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Apple finally released Vision Pro, the company’s first mixed-reality headset, on Feb. 3. That means for day-one buyers, the last day to return Apple Vision Pro under the 14-day policy was last Friday. If you take a look on social media, you’ll find a significant number of Vision Pro owners explaining what led them to return the device. In fact, outlets like The Verge and Bloomberg have reported on the returns, which seem to be en masse. But is it really a problem, or is there just a very vocal minority of people returning Apple Vision Pro?
Vision Pro is a virtual-reality headset that uses passthrough video to make itself feel like an augmented-reality device. It’s what Apple calls a spatial computer. In essence, cameras capture the world around a user and Vision Pro virtualizes it, allowing users to place windows and apps in their own space. It sounds super cool, but Vision Pro has faced a number of issues. The headset has a limited field-of-view, buggy software, a heavy weight, and somewhat uncomfortable form factor, according to buyers. It also features a whopping $3,500 price tag. In part, this is why people are returning Apple Vision Pro.
How many people are returning Apple Vision Pro?
It’s hard to gauge exactly how many people are returning Apple Vision Pro. That’s because Apple isn’t releasing any official numbers on how many Vision Pro headsets are being returned. However, the aforementioned report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman gives us our best idea yet of the Vision Pro return rate. Gurman says that Vision Pro is being returned at a rate “somewhere between average and above average compared with other products — depending on the location.” Additionally, the report says that some retail stores have seen as many as eight returns in one day.
Some people have attributed the return rates to content creators, like those making YouTube videos, who returned Apple Vision Pro after making a video on it. But the Bloomberg report nixes that idea, because Gurman spoke to plenty of real people who were unsatisfied by Vision Pro. The returners cited issues such as the weight, isolating feel, and buggy software. Of course, the fact that Vision Pro costs as much as a used car is a factor as well.
Apple wants to find out what’s wrong with Vision Pro, so it is asking returners a brief series of questions about why they’re sending the headset back. After that, the retail employee will report to a manager, who then will send feedback to Apple’s corporate headquarters. Apple has a lot at stake with Vision Pro, and it wants to learn everything it can about what is going wrong.