Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro might need $600 lenses for glasses wearers

Apple's Vision Pro is now a real thing after the company announced it during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5. The headset itself looks stunning and the demonstrations that Apple shared made the software experience appear just as impressive. But that price has already given plenty of people cause for pause. And now there might be even more sticker shock on the way as well.

The size and shape of Apple's Vision Pro headset will mean that those who normally wear glasses will have to take them off to wear it. Apple and Zeiss have already confirmed a collaboration that will see the lensmaker build special prescription lenses for the Vision Pro headset without telling anyone how much they will cost. Now, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that they could cost as much as $600, although it has to be said that this appears to be a guess on his part.

That being said, Gurman does suggest that there might be a chance of Apple helping to subsidize that price slightly, although it seems unlikely. Apple has repeatedly said that Vision Pro will start at $3,499 which means that there is scope for the price to increase somewhat. It's possible that these Zeiss lenses are where that will happen, but we'll need Apple to confirm that.

The Vision Pro headset might have been announced during WWDC but it isn't going to go on sale until some time in early 2024. That gives Apple plenty of time to finalize this kind of thing, but that isn't the only reason for the delay. Apple also wants to ensure that app developers have as much time as possible to get their wares ready for the App Store of course.

Apple announced the Vision Pro alongside the 15-inch MacBook Air and an updated M2 Ultra-powered Mac Studio, not to mention the first Mac Pro running Apple silicon. There were also previews for all of Apple's future software releases across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. While Apple's Mac hardware is going on sale soon, the software is another story. Early betas are already in the hands of developers, but the final releases won't be ready for the public to install until this fall - likely in September or October depending on how the beta program progresses.

September is set to be a busy time, with Apple also likely to announce the iPhone 15 lineup and a number of new Apple Watches during the same month.