I paid some huge cash for the privilege of getting a model new Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional in February. All-in, with optical inserts and taxes, we financed simply over $three,900 for the 256GB model of the headset. A day or so in the past, I made a mistake that I'm positive many early adopters are conversant in: I checked out how a lot it bought for on eBay.
On Wednesday, a 1TB Imaginative and prescient Professional full with all the pieces included, Apple's $200 fluffy journey case, $500 AppleCare Plus and claimed to have been “worn for possibly an hour” bought for $three,200 after 21 of affords. The transport estimate listed was $20.30. Model new, that combo is $5,007.03 on Apple's web site for me. One other eBay itemizing, this one with my headphone setup (however no optical inserts) was solely $2,600 – once more with most, if not all, of the equipment included. A number of different 256GB and 512GB fashions bought for round that quantity this week.
After all, that's how the story goes for early adopters, particularly if you purchase very costly expertise earlier than the mainstream catches on. Apple's pricing doesn't assist issues, particularly when the following closest competing headset — the Meta Quest three — is simply $500. It's a bummer even when in the long run they aren't all that comparable, at the least when it comes to their supposed audiences and objectives for his or her platforms.
But it surely nonetheless stings, doesn't it? Realizing that I may have saved just a few hundred and we received the very best storage configuration, AppleCare Plus, and a storage case is particularly painful. I like Imaginative and prescient Professional quite a bit – possibly greater than every other author from The Verge — but when I hadn't missed the return window, I'd ship it proper again to Apple so I may get one in all these offers. Fortunately, after I'm sporting the headset, nobody can see my tears.