It is still unknown when Apple Vision Pro will appear in official retailers, so the ball is in the court of «gray» sellers who bring the «technology of the future» closer (© Tim Cook) as best they can.
Sales of Vision Pro in the United States started on February 2, 2024. The United States is still the only country where Vision Pro can be bought officially: prices start at $3499 (excluding taxes) for the minimum 256 GB of storage, the 512 GB version costs $3699, and 1 TB — $3899. The gadgets are currently being imported to Ukraine and other countries by resellers, who, of course, charge a hefty markup. At the same time, prices for Apple Vision Pro in Ukraine have gone down over the past week.
While at the start of sales in early February, Ukrainian marketplaces and electronics stores were offering an average of 210K UAH for Apple Vision Pro. As of February 22, you can find offers cheaper than 170K UAH (about $4,400 at the current exchange rate), which is confirmed by the data from price aggregators Hotline and E-Katalog Ukraine.
We are talking about the minimum configuration with 256 GB of internal memory (512 GB or 1 TB are pricier, but they have lost some price). The cost of the maximum version with 1 TB of memory currently reaches UAH 250 thousand. It is worth noting that this is not a pre-order with full prepayment, the headsets are supposedly «available», so the device should be issued/sent on the day the order is paid.
Apple made a lot of noise with the release of a «spatial computer» in the format of a ski mask. Shortly after sales started, social networks filled with memes and funny content from «people from the future» who strangely used the headset in various public places. In subways, restaurants, or just in the middle of the streets, gyms, driving a Tesla with Autopilot enabled and during the walking the dog Patron robotic dogs. At the same time, there were also plenty of interesting and close-to-reality demonstrations. From the more obvious (watching movies, games, music, photos) to scenarios, such as programming and multitasking and window tracking and also a bunch of different raisins. But not the ones you’re thinking of, — no 3D porn yet, just regular flat on the VR screen. A rather fascinating coincidence — a downward trend emerged after the news of massive returns of Apple Vision Pro in the second week of sales. In social media, users cited discomfort when wearing the headset due to its large size and excessive weight, insufficient battery life, inconvenience when performing work tasks, lack of support for individual files, and a limited library of applications in general as the main reasons for the return.
Apple has not yet announced the start date of Apple Vision Pro sales in other countries — Apple’s distributor in the Ukrainian market «Asbis-Ukraine» has not yet informed retailers about the date of official deliveries. So when «white» will appear in Ukraine and how much they will cost is anyone’s guess. Even if we put aside the limitation (you need an American AppleID to use it fully) and problems with the warranty, the «gray» Apple Vision Pro has another, more significant drawback — in the package there are about 30 different seal substrates for the device fits properly, considering the individual characteristics of a person’s face shape. This means that when you buy from unofficial, the chances of guessing and not spoiling your impression of the new product are extremely low.