Apple's Vision Pro is about to launch outside the US, but it's already a bit of a flop. Maybe it's time to rethink it as an iPad and Mac accessory rather than pushing it as an entirely new computing platform.

The end goal of the Vision Pro is a pair of glasses that give you ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) all day long. But the current Vision Pro is far from that. It’s bulky, requires a cable, and is far too expensive for most people to buy. Until they can make it cheap and small enough to appeal to the average person, Apple could make an AVP that connects to your Mac or iPad. It could be much lighter, without the computer and cooling, it could be cheaper, and since it already requires a cable to the battery, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

"Nobody likes to wear uncomfortable, bulky headgear. The weight of the headsets and the disorientation that VR causes have always been the biggest hurdle to end-user adoption. For broader adoption, headsets need to be much lighter and easier to use," Oindrila Mandal, senior game product manager at Electronic Arts, told Lifewire via email. "To make AR mainstream, companies like Apple should focus on the usability and intuitiveness of the product rather than the technological capabilities. Consumers know the technology is cool. But even the diehard AR/VR fans who buy these products can't wear the headsets for long periods of time. Focusing on the user experience would help AR become more ubiquitous."

Now that Apple is about to roll out its augmented reality headset worldwide, early adopters are giving their long-term opinions, and they're not good: The Vision Pro is uncomfortable, doesn't have enough apps, has terrible battery life, and many buyers of the $3,500-plus headset barely use it. They only watch the occasional movie because they feel obligated to turn it on after spending so much money. "[T]hat I think about the Vision Pro now is that it was the worst way I could have spent $3,500 to upgrade my computing life," UI designer Matt Birchler writes on his blog.