How much does the Apple Vision Pro weigh? Is it comfortable to wear?

The Apple Vision Pro is the first AR–VR headset from Apple, marking the company’s entry into a segment that is still nascent. Apple is often one of the last entrants into a space, choosing to wait and let the market mature before releasing its product. But with Vision Pro and visionOS, the company is marching forward confidently with a sleek product that early reviewers are gushing about. Before you put on the Vision Pro headset, you may wonder about its weight. In this article, we tell you how heavy the Vision Pro headset is, how much it weighs, and what Apple is doing to keep it comfortably light and snug on your head.

How heavy is the Apple Vision Pro?

Apple never reveals the exact spec sheet of its products, leaving it up to tech reviewers to piece together key information for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and beyond. It’s all about the experience and not the specification, after all.

The same philosophy extends to the Apple Vision Pro as well. Beyond a handful of specifications that were in favor of Apple to talk about, the company has opted to remain silent on the rest. As such, we do not have any official information from Apple on the Apple Vision Pro’s weight.

What we have instead is an approximate estimation from early tech reviewers. Nilay Patel mentions that the Apple Vision Pro weighs “a little less than a pound,” while Ben Sin is confident that it is “at least 1.5 pounds.”

This puts the Apple Vision Pro’s weight from about 453g to 680g. This is an admittedly wide range, but given Apple’s silence on the matter, we’re inclined to believe that it is on the heavier side (not to be confused with uncomfortable, though).

How does the Apple Vision Pro compare to the competition for its weight?

Apple Vision Pro’s primary competition includes VR devices like the Meta Quest 2, the Meta Quest Pro, the HTC VIVE Pro 2, the Sony PlayStation VR 2, and the Valve Index. We’re excluding AR-only devices as that would not be a fair comparison.

As you can see, the Apple Vision Pro will fall on the lighter end of the spectrum, even with the ambiguity in its weight. There is a possibility that it will become one of the most lightweight VR headsets that we have seen from a major company, but we can’t say for sure until Apple releases an official weight spec.

Some competitors of the Vision Pro are significantly heavy. These include the recently announced Meta Quest Pro and the HTC VIVE XR Elite. So the Apple Vision Pro should have an advantage over them, though the pricing tips the scales back in favor of the competition.

It is important to note that the Vision Pro is a standalone AR-VR headset, meaning all computing elements are contained within the headset itself. You don’t need to connect to a computer for the headset to work. The headset’s weight becomes impressive in that context.

Apple was smart to decouple the battery from the headset, which should make the head element lighter while your body comfortably handles the weight of the battery pack.

Is the Apple Vision Pro comfortable to wear?

Apple has focused on comfort for the Apple Vision Pro. Most early reviews have reaffirmed that the Vision Pro headset remained comfortable to wear for a good half hour at least (that’s how long most people outside of Apple have used it so far).

None have complained about the headset being noticeably uncomfortable, though some have mentioned that the headset is understandably front-heavy. Despite being very solidly built, it’s impressive how comfortable most say it is.

Ben Sin from XDA said the following:

The Vision Pro did feel a bit heavy on my head. Apple declined to reveal its official weight, but I’d say it’s at least 1.5 pounds. It’s not heavy enough for me to say it’s uncomfortable to wear, but it’s not exactly comfortable, either. However, I do think I could get used to the weight if I sat back while leaning on a pillow or cushion behind my head.

Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, said the following:

This is a pretty heavy VR headset, kind of the same way that AirPods Max, Apple’s metal headphones, are heavier than most plastic headphones. There’s a reason why most other VR headsets are just plastic. It’s not because that’s cheap, it’s because it’s lightweight. It’s fatiguing to have a heavy thing on your head. And this is a headset made of metal and glass, it’s heavy. Now it is also super well built, like there is no arguing that. But I do wonder about using it for longer than the half hour that I did. I wonder if it would be more fatiguing to my head.

Strangely, Apple has persistently displayed the Vision Pro with a single strap in all of its marketing materials when in fact, there is an additional strap that goes over your head. There is only one marketing image with the added strap, though early reviewers were also made to wear one. It is possible that the strap is sold separately and not included as part of the Vision Pro’s $3,499 price tag.

While the additional strap may not add to the aesthetic appeal of the headset, it should massively help keep the headset snugly attached to your face. It should also greatly help redistribute the headset’s weight, making it feel less front-heavy and more balanced.

Even with the singular strap that the company likes to call Head Band, Apple has taken great care to ensure that the wearer remains comfortable. The Head Band provides cushioning, breathability, and stretch. It is available in multiple sizes and styles.

A dial on the right side of the headset lets you tighten or loosen the Head Band for a precise fit.

The comfort theme continues with the front of the headset too. For the part where the headset meets your face, Apple has crafted a modular system for the face cushion, allowing for a better “tailored” fit that can accommodate a wide range of people and facial features. Since this is an Apple product, the face cushion is called Light Seal, and it is made of a soft textile that comes in various shapes and sizes.

It’s clear that comfort is one of Apple’s foundational pillars for its vision of spatial computing. It remains to be seen just how comfortable consumers find it once it is released and they get their hands on it.

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