I would post some link to one of the articles about how these are cracking, but I don’t need to. Mine is cracked. Haven’t used it for a over a week, it was fine. I just picked it up, and it’s cracked. Perfectly straight from the bottom and going about 2/3s of the way up. Battery was unplugged, it was sitting in its box.
I am pretty mad about this. Supposedly it’s $800 to fix since I didn’t get Apple Care.
Lovely. 
I hope you can escalate and get a discounted repair or a replacement. With many of the cracks being so consistent, it seems clear it’s a manufacturing defect.
Thanks @cornchip. Been searching around and the responses have been varied. Some locations have exchanged it for a new one, others are having to send it away for a couple of weeks. Still others are having to pay for it if they want it fixed. I didn’t get Apple Care because I am very careful with my electronics, but I am regretting not getting it now.
Everyone says it doesn’t affect use, but I was so disgusted I didn’t turn it on.
Appointment scheduled Saturday afternoon at the local Apple store.
There’s no justification for Apple charging one penny to fix this. It’s obviously a defect.
They should be working around the clock on this issue. Considering their investment in the product, it’s nothing compared to the risk to its reputation.
With the regularity of the reporting, I cannot imagine that Apple, eventually, will not do a recall/repair programme for this. They always do, the variable is the timeline (Sideeye at the Butterfly keyboard debacle).
If it’s not affecting your use, I would take it into the store and see what they can do for you, if they won’t repair for free I’d come away and wait for them to own up.
I expect this is going to be one of those issues that Apple will ignore publicly for awhile. Then at some point they will acknowledge it and offer to fix them. That is what has happened every time I have had some problem with an Apple device. The question is, how long until we get to that point? Wasn’t it a couple of years for the butterfly keyboards? It took them a over a year to acknowledge the bad screens on MPB in the early 2000s. I had that one, and it was incredibly frustrating dealing with Apple. Eventually they sent out a statement admitting there was an issue and they would replace the screens.
If this is a problem with the original design and it’s destined to happen to all of them at some point, maybe they will just say “live with it, it doesn’t affect use.”
After sleeping on it, I am less mad and more annoyed. I don’t want to deal with this. I knew a first gen product would have issues, but I expected software issues, not hardware issues. Which was silly of me.
If I can’t afford to buy two Apple devices of the same kind, day 16 onwards then it’s AppleCare. It’s silly but peace of mind for any reasons for the devices going bad.
It’s just another form of subscription.
If purchased with a credit card (in the US?) can you not work with credit card company? Some have warranty programs that handle this kind of thing. Not ideal, but a potential option.
+1
Waiting for my appointment, there is a guy here walking around the Apple Store with a Quest on. Complete with the controllers. Now he’s just sitting there using it. People are weird.
I took a picture but it seems wrong to post it online.
Why wouldn’t this be covered under the 1 year warranty?
Apparently they say people are responsible for the damage. Sounds like most recent reports they are repairing them for free, but it’s spotty and depends on the store.
Editing this post form my in store/parking lots posts:
The Apple Store here was slammed of course. I waited over 30 minutes past my time to talk to anyone. They were nice about it and told me a couple of times someone would be with me soon (it was fun listening in on other appointments, an old guy with a 10+ year old Macbook of some kind and it broke. The Genius kept telling him that’s a long time for a laptop and it might be time for a new one).
Finally the manager came over and said he would help me until someone could take over. I explained what happened, said I would like it fixed it, but I don’t want to pay for it. I added that I wanted to make sure it’s written up so Apple knows and there is a record. The manager was nice, typed up a bunch of notes, but told me unless I wanted to pay for it, and since it works fine, I would have to pay to have it fixed. Since I already had said I wasn’t willing to pay for it, he sent me on my way. I was very nice and not at all pushy. Asking, not demanding anything. He also said they had not had any others brought in for this and he hadn’t heard of this happening.
As I was trying to leave the mall I was stuck in traffic, and the phone rings. It’s a Genius telling me to bring it back. They apologized for giving me the wrong info before and that they could fix it under warranty. So I brought it back in, they ran some diagnostics on it, I removed my inserts and removed Find My’s location. They said it would be 5-7 days.
