Apple is likely to launch its Vision Pro headset outside the United States before WWDC 2024, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reports.
In a new post on Medium, Kuo said that Apple plans to share new details about visionOS with developers from around the globe at its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). To make this push toward global developers worthwhile, Apple needs to make the Vision Pro available in non-U.S. markets before the event. Making the headset available internationally before WWDC would apparently enable Apple to promote a "global development ecosystem" for visionOS.
Kuo explained that Apple's reasoning for keeping sales of the Vision Pro exclusive to the United States at first is due to limited supply, a wish to ensure that the sales process goes smoothly before expanding it, and to provide time to modify its software to be suitable for other countries. Once these issues have been resolved, Kuo believes the Vision Pro will go on sale in more countries.
Apple has hosted WWDC in early June every year since 2007, so it is highly likely to fall at the same time again this year. Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the launch of Vision Pro in other countries around the world will not "actually be that much later" than its release in the United States. Apple is said to be considering the United Kingdom, Canada, and China as the next markets to receive the product.
It is not clear how much supply will be available in the rest of the world by the time the Vision Pro goes on sale outside the United States. With only 80,000 units expected to be available upon launch in the U.S., the headset is expected to sell out quickly and thereafter be subject to long shipping delays.
