Apple’s Vision Pro virtual reality headset launches in U.S. - CNBC

 Alex Koller PUBLISHED FRI, FEB 2 2024

KEY POINTS

• Apple’s Vision Pro virtual reality headset is now on sale at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the online U.S. Apple Store.

• Its launch comes the morning after Apple reported fiscal first-quarter results that exceeded revenue and earnings estimates.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook stood by the Vision Pro’s pricing, which starts at $3,500, telling CNBC’s Jim Cramer, “We think we priced it at the right level considering the value of it.”

The first customer walks out of the Apple Store with his purchase of the Vision Pro headset in New York on February 2, 2024. 

Apple’s Vision Pro virtual reality headset officially launched in the U.S. on Friday. Customers who pre-ordered the headset will begin to receive it or pick it up at Apple Store locations.

Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared at the company’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City on Friday morning to celebrate the headset’s release. Speaking to CNBC’s Jim Cramer at the event about the Vision Pro’s high sticker price, Cook called it “tomorrow’s technology today.” The Vision Pro starts at $3,500.

“People can spread their payments out over time, and so that’s one affordability kind of thing,” Cook said, referring to a monthly financing plan that buyers can choose. “It’s chock-full of invention. It’s got 5,000 patents on it.”

“We think we priced it at the right level considering the value of it,” Cook added.

Apple CEO Tim Cook arrives for the release of the Vision Pro headset at the Apple Store in New York City on February 2, 2024. 

On Apple’s earnings call Thursday, Cook said the Vision Pro is also being embraced as an enterprise product, citing companies including Walmart, Nike, Vanguard, Stryker, Bloomberg and SAP that “have started leveraging and investing” in the headset as a platform for customers and workers.

Still, Cook said Thursday that he believes Apple can remain “both” a consumer- and enterprise-focused company going forward with the Vision Pro now among its offerings, considering the gadget’s “ton of use cases.” He said more than 600 apps and games are available on the headset that are specifically designed to provide a “spatial computing” experience.

People line up outside the New York Apple Store on February 2, 2024, as the Vision Pro headset is released in US Apple stores. The Vision Pro, the tech giant’s $3,499 headset, is its first major release since the Apple Watch nine years ago.

Apple on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter results that exceeded revenue and earnings estimates. Apple’s wearables business, also known as “Other Products,” beat expectations but saw an 11% year-over-year sales decline. The Vision Pro joins the Apple Watch and AirPods in the wearables category, though analysts don’t predict that the headset will initially drive a significant amount of revenue.