Apple’s newly unveiled mixed-reality headset — hailed by the company as an innovation as groundbreaking as the original iPhone — drew near immediate mockery online with many scoffing at its eye-popping price tag.
Dubbed the “Vision Pro,” the device will go for a whopping $3,499 a pop when it becomes available early next year, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers conference event at its California headquarters.
When the cost was announced in real time, the audience at the conference audibly groaned, footage posted to Twitter shows.
Online, people also griped about the dollar figure.
“The $3,499 Apple Vision Pro will allow you to see how bad you are at personal finance,” a financial meme account tweeted.
Many also dragged the short battery life of the product.
“For the low price of $3,500 and two hour battery life on Apple Vision Pro, you can watch a full 2/3 of Avatar on your next flight,” photographer Martin Moore tweeted.
Others said the new technology — which allows users to see and interact with virtual displays within the sightline of their real-life physical spaces — felt like something out of a dystopian sci-fi movie or show.
“The Apple Vision Pro is straight from Black Mirror,” a user tweeted alongside the promotional video for the product.
“Oh and one more thing: If you die in vision pro, you die in real life,” a senior designer at Netflix joked on Twitter.
The feedback was not all negative, however.
Many online said the technology is groundbreaking and will change how people live and interact with others and media. Some pointed out the opportunities to watch concerts and sports games from home in a level of deep immersion never seen before.
YouTuber Marques Brownlee raved about Apple’s newest product after he got to try out the headset firsthand.
“Just spent 30 minutes in the Apple Vision Pro headset. Y’all. I am. VERY impressed with a few specific things,” he tweeted. “Definitely stay tuned.”