camera app, also announced on social platforms that he would return the Apple Vision Pro. "Even though it's a cool piece of technology, it's a lot of money for an independent store," he said, adding that Farzad Mesbahi, a former supply chain manager at Tesla, agrees that while Apple "made a headset that doesn't get dizzy, he doesn't think it's worth the price." ”
▲Sebastian de With推特贴文（来源：X）
Some users of non-professional headsets are more price-sensitive. Narinder Walia, an economic consultant in Los Angeles, said in an interview with Bloomberg: "If the Apple Vision Pro were $1,500 to $2,000, I would keep it, even if it's just to watch movies, but the Apple Vision Pro basically costs $4,000 and I'll just wait for the new version." ”
Judging from the price feedback of various users on Apple's Vision Pro, if you want to create a consumer-grade headset, the price still plays a greater decisive role. Apple may also be testing the expectations of the user base for the headset with the original Apple Vision Pro, so as to prepare for the next generation of products.
2. Unable to wear a headset for a long time, developers have given up on Apple's Vision Pro
At the beginning of Apple's Vision Pro design, Mike Rockwell, Apple's vice president of hardware, repeatedly emphasized that Apple's Vision Pro was a productivity tool. However, when the product is really in the hands of users, many users think that today's Apple Vision Pro cannot become an important device in the office scene like Mac or iPad.
YouTuber and content creator Quinn Nelson mentioned that he is reluctant to use headsets at work. Although the screen inside the headset is projected larger than the Mac's physical screen, he doesn't think the Vision Pro is better suited for work, as the overall program runs very slowly and the color display is not as sharp. "I'm in Photoshop all day, so I don't need a super-fast computer, but I need a color-accurate monitor."
▲Application of Vision Pro in office scenarios (source: official website)
Coders who have tried to code in Vision Pro also say that the device is not suitable for their work either. "Long-term energy consumption of focusing on the eyes can cause headaches. An engineer wrote on the social media platform X. There are also many people who mention that their current professional software is not suitable for the visionOS system.
Carter Gibson, Google's senior manager for community management and moderation, has also given up on Vision Pro. He mentioned that Vision Pro does not support some special file types to display, and it is difficult to interact between multiple windows. "I can't be productive. ”
At present, it seems that Apple's Vision Pro is not suitable for all workers, and can only play some functions and roles, and the construction of its office scene has not satisfied some users. However, with the iteration of Apple's Vision Pro, some professional-level work applications may also be launched on Vision Pro, and the optimization for office scenarios will be more perfect, which is also similar to the development path of the original iPad.
3. The publicity does not match the real thing? Vision Pro cannot be logged in with multiple accounts
As the first generation of headsets, Apple has put a lot of effort into the promotion of Vision Pro, not only releasing three promotional videos in a row, but also doing a variety of display links for Vision Pro offline. This kind of publicity effect has attracted many users to buy Vision Pro. According to Apple store clerks, some stores have been able to convert users by as much as 10 to 15 percent after presenting the Vision Pro demo.
However, after purchasing the Vision Pro, some users found that the current Vision Pro was not able to fully achieve the results presented at the advertised level. For example, it's hard to watch a three-hour movie at a time, and it's hard to wear it to work. "With only one Mac monitor to be cast at a time, many of the features of the Vision Pro are very limited. ”
In addition to users finding that the product is different from their expectations, many users mentioned on social platforms that Vision Pro will isolate them from family and friends, and they will feel more lonely. At this stage, the Vision Pro cannot share the image and experience of the headset with others.
At the same time, the Vision Pro still follows the convention of Apple's ID 1v1 service. Although Apple officially announced on its official website that the Vision Pro can be shared, its ID design and the difficulty of operating the guest mode make the device unable to be shared by multiple people for a long time.
▲Apple replied to whether Vision Pro can be shared (source: Apple's official website)
Other headsets, such as the Meta Quest Store, allow up to four different accounts to switch between logins. In addition, both the customized lenses and the light seal design have become exclusively for special people, so that the Vision Pro is also less common.
4. Wearing Vision Pro, the blood vessels of the eyeball burst, the headache does not stop, and the user is difficult to adapt to the eye movement interaction
Parker Ortolani, product manager at The Verge, was using the Vision Pro when he noticed that he was experiencing a ruptured blood vessel in his eye. At the same time, more than one user on the social platform mentioned that he had eye pain and headaches after using Vision Pro. "It was so expensive and bulky that I couldn't even get used to the constant headaches and eye strain. ”
Vision Pro uses eye tracking technology, so the camera tracks the user's eye movements at high speeds and high frequencies. Under long-term capture, the user's eyeball is easy to feel uncomfortable. However, this may also happen when users use other VR headsets for a long time.
