The price of the Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset is much higher than that of its competitors. The Vision Pro and accessories can cost up to $4,500, while Meta✴'s Quest 3 headset starts at $499 and Meta✴'s high-end Quest Pro headset starts at $999. As experts explain, it's all about the expensive modern components used in Apple's wearable device.
Research firm Omdia estimates the headset's “raw material cost” to be $1,542, but that figure doesn't include R&D costs, packaging, marketing, or Apple's profit margin.
The most expensive part in the headset is the 1.25-inch display manufactured by Sony Semiconductor. This is a key component that delivers a more realistic image than competing headsets. Omdia estimates the price of a single 3386 ppi Micro OLED display to be $228, and the Vision Pro has two of them. According to Apple, Vision Pro displays have more than 23 million pixels and have one of the highest display densities on the market. According to iFixit, 54 Vision Pro pixels can fit into one pixel on an iPhone screen, and each pixel is about 7.5 microns away from the next pixel.
Apple reportedly opted for high-resolution displays for the headset to better simulate reality when using the headset's pass-through mode, which uses outward-facing cameras to show real-world video. This quality allows you to read text or numbers in virtual reality, and also gets rid of the “screen door” effect found in other headsets, where the thin lines separating the pixels become visible.
The Vision Pro's most expensive components also include the Apple M2 chip coupled with the Apple R1 data coprocessor. In addition to the costs of device components, you should also consider the costs of research and development, packaging and shipping. Added to these are capital costs, which can significantly increase the initial cost of parts orders.
When asked to comment on the headset's price during its February quarterly earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “If you look at it from a cost standpoint, there's an incredible amount of technology packed into the product.” After mentioning some of the device's most expensive parts, he noted Apple's high research and development costs associated with its creation.
“The product has 5,000 patents and builds on many of the innovations Apple has spent years on, from silicon to displays, as well as significant artificial intelligence and machine learning. All the hand tracking, indoor mapping, all of this is driven by artificial intelligence, and so we are incredibly excited about it,” Cook said.
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