The invoice for it says the repair is free, but the actual cost is $2,400.
In the hour I was there, there was not any display demos for the AVP, but they had 2 employees standing there the whole time anyway.
Nice outcome! I’m glad that manager (presumably) talked to someone afterwards about your request.
I kind of got the impression the manager didn’t know much on that side of the house (I believe he was the store manager). He was just trying to help out since they were so busy and mine looked like an easy case. The Genius obviously knew the process and it was quick and easy. Despite it being a long trip I didn’t want to make, they took care of me in the end.
Spending so much time in the store waiting, I have a new found respect for the Geniuses. All of them were very friendly and patient with a lot of people who seemed clueless about tech. I don’t know how they do it.
The Quest guy was still in the store when I left. He also had 2 MacBooks with him and one of them got dumped on to the hard floor. When I left he was looking at the screen of one of the MacBooks (with the Quest on) while waving the controllers around. I would love to know what he was doing.
I was thinking about this last night and doing some research.
First, I don’t think this is a common problem. It got a lot of buzz in late February, but not a whole lot of people actually reporting having it. Just because it’s Apple, and it’s Apple’s big new product, it got a lot of press.
Second, I have been reading about theories. Some people think it is due to overheating by leaving it hooked up to the battery when not in use, but I never did that. I always disconnected it after use. Another theory, which I think is the correct one, is that the strap is too tight and it’s putting pressure on the glass. That is why the crack is perfectly centered.
The very first day with the solo knit band, I had to crank it down really hard to keep it from sagging. To the point it was very uncomfortable. I was getting pins and needles on my scalp. Day 2 I used the other strap, which I didn’t need to make anywhere near as tight.
It didn’t crack the first day, I was still in my “this is cool” stage that first week and would look it over after using it. Once it was cracked, I could see it in dim light, it is very noticeable, so I didn’t miss it. I think this was more of how like how a cars windshield crack will spread over time. So my theory is it cracked it at the bottom the very first day by clamping it down too much. Then that week I didn’t use it the crack spread upwards along the line it was strained.
That is my best guess, really my only guess, because nothing else seems plausible. I have 20 days to decide if I want Apple Care on it, and this is making me think I should. But another $500 on top of the price I already paid is really depressing.
FWIW I’m still seeing new stories/discussions about cracked Vision Pros every few days.
When I first heard about this problem I chalked it up to a manufacturing or assembly problem. There was a time when it wasn’t unusual to find defects in the first batch of a new iPhone. It still happens, but it’s not as common.
While there have been isolated reports, the number of devices out there isn’t massive either, so I still think it’s significant, especially as those reporting have stated that they didn’t leave the device on charge and didn’t impact it with anything.
Even if it is a result of tight headband, this product was designed to do this, so if it causes damage, it’s still a defect. People aren’t using them outside of the parameters the product was sold for and they are breaking.
I think it may also be to do with the design of the glass not being stress resistant. It seems to be cracking in very similar places for each person I’ve seen. It’s interesting though that no-one has heard it crack (which would suggest it’s happening while on people’s head) rather that they’re noticing it after leaving it for a while. I wonder if it’s a result of heating and then cooling multiple times.
I hate to say it, but plastic would probably be a better choice here. Then again, I don’t know anything about glass, and maybe there is a better type of glass for this product? I have no doubt gen 2 will be different, but that still leaves me wondering what I can do to minimize this happening again, short of being very careful of how tight I make the strap.
My big question is whether Apple will ever say anything about it, and if they do, how long will it be until they do?
I believe every report I have read the person said it happened when not in use. In hindsight I can’t say for certain it didn’t happen the last time I used it, but since the crack is very noticeable, I don’t think it did. Where mine is kept the heating is off at night, but still that’s still only a range of 10º F (6º C) day to night, nothing like the temperatures a car windshield goes through. This is also much thinner glass and everything else is different, so it’s probably not relevant at all. 
If there is no “point of impact” showing on the glass, this will probably be covered under limited warranty. Hopefully this will be a straightforward repair or exchange. Did you contact AppleCare for options?
