I paid a lot of money for the privilege of buying a new Apple Vision Pro in February. I financed just over $3,900 for the 256GB version of the headset, including optical add-ons and taxes. About a day ago I made a mistake I’m sure many early adopters are familiar with: I looked up how much it was selling for on eBay.
On Wednesday, the 1TB Vision Pro, all included hardware, Apple’s $200 plush travel case, $500 AppleCare Plus, and “about an hour of wear,” was claimed. Selling for $3,200 After 21 offers. The shipping estimate listed was $20.30. New, this combo cost me $5,007.03 on Apple’s website. Another eBay listing, this one with my headset configuration (but no optical inserts) it went for only $2600 — again with most, if not all, of the accessories included. A few others 256 GB and 512 GB models it was sold for around that amount this week.
That’s certainly how the story goes for early adopters, especially when you’re buying very expensive technology before it catches on to the mainstream. Apple’s pricing doesn’t help matters, especially when the next closest competing headset—the Meta Quest 3—is only $500. At least in terms of their target audiences and goals for their platforms, it’s confusing, even though they’re ultimately not that comparable.
But it still stings, doesn’t it? Knowing that I could save a few hundred dollars and AppleCare Plus, the highest storage configuration, and the storage case are particularly painful. I love Vision Pro – maybe more than any other writer The Verge — but if I hadn’t missed the return window, I’d be sending myself right back to Apple to get one of these deals. Thank goodness no one sees my tears when I wear headphones.