People are saying the Vision Pro could replace the iPad, but there are some serious hurdles for it to overcome before that happens — if it ever happens at all.
In the time since it launched in early February, we’ve heard a lot about how Apple’s Vision Pro could replace some of the company’s other devices, especially the iPad. Now, prominent leaker Mark Gurman has joined the fray and lent weight to the idea of the headset becoming a tablet killer. But while that seems plausible, there’s one major problem with it.
Specifically, it’s the price. Because while Gurman’s Power On newsletter makes some good points about the Vision Pro’s strengths, it can’t get around the unavoidable obstacle that is the device’s $3,500 asking price. If the Vision Pro really is going to replace the iPad, a lot has to change first, especially given how wide of a range of prices the iPad line hits.The iPad killer?
When comparing the Vision Pro and the iPad, Gurman notes that the former “has the potential to provide a far better experience for the main jobs that Apple’s tablet was designed to handle” (although he admits “it’s still very early days”). Everything you might use an iPad for — light work, entertainment, viewing your photos, and more — can be done more immersively and expansively on the Vision Pro. The two products cover many of the same bases, even using many of the same apps. Meanwhile, the Vision Pro’s “spatial computing” trump card gives it an edge in a great many ways.
Of course, Apple would simply say that it would like you to buy both products, and that there’s no reason why one has to replace the other. But the company is not afraid of cannibalizing its own products — just look at what happened to the iPod after the iPhone arrived on the scene.
