Apple Vision Pro is hard to find, purchasing agents and copycat versions are coming

Written by: Mu Mu

After Apple Vision Pro started pre-sales in the United States, the first batch was sold out in less than ten minutes, and the shipping date has been scheduled for March this year. Since this product is not yet available for the Chinese market, but there are domestic users who want to try it out, a service for purchasing Apple Vision Pro on behalf of others has emerged.

When Vision Pro first went on pre-sale on January 19, the 1TB model was priced at US$3,899 (discounted) on the official website.contract27,660 yuan), and the purchase price is close to 90,000 yuan. There is no guarantee that it will be the first batch of goods, and there is no way to quickly send it back to the country.

In recent days, although the price of purchasing agents has dropped, the official website price is US$3,499 (discountedcontract The 256G model (24,823 yuan) still costs about 33,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan, plus postage and taxes. If you want to buy Vision Pro from the United States, the total cost will be 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan higher than the purchasing price.

Genuine Vision Pro is difficult to purchase, and some copycat versions have begun to appear. "AppleCore" appeared in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen. It looks very similar to Vision Pro and sells for only 1,600 yuan. As you can imagine, the quality and experience are definitely in line with Apple’s positioning as a “space computer.”Xiaobai Navigation” are not on the same level. When we asked some stalls in Huaqiangbei about the copycat version of Vision Pro, the reply we received was: “You are the first to ask this.”

Vision Pro purchasing premium falls

Vision Pro, which will "open the era of spatial computing", will be officially launched in North America on January 19. The starting price of the 256G model is set at US$3,499 (discounted).contract 24,823 yuan), 18 minutes after the sale started, the US official website showed that the inventory was sold out; 2 hours after the sale started, the delivery date was scheduled to March.

News from the supply chain shows that the supply of Apple Vision Pro is not high. In mid-2023, Apple will reduce device orders from 1 million units to 400,000 units. According to TrendForce estimates, Vision Pro shipments may reach 500,000-600,000 units in 2024.

Apple has reduced supply, and the Vision Pro is already hard to find in the United States. If users in China want to make cross-border purchases, official channels have simply become a threshold.

According to the Vision Pro reservation process, users need to have a US Apple ID, a US phone number and a corresponding payment card, and also need to fill in a US shipping address. This is not easy to achieve for the vast majority of domestic 3C new product enthusiasts, and those who can achieve it do not rule out becoming purchasing agents.

On e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Taobao, and Xianyu, there are many Vision Pro purchasing agents, with purchasing prices ranging from 30,000 to 90,000 yuan. A purchasing agent on JD International listed the price at 89,800 yuan, and the deposit alone was 38,999 yuan.

Recently, the purchase price of Vision Pro has dropped, but the general price of the 256G version is still between 33,000-40,000 yuan. This may be related to the fact that mass consumers themselves are not so interested in this product.

When "Metaverse Sunburst" consulted Xianyu's personal purchasing agent, the other party replied, "After research, the price was reduced to 33,000, which is already a very low price relatively speaking. After the price adjustment, more people asked." He also admitted frankly, "Many people ask, but few people pay deposits. I have ordered two units in total. I can bring them back with human flesh when I return to my country. This can save taxes and fees." He said that no one has paid a deposit yet.

Merchants appear on e-commerce platforms to purchase VisionPro at high premiums

On other platforms, the sales volume of purchasing agents is not high, with only a few dozen at most. The lack of goods and high prices discourage ordinary consumers. 3C product enthusiast Nico (pseudonym) told "Metaverse Daily Explosion": "For the new computer experience, I am willing to pay for Vision Pro, but I will not choose to buy it from the United States. Regardless of the cost, U.S. products If you get it for domestic use, it will be very troublesome to use, and the experience may be compromised. It is better to wait for the national version to be reliable.”

Indeed, if domestic users buy the US version of Vision Pro regardless of cost, they will indeed face many user experience problems. First of all, Vision Pro's language and input method currently only support English; secondly, due to copyright and licensing restrictions, some of Vision Pro's applications may not work properly outside the United States; accordingly, Vision Pro's app store also requires a US ID to log in. .

In addition, Vision Pro can currently only be installed with Zeiss-certified myopia lenses. When purchasing, domestic users need to ensure that their prescription form comes from the United States and has legal qualifications. This also creates many problems for future after-sales.

Domestic copycat phones appear but no one cares about them

Vision Pro is hard to find, and some netizens joked: "When Huaqiangbei comes, all problems will be solved."

In fact, as early as last year, a copycat headset called Apple Core had already entered the market, priced at 1,600 yuan each, which was less than a fraction of the genuine version.

On January 5, Bilibili UP host "Xiaochen Attack" released a review video of this copycat Vision Pro. From the appearance alone, the Apple Core is highly similar to the Vision Pro, but with the addition of a handle with a strong plastic texture. The Vision Pro has 12 cameras, while the Apple Core only has two.

The UP owner's test video shows that when Apple Core is turned on, what comes into view is not Apple's classic logo, but a big "Android", and then a 3D "Vision SE" words will appear in front of the user's eyes. After entering the desktop, the entire UI interface basically replicates the style of Vision OS shown in the promotional video of Apple's press conference in June last year, but the settings page is similar to the iPad.

UP main "Xiao Chen Attack" test screen of the copycat Vision Pro‍‍‍‍‍

The virtual city written by Neal Stephenson develops along a 100-meter-wide road. Electronic signs on buildings spread in dim neighborhoods. People can enter this highly free and developed city through virtual reality glasses, purchase virtual land and develop buildings. . The novel character Hiro shares a small warehouse with others in the real world, but in this virtual city called "Metaverse", he owns a beautiful big house.

As for the experience, the knockoff version certainly cannot compare with the genuine Vision Pro. In addition, the applications of this knockoff are poor, with only a few simple games and videos, poor picture quality and smoothness, not to mention the ability to connect to Apple apps.

So, how is the market for low-priced and affordable copycat versions of Vision Pro?

"Yuan Universe Sunburst" asked several Huaqiangbei stall owners, and the responses they received were surprisingly consistent: "It's out of stock, because there is no domestic market at all." One owner said: "You are the first to ask."

In addition to mobile phones, the main popular counterfeit products in Huaqiangbei are headphones and watches. Although these products are not used as frequently as mobile phones and computers in daily life, buyers still emphasize the use experience and consume with the mentality of saving money without affecting the experience. Counterfeit products, and genuine XR headsets have not yet become mainstream 3C consumer products, so it is not surprising that counterfeit products are out of favor.

Nico, a 3C product enthusiast, believes that XR headsets place great emphasis on user experience. Even head products such as PICO and Meta Quest have not done a particularly good job. “For example, it is impossible to solve the problem of dizziness with counterfeit products. And it’s still over a thousand yuan. If I really want to experience a VR headset, it would be better to buy a second-hand PICO NEO3.”

UP owner "Xiao Chen Attack" believed in the evaluation that Huaqiangbei's copycat version of Vision Pro is not targeted at ordinary consumers. "It may be more targeted at offline exhibition halls such as shopping malls or some VR experience halls, focusing on offline machines for the VR industry." "

Whether you are a 3C enthusiast or an ordinary user, if you are interested in this "space computer", it would be a wiser choice to wait for the National Bank version of Vision Pro. Currently, Apple has not announced a specific date for the Vision Pro to be released in China. Some analysts predict that Apple may release Vision Pro in markets outside the United States before WWDC 2024, and the WWDC developer conference is usually held in June every year.

The article comes from the Internet:Apple Vision Pro is hard to find, purchasing agents and copycat versions are coming

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