The Apple Vision Pro Headphone’s sticker price of $3,499 is nothing to sneeze at. But if you choose not to pay the extra $24.99 per month or $499 for two years of AppleCare Plus coverage, be sure to handle your new headphones with kid gloves. For users without a coverage plan, repairing a cracked cover glass will cost $799, according to Apple’s updated support page for the Vision Pro.
If you’re covered by AppleCare Plus, repairing cracked glass or other accidental damage will cost $299. At these prices, you can pay for two years of AppleCare Plus And The discounted cover glass repair fee is $798 – a full dollar less than repair costs without a service plan.
The terms and conditions (pdf) state that coverage includes any “unforeseen and unintended external event”, including a spill of liquid or a dropped device. If you’re unusually clumsy, rest assured that the AppleCare Plus plan covers an “unlimited” number of events over the two-year period, as long as you get $299 each time.
More advanced repairs may be where Apple’s extended coverage is really needed for the Vision Pro. Other damage could cost you up to $2,399 to repair — more than two-thirds of the cost of a brand-new Vision Pro, while extended coverage applies even if the damage requires device replacement. Apple wasn’t specific about what level of damage would require a full replacement, but your local repair place likely doesn’t have the 23 million pixel Micro-OLED display on the back.
Sometimes, the increasing availability of repair services offered by companies like DIY and third-party services has provided a cheaper alternative to Apple’s official methods of repairing other devices. Last year, with the passage of right-to-repair laws in states such as California, Minnesota and New York, Apple committed to making parts, tools and information available to repair its devices yourself.
After launching the iPhone 15 last fall, Apple expanded its self-service repair offerings to cover new phones about a month later, and if that follows for the Vision Pro, DIY and third-party repairs could be another option to take care of anything that breaks. But for now, Vision Pro buyers can consider bumping up the cost of AppleCare Plus to an already high price — and be extra careful while lugging around their new glasses.