Apple Vision Pro in an Apple Store
In a new interview just minutes after the release of Apple Vision Pro, Apple CEO Tim Cook calls the new headset “magical,” and says it’s $3,499 is the right price for it.
“I think’s going to be used in so many different ways because it’s a spatial computer,” said Cook. “You know, the iPhone introduced us to the mobile computer, the Mac introduced us to personal computers.”
“This is the first spatial computer [and] people are going to interact with it in different ways,” he continued. “Some people will connect with it with FaceTime… some people will train on it… surgeons will train on it.”
“The number of use cases is like a computer, it’s just enormous,” he said. “There’s over 1 million apps for it already.”
“It’s tomorrow’s technology today, is the way I think about it,” claimed Cook. “It’s packed with, we have 5,000 patents on the product already, so we really leaned into it.”
“It is magical, it really is,” he continued. “I know that’s a word that we use a lot. But it is truly magical.”
“So we’ve been working on this for years,” he said. “To get the gestures down, there’s a lot of artificial intelligence, machine learning built into the product to get hand gesture, to get room mapping.”
“This stuff requires very deep machine learning, and we couldn’t be more proud of it,” said Cook. “A company only has a few of these. Most companies have none. We’ve had the Mac, the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, the Apple Watch, now the Vision Pro. It’s one of those moments.”
Close up of an Apple Vision Pro in an Apple Store
Apple Vision Pro starts at $3,499, which makes it one of the most costly headsets available. But Cook thinks Apple has priced it correctly.
“I’m hoping some people will pay for it by month, some people will just buy it,” he said. “I have talked to a lot of people on line, they’re just going to buy it.”
“But over time, who knows what will happen?” he continued. “But we think we priced it for the right value today.”
Cook was also pressed on the idea that Apple Vision Pro will further disconnect users, and he denied it.
“I would say no,” he said. “You don’t have to immerse yourself… it can augment your reality.”
“And so, you and I can be sitting here having a conversation with the headset on and we can see each other’s eyes,” continued Cook. “But we can also see the screens around us, so it am amplifies our connection.”
“That was a key design for us,” he said. “We wanted people to be able to see each other’s eyes, not get glazed over in a headset.”
Cook’s reference to the pricing and the suggestion that it might change over time, comes after he made a related announcement during Apple’s latest earnings call. Without specifically mentioning Apple Vision Pro or any other product, he said that he was “incredibly excited” about AI coming to Apple devices “later this year.”
