this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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Apple fans are starting to return their Vision Pros::The return window for the very first Apple Vision Pro buyers is fast approaching — and some have taken to social media to explain why they won’t be keeping their headsets.

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[–] JeeBaiChow 210 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The influencers got their videos, I guess.

[–] moistclump 36 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeh I’d be curious if these people ever intended to hang on to it or off it was just for the grams.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago

It was always for the gram. Influences don't actually buy anything.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

Or just to try it out. I would totally like to try one on for a few days.

[–] squid_slime 119 points 4 months ago (4 children)

These are the same complaints most report for most vr headsets, headaches, nausea and dry eyes... Disappointing article.

[–] NevermindNoMind 67 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Some are, sure. But others have to do with the weight. The most interesting rationals for returning it are because it's shit as a productivity tool. So if you can't really use it for work, there aren't many games on it, then why are you keeping it? At that point it's just a TV that only you can watch (since it doesn't support multiple user profiles).

[–] iopq 20 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It's obviously made for porn only, that's they only thing you can do with it

[–] irish_link 47 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Actually, according to reports it can't even do that right.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

and its kinda creepy to masturbate with a bunch of cameras pointed at it

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And here I am just thankful that I don’t have to hold the camera with one hand

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[–] Plopp 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Nah the battery only lasts a couple of hours.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I can't come more than 20 times anymore. What do I do with the other hour and a half of battery time?

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The other thing I keep hearing is that it’s a super expensive purchase that people don’t know what to do with once they’ve got it. I’m old enough to remember when they said the same thing about early home computers ($3000-$5000 in equivalent cost) from the late 70s and early 80s.

[–] squid_slime 31 points 4 months ago

Silicon and engineering has come down in price and vr is hardly revolutionary at this point so yea price point is stupid high but what do people expect from apple

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Given the odd weight distribution, it's also unfortunate that this may have been their first headset.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Making a VR headset from aluminium and glass with nothing to balance it in the back is yet again another perfect example of Apple going hard with form over function.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (3 children)

One reason for not balancing it in the back is probably because putting stuff in the back makes it uncomfortable if you want to lean back in a chair or a couch which is probably very important for the device since it's primarily for sitting down compared to most other VR headsets.

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[–] DingoBilly 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Your comment suggests you read the first paragraph and didn't read the rest which is disappointing.

The article talks about the most common complaint being comfort, then goes on to other complaints like the fact it offers no productivity savings and is expensive.

It's a bit of a no brainer though at end of day. Anyone surprised this is just a gimmick like any other is new to the VR space.

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[–] linearchaos 82 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Some people are returning it because they had expectations that using VR would be immediately comfortable. The headset is heavier and more poorly strapped/distributed than 'alternatives' but it's also graphically far more stunning. I honestly hope they stay in the game and push the competitors to up their game. maybe we can get pancake lenses, foveated rendering and eye tracking in a $1500 package.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (8 children)

So the quest pro? Foveated rendering only matters if you don’t have the graphics throughput to render it all, so I don’t totally buy that it’s key to a good vr headset so much as helps you get away with cheaper silicon. Maybe enough-lower tdp that it enables slimmer design.

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[–] KiloGex 34 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The problem with this article is that it's all circumstantial. Sure these are people complaining of problems and critiques, but we'll never get the full report of how many returns there actually are and why they were returned. That's just not data Apple will ever give out.

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[–] Chickenstalker 25 points 4 months ago (20 children)

Can't use it for games. Can't use it for porn. What is it for?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

For showing off. Of course.

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[–] iquanyin 24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

some are reviewers, i betcha.

[–] Kbobabob 7 points 4 months ago

Some? Probably most. The others are social media "influencers" making it look like someone would actuality want to buy it.

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[–] azenyr 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

The problem with AVP is that it constantly feels extremely lonely. The fun part about VR is playing stuff together, games, being in the same room even if others are in different countries, have funny full size avatars, interact in a "vr-chat" kind of way. VR is supposed to be a fun version of our world. AVP is extremely serious, too "professional" focused, and especially b o r i n g. All you do on AVP is exactly the same that you would do by yourself with your current devices already. Just even more isolated from the world. And even the most enthusiastic Apple users eventually get this feeling when using AVP. While stuff like Quest 3, Valve Index, PSVR2 all might look "cheap" and "not polished" at first, while using them all you get is "wooow" factor and fun. AVP, yes its well crafted and polished, but it does basically nothing and feels lonely inside it.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I keep reading AVP as Alien vs. Predator, which makes this hilarious. Sorry... that's on me.

AVP is extremely serious, too “professional” focused, and especially b o r i n g.

But what about the part where the Predator body-slams an Alien? That wasn't boring! :P

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

AVP, yes its well crafted and polished, but it does basically nothing and feels lonely inside it

Gilded cage sort of vibe, yes.

[–] Eggyhead 21 points 4 months ago (8 children)

I've been in the Apple ecosystem for pretty much most of my life, and I'm all for what the AVP is bringing to the table. However, one VR enthusiast Youtuber I watched recently (Thrillseeker) put down the most compelling argument against the AVP I've seen thus far. The AVP does well what all the other headsets don't, but the AVP also kind of sucks at what other headsets have learned to do well. At the price of the AVP, not only could you buy a Quest 3, but you'd have enough leftover to just build an entire VR Gaming rig to back it up. Then you'd have a setup exponentially more capable than what the AVP is offering.

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[–] aluminium 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Apple deserves to be humbled for once!

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[–] neonred 17 points 4 months ago

Open Source and Open API or bust. Simple as that for me.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

As someone who is unironically into a lot of VR stuff and even owns a pricey headset myself, I did not understand the appeal from the features I've seen past looking """cool""". Even the stuff that looks at least somewhat fun or useful doesnt seem worth it considering the price, especially now that reviews are reporting there are basic features that cheaper headsets perform much better at and are way more comfortable.

[–] Starkstruck 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Fr, I love VR, but this headset is just Apple trying to cash in on the VR market without understanding what people actually like about VR.

[–] Ghostalmedia 7 points 4 months ago

I think they totally understand that there is a legitimate mixed reality / AR use case that people have wanted addressed for decades, but the hardware has never been able to pull it off well.

If I could pop on a light weight headset, and have a desktop with infinite 4K monitors, with a high refresh rate, without breaking my wallet, I would 1000% buy that product.

The hardware isn’t there yet, but I’m glad to see people are investing in platforms that could get us there in a decade or two.

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[–] Blaster_M 8 points 4 months ago (11 children)

It needs controllers and PCVR support. Then it might be worth it.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Parker Ortolani, The Verge’s product manager, told me that he thought using the device led to a burst blood vessel in his eye.

“Despite being as magical to use as I’d hoped, it was simply way too uncomfortable to wear even for short periods of time both due to the weight and the strap designs.

For smart glasses and headsets, having a low nose bridge can mean the device just slips off your face or fails to adequately block out light.

Another engineer wrote on the social media platform X that the “coding experience failed to convince [him]” and focusing issues caused headaches.

“If I’m not using this for productivity, and if I don’t love it for entertainment, and if there aren’t enough games to play on it - I just can’t justify keeping it,” one Reddit user wrote.

While these users are speaking out on social media, we have no idea of the actual return rate — or what Apple’s internal expectations for the Vision Pro are.


The original article contains 621 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] KiloGex 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We'll never know. This is all based on people's complaints online. Apple will never actually release how many were returned and for what reasons.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

They’re a public company, we’ll get sales figures and enough proxy numbers to have a good guess. Shareholders are going to want to know.

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