Oh, if only that were true, but sadly many people do still see phones as status symbols, it is why so many people are out there shelling out $800 or $900 for a new phone every 1-2 years. They don't need any of the new features those new models offer so badly that a 1 generation upgrade is worth the price, for instance you can play pretty much every mobile game on a 4 year old phone model with pretty high graphics settings, and yet people are still out there upgrading from an iPhone 13 to an iPhone 14 or a Samsung Galaxy S22 to and S23. The only logical explanation for such an upgrade is that they still see phones as status symbols.

Now me on the other hand, I couldn't care less about a Phone as a status symbol. I care about function over form and like to get the best model possible that meets all of my needs. Unfortunately, Phone design has been going down the crapper lately, many of the top phones got rid of physical headphone jacks, iPhones lack an SD card slot so no expandable storage, most modern phones have a unibody design which makes battery replacement a huge pain in the ass compared to the older 2 piece smartphones, most modern phones have gotten too big to use with one hand if you have a smaller hand; the list of issues with modern phones goes on and on.

Apple have a reach other companies does not have. Even if I don't think I will get something like this for a couple of years, I like to see the tech improve.

I feel like most other VR/AR headsets are marketed as toys rather than tools. A fun thing to play around with. While the take here is more as something that can improve productivity. If it can or not is a different question. I think most who buys it will use it as an entertainment product no matter the focus of campaigns for the thing. But because of the focus some people might find it more ok to own this compared to the alternatives, even if they only will use it to play control-free beat saber and watch AR p*rn.

Just because people buy stuff doesn't mean they can afford it. Many live way above their possibilities and struggle hard to even have enough money for good food because of that. There are just too many people who feel ashamed nowadays to buy a phone for maybe 300 bucks even though that would be more in their range or even still too much. 

Same with clothing, where many would never buy shoes or anything from companies which aren't considered "cool".

So yeah, the price of iPhones is low enough to get enough people to buy them but probably half of iPhone users complain every single day how they don't earn enough money to afford stuff which is more important.  

Just too many people don't know how to handle money and have no idea what they even spend per year or month for food, gas or whatever. They just know that "my money isn't enough".

I won't complain though. I hope a lot of people will buy this headset so that Apple will stay in this business which will not only push the industry forward but also pressure other companies to release even better products as they already do. 

Unless they get competition from other companies. Hollow lens should now be made affordable for consumers.

Apple is not just any brand with any followers. Apple is  like a religion, where the followers would throw money at any priced product with an Apple badge.

"I don't care what critics think of Apple's products, they're bought and paid for" .......

... along other assumptions made by you, what prevents these critics from being bought and paid for by Google and Samsung? Absolutely nothing. 

Funny you chose to pick on the AirPods, because I have the most positive experience with them just recently when I bought SONY's, Bose's, Samsung's EarPods to test them out (with the intention of returning all of them except for the one that works for me). As someone on the Autism spectrum, I have been long advised to wear noise blocking things to keep calm, but what ends up happening is the occlusive effect of these things make me hear the internal thumping I hear every foot step and it drove me nuts, on the other hand, the ANC headphones have always had a nauseating pressure effect for me that I couldn't ignore.

I was pleased to revisit the tech since Apple brought so much to the space recently, funnily enough I only did this because Linus from Linustechtips wouldn't shut the hell up about the AirPods, and he mentioned the pressure-free experience (is he paid by Apple too? give me a break).

While AirPods weren't the best at noise cancelling for me (tbh all were very comparably impressive), but they're the only one that have completely eliminated the thumping that comes with the occlusive effect in addition to exerting no pressure on my head whatsoever, I could walk and not hear any of my footsteps, I call attention to details. 

Out of the 4, the only I wanted to keep was the AirPods Pro, I didn't for the same reason I haven't switched to iPhone as a daily driver, I refuse to support non-USB-C gadgets as everything else I own is USB-C compatible (including my PS5 controller). These are just 2 just two of many ways the AirPods have differentiated themselves from the rest, and I am happy to pay extra if they address the lack of the USB-C. Others value how it compliments their Apple devices, and it surely does in a way no other EarPods have done before, people are free to buy into that. It's like making fun of people buying the series X over the series S because on product offers more than the other does.... it's nonsense. 

You want to pretend that Apple hasn't brought nothing new to the space, you're wrong, but go ahead, I am only pointing out that your nasty attitude in this thread so far would've gotten you banned if this was a Nintendo/MS/SONY thread, and for good reasons. Why you choose to continue to behave with immaturity is beyond me, many would look at us gamers and judge how many games, consoles collectables, special edition, etc we buy and has thousands of posts on anonymous forums, I guess you're fine with that too?

Me, on the other hand? Rumour has it that the next AirPods/iPhone will support USB-C, Apple, please take my money. The smartphones are the most used and the most useful devices nowadays, bar none, it's not hard to see why some are willing to overspend on them and upgrade frequently. 

I just really don't get the value here. Maybe it's the kind of think you have to use to get it, but I'm not seeing the advantage here besides you can have a big virtual screen which I guess is kind of neat.

It looks cool, but I don't think this sort of thing is going to become the next iPhone until it feels and looks like a pair or stylish sunglasses. Way too bulky to expect people to use it as their daily device. People care too much about personal appearance etc. 

But we're getting there!

What this tech is going to be by version 3/4, when it's lighter, probably even higher resolution, and more refined overall is going to be mind blowing I think.

I find that every time something is posted about Apple in certain parts of the internet, there’s this bizarre cynical circle-jerk bashing Apple, like the company personally threatens them.