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For customers who purchased the Apple Vision Pro on launch day, the 14-day period in which they could return it for a refund expired on Friday.
And a new report outlines the top five reasons why customers rushed to return it before the deadline.
Apple doesn’t disclose return figures, but among customers who returned their device, they tended to agree that it’s not easy enough to use to merit the $3,500 price tag.
Many early reviews of the Vision Pro concluded that it was ambitious, but served little purpose. One reviewer described it as “a high-tech solution in search of a problem.”
The Apple Vision Pro has a wide, adjustable band to keep the device attached to your face, but customers still report that it is uncomfortable to wear.
Shortly after the launch of the augmented reality headset, customers were already returning the expensive device because the drawbacks outweighed the benefits.
Now, Bloomberg has published a report based on interviews with dissatisfied customers, laying out the top five reasons why they thought it wasn’t worth it.
The outlet interviewed “more than a dozen” customers who were returning their units and the following themes emerged:
1. The Apple Vision Pro is uncomfortable
“The device is simply too heavy, too cumbersome to handle, headache-inducing and uncomfortable,” according to Bloomberg.
Weighing 600 to 650 grams (21.2 to 22.9 ounces), the Vision Pro is a very bulky beast.
Reviews have praised the wide, adjustable strap for being comfortable, once you take the time to adjust it.
But still, weighing over a pound, it’s a heavy piece of equipment that needs to be kept glued to your face for an extended period of time.
Vision Pro can deliver incredibly realistic images, but without a flagship app to use them, customers are left disappointed.
2. The features are not worth the price
“The current lack of applications and video content does not justify the price,” says the medium. reported.
Vision Pro’s in-store demos have captivated customers, immersing them in a virtual environment that can seem so real that they may worry that they’ll bump into one of the digital people they see in the headset.
The problem is that that demo experience doesn’t translate to everyday use.
Apple has not yet released an app that takes full advantage of the Vision Pro’s capabilities, instead focusing on how it can insert more screens and displays into its environment.
“You find yourself in this virtual environment and you wonder what you’re doing here,” one told Bloomberg.
The lure of being able to work like Tom Cruise in ‘Minority Report’ is appealing, but some clients say the same results can be achieved with a large monitor
3. It doesn’t help your productivity
“Work features don’t make people more productive than just using a regular external monitor with a Mac, and they’re difficult to use for long periods,” according to Bloomberg.
One of the big selling points that Apple has emphasized with the Vision Pro is its ability to look at spreadsheets, a web browser, email, or any other productivity app, projected into the air in front of you, like Minority Report.
But so far, customers have felt shortchanged on this point.
“I live in Photoshop all day, so I don’t need a super-fast computer, but I do need a screen with accurate colors,” one customer reported. “The whole experience felt really slow and not that crisp.”
Many dissatisfied Apple Vision Pro customers have cited eye strain as a reason for returning the device.
4. The screen is small and it hurts your eyes.
“The screens are too bright, the field of view is too narrow, and the device causes eye strain and vision problems,” reads the fourth top reason customers return the Vision Pro.
One disgruntled user said the pass-through display feature made him feel like he was looking at the world through a 720-pixel camera.
Several customers reported that the device hurt their eyes so much that they couldn’t imagine using it for an entire work day.
“I don’t want to compromise for $3,500,” one said of eye strain.
“It would be terribly difficult to watch a movie for three hours, you can’t work on it, and it’s restrictive to be limited to one Mac screen at a time,” reported another.
Your loved ones may get jealous because they can’t see what you’re seeing. And even if you let it, the strap takes a long time to adjust to another person’s head, users reported.
5. You can’t use it with other people.
‘The product may make users feel isolated from family and friends. “There are no meaningful shared experiences yet and the Vision Pro cannot be easily passed on to others due to the need for fine-tuning,” the outlet found.
Part of the appeal of using your phone or computer (or game console, for that matter) is that everyone else has one. We can use them together.
Not so for the Apple Vision Pro.
Several customers reported that part of the reason for the return was that it wasn’t something they could use around other people.
And even if you only use it with other people, you may feel isolated from them.
“I feel like it’s so important to be in the moment and the device doesn’t allow you to,” said one customer.
Overall, the consensus seems to be that the Apple Vision Pro hasn’t reached that point.
One summed it up generously: “It’s clearly the future, but there aren’t enough things to do now.”