Apple (AAPL -0.35%) gave the world a peek into the future of technology at its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) earlier this month.
As it has done in the past, Apple wowed the audience with the launch of its new Vision Pro spatial-computing headset. At a price of $3,500, the new device might give some potential customers sticker shock, but the price seems to reflect the years of research that went into the high-tech product as well as the company's preference to skim the market with new product launches. In other words, the product starts out at a high price, selling to early adopters most eager to get a hold of the product, before the company lowers the price on future launches as the technology improves and gets more affordable.
Apple dominates the market for consumer tech hardware, and the company has a significant impact on the rest of the tech sector as it dictates rules within its App Store, which can make or break app-based companies.
On that note, let's take a look at one winner and one loser from the launch of the Vision Pro.
Image source: Apple.
One winner from Vision Pro: Zoom
Zoom Video Communications (ZM 1.57%) was a pandemic juggernaut, but the stock has crashed since its peak in 2020 as its growth has ground nearly to a halt. For example, its top line grew by just 3% in its most recent quarter to $1.1 billion.
Remote work has mostly stuck around even as the pandemic has officially ended, but the market for Zoom's videoconferencing products has matured, and the company has struggled to find a way to expand.
The Vision Pro, which unleashes a new platform for augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), gives Zoom an opportunity to change that, and if it can be the de facto videoconferencing app for spatial-computing headsets, it should see additional growth, especially as the new computing platform will create opportunities for new products and related tools.
Additionally, the Vision Pro will only make remote work more attractive as it offers better technology for collaborating with colleagues remotely, and for working without the need for multiple monitors and the other accoutrements that have become a staple of modern office work.
One loser from Vision Pro: Meta Platforms
The most obvious loser from Apple's Vision Pro launch is Meta Platforms (META 0.43%), the company that has long been focused on owning the next virtual computing platform.
Meta acquired VR technology company Oculus nearly ten years ago, in part to prepare for this shift, but its previous product launches of Quest headsets have failed to resonate with the broad market, even though the Quest 3 will be priced as a mass-market product at just $500.
However, Apple's presentation at WWDC underscores the advantages it has over Meta. First, consumers are already overwhelmingly familiar with Apple hardware. There are more than 2 billion Apple devices in use around the world, and the app interface on Vision Pro will be easily recognizable to anyone who's used an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Additionally, Apple has the luxury of pairing the Vision Pro with its existing devices. For instance, you can use the Vision Pro with Airpods if you're in a shared space, and it works with native Apple apps like FaceTime. Apple also has a healthy developer ecosystem, and its headset works without the handheld haptics that the Quest relies on, removing a barrier to using the device.
Even though Apple is targeting a much higher price point, the Vision Pro launch shows how Meta will be fighting an uphill battle. One advantage of the Vision Pro is that the goggles present themselves as transparent so that the user can make eye contact with another person in the room, a feature Apple calls Eyesight. The Quest, on the other hand, can't, meaning that the device is much less useful with other people in your physical space.
Meta's upcoming launch of the Quest 3 will get attention, but it seems unlikely that the company will eclipse Apple in its technological prowess, which is what matters most at this point.
What's next for Vision Pro
Apple said the new headset will go on sale early next year, and investors should temper expectations for sales of the device as when the iPhone first launched, only 1.4 million units sold, so the Vision Pro could get off to a slow start but still gain momentum over the long term.
Investors mostly shrugged off the Vision Pro launch as Apple stock was down slightly on the day of the introduction on high volume.
Still, the Vision Pro gives the iPhone maker significant upside potential as it stakes its claim to the next computing platform, and the stock is likely to reflect any positive momentum in the new device.
Given that, the biggest winner from the launch of the new Vision Pro headset is likely to be Apple itself.
