The Apple Vision Pro, big tech’s first VR headset, may arrive in more countries in the first half of the year. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the main sources in the technology industry, Apple will launch the Vision Pro for some markets before WWDC 2024, the company’s event aimed at developers and which is usually held in June.
Kuo’s statement is in line with what Mark Gurman, an Apple journalist at Bloomberg, said in one of his publications. Gurman says that the launch of the Apple Vision Pro for other countries will happen shortly after the debut in the United States. However, the American journalist says that Canada, China and the United Kingdom will be the next markets to receive the “spatial computing” headset, a term preferred by Apple.
Apple expects production increase to expand availability
According to Kuo, the reason Apple didn’t roll out the Apple Vision Pro to more countries at launch is that the bottleneck in production. The limited number of headsets led the big tech to leave the sale of the product exclusively to the United States. In the coming months, production capacity is expected to be expanded, which will allow the Apple Vision Pro to launch in more countries.
Kuo also points out that Apple is making modifications to visionOS, the operating system of the Apple Vision Pro, so that it is in line with more countries. For example, meet the specifications of the Chinese and UK market.
Another possible reason for the exclusive launch in the United States involves the sales process of the Apple Vision Pro. Remembering, customers of the headset, after ordering the product, need to visit an Apple Store to perform some measurements for the best fit and consult with an optometrist. This will identify the grade of corrective lenses that need to be installed on the Vision Pro. Once this is done, the headset enters the final step and then goes to shipping.
This two-step purchase (ordering and visiting the Apple Store) is laborious not only for the consumer, but also for Apple. It is necessary to create an appointment system and hire the doctor. The maturation of this process also affects the time to make Vision Pro available in other countries.