Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Says Current AR/VR Tech Just Doesn't Cut It For Masses — Analyst Bets Apple Will Sell Less Than 1M Headsets In First Year

ARK Invest, an investment firm led by Cathie Wood, boldly asserts that current augmented and virtual reality technology, including offerings from tech giants like Apple Inc. AAPL and Meta Platforms Inc. META, fails to meet the mark when it comes to capturing the masses adoption. 

What Happened: Earlier this week, sharing the tidbits of their internal discussions via the video series "The Brainstorm," ARK Invest Nick Grous and Sam Korus touched upon several topics, one of which was Apple's highly anticipated 2023 WWDC. 

They specifically talked about the major hardware product launch Cupertino did after at least five years of silence — the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. 

See Also: Why Mark Zuckerberg Believes Apple’s Vision Pro Headset Validates Future Of AR/VR

In the video, Grous admitted that Apple's headset has "wowed" many reviewers and the device itself has a lot of hardware and technology built, but also pointed out that the hefty price tag of almost $3,500 could put it at a disadvantage. 

Speaking further, Grous stated that he has a wager going internally that Apple would only be able to sell under a million units of Apple Vision Pro in its first year – and the primary reason behind it would be the price point. He said that it is likely that more developers would buy the product than consumers. 

The analysts also discussed that the name of the device, Apple Vision Pro is called "Pro" for a reason and maybe with this device the company is going after the developers but continues to market it so consumers understand Apple's approach toward the AR/VR ecosystem. 

It is pertinent to note here that previously Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman stated that Apple is working on a cheaper version of its first-generation mixed-reality headset. It could be called Apple Vision or Apple Vision One. 

Speaking about whether people actually want to buy these headsets — a question which is more important to ask rather than whether consumers are willing to pay $3,500, Grous said that to answer this question it is first important to understand if "VR ready for prime time?"

"I think, there's still a long way that this market needs to go before consumers are wearing these devices for an X amount of hours a day on a regular basis," he said, adding ” I don't think there's a single device that’s ready and could be brought to masses” 

He was making the statement with respect to all the devices present in the market currently, including Meta’s Quest lineup and Apple Vision Pro.  

Why It's Important: It was previously reported that while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't think Apple's debut mixed reality headset had any "magical" technological advancements, he did say that Cupertino's entry in the AR/VR segment will give more "validation to the category."

Zuckerberg also said that considering the price of the Apple Vision Pro headset, it wouldn't be affordable to many people, which would ultimately benefit Meta and other headset-makers. 

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Read Next: How Does Apple’s Vision Pro Compare With Meta’s Quest 3?