Apple's first VR headset, Vision Pro, is facing a content shortage.
After five months of being on the US market, Apple announced that Vision Pro has "over 2,000 apps," but this number is insignificant compared to the iPhone and iPad during the same period.
According to Appfigures data that tracks the App Store, the number of new apps released for Vision Pro has sharply declined this year.
Some market analysts point out that in order for consumers to willingly purchase this device with a high price tag of $3,500, Vision Pro still lacks a "killer app".
Bank of America stock analyst Wamsi Mohan said that Vision Pro "has not fully captured the imagination of consumers" and, due to its high price, it is one of the slowest growing new products in Apple's history.
Market research firm Omdia analyst George Jijiashvili commented:
"The reality is that most developers are willing to invest their time and money into platforms with billions of users, not tens or hundreds of thousands of users."
Simply put, the market's lack of confidence in Vision Pro is because the scarcity of app content seems to be difficult to support its high price.
Technology market research firm IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo also emphasized that the success of Vision Pro will ultimately depend on the content it provides.
This means that Vision Pro's sales may not be as satisfactory as Apple's previous new products.
According to IDC data, Vision Pro's shipments in the first quarter will be less than 0.1 million units, less than half of its competitor Meta Quest's sales; Omdia predicts that Apple will sell 0.35 million units of Vision Pro this year, with sales increasing to 0.75 million units next year and to 1.7 million units by 2026. In comparison, the iPad sold nearly 20 million units in its first year on the market.
Perhaps out of concern for this issue, recent media reports claim that Apple plans to release a lower-priced version of Vision Pro with fewer features by the end of 2025.
However, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities who understands Apple best, commented that many people, including himself, bought Apple's mixed reality headset Vision Pro and only used it a few times before not using it anymore. If this is a common user condition, such a problem cannot be solved simply by making a lower-priced version.
However, some analysts are bullish about the development potential of Vision Pro.
Anthony Geffen, CEO and Creative Director of Atlantic Productions, believes that the release of Vision Pro has brought a market turning point:
"I think in the next two to three years, we will truly have a device for the mass market. The arrival of Vision Pro is at a very important moment."