The Apple Vision Pro is little more than an expensive devkit, one former Oculus chief claims

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale for a few weeks now which means that it isn't quite the huge story that it was not that long ago. But it's still a big product for Apple and the mixed reality headset market as a whole and now one person who knows a thing or two about that market has weighed in on Apple's so-called spatial computer.

Hugo Barra is the former VP of Android at Google but most recently he was the head of Meta's Oculus headset brand. Now, he's published a post on his blog that looks at Apple's headset and where it currently fits in a market that has so far been mostly Meta's for the taking.

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Notably, Barra has once again ignited the complaint that the Apple Vision Pro is nothing more than a devkit, or a device that Apple needed to make and sell in order to give developers something to work with while they fill the visionOS App Store with apps. Barra backs that claim up, saying that the heavy weight and other factors are a reason that the headset is a "high-quality devkit" that is designed to capture the attention of everyone. It's certainly done that, with YouTube and other platforms full of influencers and reviewers and legitimate owners sharing clips of themselves using the headset in various different settings.

Barra goes on to say that the Apple Vision Pro is a device that helps the world get ready for a more mainstream version that could arrive further down the line. He believes that could take another one or two generations to happen, however.

It had previously been reported by multiple sources that Apple is already working on a next-generation Apple Vision Pro while a cheaper model is also one that Apple is thought to have in mind. The current Apple Vision Pro starts at $3,499 for the 256GB model while buyers can choose to pay more for upgrades to 512GB or 1TB of storage.

The reason for the high price is likely what Barra calls "over-spec'ing" which he says is a common practice where companies make sure that their devices can live up to the expectations of early adopters. The headet has six tracking cameras and an additional two cameras for passthrough capabilities.

The Apple Vision Pro is currently only on sale in the United States but it's been claimed that more countries could see the headset launch within the next few months, likely ahead of the WWDC event in June.