▲Apple's Vision Pro's eye tracking (source: Apple's official website)
There are many reasons for user headaches, but most of them are inseparable from the wearing design and weight of the Vision Pro. 15 minutes after I first wore the Vision Pro with a single strap design, I also chose to put the Vision Pro down because it was too heavy.
On the other hand, since the Vision Pro uses VST (Video Perspective) technology, some applications within the Vision Pro can also cause users to feel dizzy.
Overall, the wearing discomfort and even medical problems caused by the Vision Pro are not much different from other VR headsets. This can only show that the Vision Pro has not escaped the common VR headset use dilemma.
5. The killer application is missing, and Vision Pro has also become a gray product?
After a short period of fresh tasting, Vision Pro has also become a gray product in the hands of many users, and the main reason is that there is no killer app in Vision Pro that is enough to attract users to log in for a long time and use it for a long time.
▲The main interface of Apple Vision Pro (source: Apple's official website)
Although there are currently more than 1,000 applications in the Vision Pro, if the Vision Pro cannot be used in the work scene for a long time, nor can it have applications that other devices cannot present, the attractiveness of the Vision Pro will decrease again. "Judging by the lack of apps and video content for the current headset, the Vision Pro is not worth the high price. The Verge's correspondent concluded.
Overall, the Vision Pro's pricing, limited usage scenarios, and common VR headset usage dilemmas have made many users choose to return the product.
三、扎克伯格下场对喷Vision Pro，OpenAI CEO夸Vision Pro最惊艳
As Apple's new series of products after the watch, the Apple Vision Pro is the last product polished by legendary designer Jonathan (Jony Ive) during Apple's tenure, and it is also the first innovative headset in the Cook era. Therefore, many people compare the Apple Vision Pro with the original iPhone and the original iPad, trying to deduce the potential market space of the Apple Vision Pro.
In the reasons for the return of Apple's Vision Pro, we can see that there are two major dilemmas in the current Vision Pro product positioning. On the one hand, should Vision Pro be a 1V1 dedicated product, or a 1VN product that can be used by multiple people?
Obviously, Apple wants the Vision Pro to be a one-person computing device like the iPhone, and to fill the device experience through customized services. The higher price of Vision Pro makes more users want to be able to use it with multiple people to improve the use value of the product, but the built-in system settings and accessories settings of Vision Pro are difficult to support the use of multiple people.
On the other hand, Apple still has not answered the difficult question of how to increase the connection between people through the headset. Although Apple has repeatedly emphasized that it is a headset built for AR (augmented reality), it is still more attractive with its immersive application in many scenes and applications displayed so far, and its application content, experience, and even some system functions have not yet been fully connected to reality.
Regarding the experience of using Vision Pro, many headset players at home and abroad have also expressed their opinions. Among them, Quest 3 is the core competitor of Vision Pro, and its company, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) directly stated that Vision Pro is 7 times more expensive does not mean better by counting 9 reasons.
▲Zuckerberg posted a video expressing his views on Apple's Vision Pro (source: Instagram)
He mentioned that although the Vision Pro has a good experience in terms of display and eye tracking, he believes that the Quest 3 is better in mixed reality, and that the Quest 3 also supports open ecosystem applications.
Unlike it, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who has recently become popular, commented that Vision Pro is the most amazing product after the iPhone. At present, most practitioners of domestic VR companies have also given high evaluations and said that they will not return Vision Pro.
Conclusion: Behind the return turmoil, Apple has to overcome five major difficulties
At present, we can see that Apple's Vision Pro provides a ceiling-level experience in display, spatial video, and video viewing applications, but these experiences still cannot surprise every consumer. Even, in some product designs, Apple's Vision Pro is still in the common VR headset dilemma, such as weight, battery life, etc.
From the process before and after the release of the first batch of Vision Pro, domestic and foreign headset players can also see the real views of many ordinary users on headset products, so as to further grasp the key functions and applications, and open up the market.
We see five main reasons for returning Vision Pro: low cost performance, inability to use as a productivity tool, large difference between the advertised product and experience, uncomfortable experience, and dissatisfaction with the product design itself. Behind these reasons, consumers are more picky about the completion of products after being faced with many entertainment product choices. Therefore, many people only experience the relevant features of the product and do not plan to hold the product for a long time. But the overall return situation is still within Apple's expectations.
We also clearly know that Apple's ability is not only to polish a product that is amazing enough, but to grow rapidly in subsequent iterations until it becomes a benchmark product in the industry. It is understood that the second generation of Apple's Vision Pro may be launched in 18 months. At that time, we could see the feedback from the first users, which helped Apple clarify the direction of product improvement. Many users who choose to return the product still believe that Apple will continue to launch a good enough headset.