Overseas buyers see ‘Vision’ in Apple’s new offing; it’s being resold for $5,000

Apple’s limited release of the Vision Pro headset is fostering a resale market that’s pricing the device far beyond its $3,500 starting price.

On Japan’s Mercari marketplace, the base 256 GB model sold for $5,400, sellers on China’s Taobao are asking $5,000 and there’s one seller on Singapore’s Lazada seeking $6,300 for the device. In Hong Kong’s bustling Mong Kok, an electronics importer specialising in getting gadgets early, asks for $4,580, with the price shifting on a daily basis. His advice: best to wait.

Cupertino, California-based Apple put the Vision Pro on sale in a limited number of stores in the US at the start of this month, with an elaborate setup and customisation process for each buyer. The company wants to ensure an optimal first experience with its virtual reality goggles – which it dubs a spatial computer, owing to the hand gestures used to control it.

Questions remain about how big the consumer market is for so-called extended reality (XR) devices, and especially ones with a price like the Vision Pro’s. But the gadget’s early exclusivity is pushing prices up.

“Our observations indicate inflated prices on unofficial channels, reaching up to 40,000 yuan ($5,555) for Vision Pro units,” Counterpoint Research analyst Ivan Lam said. “However, these purchases likely represent a limited supply, originating from outside markets and deviating from typical consumer behavior.”

The drive to acquire an early unit of the new device comes from various sources, IDC analyst Bryan Ma said. Bloomberg