Contrary to narratives focused on its AI lag, Apple is predicted to have its best year ever in 2026. This success will stem from the continued strength of its core iPhone product and a premium foldable phone, as dedicated AI hardware devices from competitors will not yet be mature enough to pose a real threat.

Startups are overwhelmingly focusing on rings for new AI wearables. This form factor is seen as ideal for discrete, dedicated use cases like health tracking and quick AI voice interactions, separating them from the general-purpose smartphone and suggesting a new, specialized device category is forming.

Despite analysts viewing live sports as a prime use case for the Apple Vision Pro, Apple's F1 partnership announcement omits plans for immersive 3D or spatial content. This failure to connect a major content acquisition with its new flagship hardware represents a significant missed opportunity to drive hardware adoption.

The seemingly unsuccessful thin iPhone Air is likely a strategic R&D initiative to master miniaturizing core components like silicon and PCBs. This effort paves the way for next-generation wearables like AI glasses, making the phone a public "road sign" for future products rather than a standalone sales priority.

Luckey argues analysts misunderstand the Vision Pro's strategy. At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product. Its goal is to make VR highly desirable and aspirational. By solving the "want" problem first, Apple primes the market for future, lower-cost versions, avoiding the trap of making a cheap product nobody wants.

Apple's Vision Pro is criticized for its weight, a core design flaw. Instead of waiting for Apple, a Chinese streamer engineered a clever solution using a helium balloon to make it weightless. This shows how crucial hardware improvements can emerge from the user community, effectively crowdsourcing fixes for Big Tech's products.

Unlike the early iPhone era, developers are hesitant to build for new hardware like the Apple Vision Pro without a proven audience. They now expect platform creators to de-risk development by first demonstrating a massive user base, shifting the market-building burden entirely onto the hardware maker.

Beyond immersion, VR/AR headsets solve the "shoulder surfing" problem for people working in public spaces like airplanes. This privacy is so complete that the Vision Pro OS displays passwords in plain text, a design choice that highlights the inherent security of the form factor.

Apple's failure to provide immersive, 3D spatial video for its new F1 partnership is a major missed opportunity for the Vision Pro. Live sports are a primary driver for VR/AR adoption. Offering only a standard 2D broadcast in a virtual environment fails to create a differentiated experience that would justify the hardware's cost for hardcore fans and drive platform adoption.