When Apple unveiled its Vision Pro virtual reality headset at last year's tech conference, many in the audience gasped at its $3,500 price tag. That's more than four times the price of a new iPhone and 14 times the price of its rival, the Meta headset.
The headset, sold by Apple as a computer, movie player and video game console, was released in stores last Friday. However, even before launch, discussions centered on price. Many people have wondered why they pay so much for something they can already do with their computers, televisions, and video game consoles.
However, the actual cost of owning a Vision Pro is probably much higher. Probably around $4,600. This is because prices skyrocket due to accessories and accessories that many people may want to purchase, including:
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This $200 case from Apple will help you carry and protect your Vision Pro when you travel.
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Headphones like Apple's $180 AirPods let you listen to music in private.
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$200 replacement batteries to get the most out of the viewfinder (the battery life is only 2 hours, so the viewfinder won't last long enough to play an entire movie).
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$100 prescription lens inserts for glasses wearers.
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An additional $200 cushion to make the headset fit another family member.
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It costs an extra $200 for the higher data storage option (512GB instead of the base model's 256GB), which allows you to store more videos and apps on the device.
And these are just additional costs that many people consider essential. Other options, such as Apple's $500 extended warranty coverage, a $70 video game controller, or a $50 battery holder that clips to your pants, can push the price to $5,000 or more without taxes.
While these shocking numbers grab your attention, it's important to note that you can learn a valuable lesson from the Vision Pro about “ghost costs” – add-ons that greatly inflate the amount you spend. For electronic devices such as smartphones, computers, and virtual reality headsets, this can translate into cases and charging devices.
Personal finance advisor Ramit Sethi said it was important for any consumer looking to take control of their budget to have a clear understanding of the true cost of owning technology.
“Companies believe you can’t do math,” said Sethi, who hosts a podcast on monetary psychology. “The bigger your purchase, the more money you spend behind the scenes.”
These lessons apply not only to Apple hardware, but to all technology products we use on a regular basis. Let's take a look at the fantasy costs of a Windows computer and a Samsung phone.
windows computer
Microsoft is selling the Surface Laptop 5 with a starting price of $1,000. But after adding a few extra features from the Microsoft Store, it's more realistic to say that this is a $1,950 laptop, almost twice its list price.
Additional details include:
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Additional memory costs $500.
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The same price as Microsoft's headphones are $250.
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The Microsoft dock, which charges your laptop and connects it to an external display, costs $200.
The biggest virtual cost in this case is memory, which is important for your computer to run multiple applications smoothly at the same time. Computer manufacturers usually sell base models with a reasonable amount of memory, which may not be enough to keep your computer running quickly for many years, so consider purchasing a model with additional memory.
The base model of the $1,000 Surface Laptop 5 only comes with 8GB of memory, but most people will need twice that much to smoothly run the latest Windows operating system, as well as new apps and games. Models with 16GB cost an additional $500.
samsung mobile phone
Samsung's new premium smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, starts at $1,300. But it's actually a $1,540 phone.
Over the past five years, many smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, Google and Samsung, have stopped offering phones with basic accessories such as headphones and chargers, which has increased their profit margins. And replicating the way computer manufacturers sell more memory, base models of smartphones typically include a modest amount of data storage, not enough for long-term storage of photos, videos, and apps.
First, a quick note on storage. According to Samsung, the average photo takes up 5MB. So, if you want to take 3,000 photos, you'll need about 15GB. Popular mobile games such as fortnite why Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis It eats up tens of gigabytes. Videos downloaded from Netflix for offline viewing take up about 1GB per hour. Simply put, you'll run out of data storage quickly, so why buy 256GB when you can double it and spend about $100 more?
Unless you already have accessories that are compatible with your new phone, you'll need to add these costs:
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The Samsung charger costs $30.
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The Samsung protective case costs $40.
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Samsung wireless headphones cost $50.
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It costs about $120 more to get 512GB, which allows you to store more photos and apps. (At the time of this writing, this upgrade is being offered for free thanks to a limited-time promotion.)
That doesn't include the cost of using your phone with a modest cellular plan of $70 a month. Owning this Samsung phone with service included for three years will cost you about $112.77 per month, or $4,060 total.
conclusion
The goal isn't to ridicule people about their tech purchases, but to raise awareness about how much we actually spend on new devices, which is often much more than we think, Sethi said. That's why the best bet for most people who buy tech products is to hold on to them for as long as possible. In this way, they maximize the value they get not only from the device, but also from the many additional products they purchase along the way.
For comparison, the example above shows the cost of purchasing additional items such as headphones and case directly from the device manufacturer. An easy way to save money is to look for cheaper third-party alternatives, but that purchase will still be a phantom cost that increases the overall price of the technology.
All of this adds up to the biggest illusory cost you incur when regularly purchasing a new phone or something like Apple's Vision Pro. early adopterThat means being the first to try new technologies.
“The more new phones you buy, the more people around you expect the latest products, and the more you identify with always having the latest products,” Sethi said. “That’s the biggest ghost cost.”
Brian X. Chen He is the Times' chief consumer technology columnist. He reviews products and writes Tech Fix, a column about the social impact of the technology we use. More works by Brian X. Chen