Toni Hobrecht
Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones are made of plastic and weigh 254 grams. The material mix of the Apple AirPods Max is significantly higher quality, resulting in a weight of 385 grams. Apple doesn’t seem to have learned any lessons from that for its $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset. The “spatial computer” tends to be home on the heavier side of life.
As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman now reports, Apple now gave more employees access to the headset after the introduction of the Vision Pro. A few selected employees could try out the headset, and the first problem arose right away. Several testers felt the headset was too heavy after a few hours of continuous use. The exact weight is unknown as Apple has never released an official number. However, the headset is made of high-quality materials such as aluminum and glass and not plastic like many other XR headsets.
Apple has reportedly already come up with a solution, a strap that goes over the user’s head and helps distribute the weight. However, according to Gurman, the strap will not be part of the scope of delivery because Apple considers it non-essential. When you factor in the price of the Apple Vision Pro at $3,500, it’s easy to wonder how much a simple strap can cost. And that’s just the starting price with no optional extras. On the other hand, Apple easily manages to charge $699 for four rubber wheels.
Other extras probably also include the corrective lenses from Zeiss. With these, people who wear glasses can also use the headset. The Apple Vision Pro headset is scheduled to be launched “early next year”, but unfortunately only in the USA for the time being.
