If you’ve spent $3,500 or more on the Apple Vision Pro you’d be understandably frustrated if you damaged the outer screen and had to pay $799 (or $299 with Apple Care) to get it fixed. But imagine how much more annoyed you’d be if it cracked for seemingly no reason at all.
That’s what some people are taking to social media to complain about, after they discovered cracks extending upwards from the nose bridge of their pricey Apple headset – which they all claim appeared despite them never dropping, bumping, or damaging the headset.
Reddit user dornbirn explained that after putting their headset away for the night they woke up and found a large crack extending from the nose bridge. u/ContributionFar8997, u/inphenite, and u/Wohinbistdu all shared similar complaints to the Vision Pro Subreddit, with images of their Vision Pro’s showing practically identical cracks extending from the nose bridge.
You should always take posts on the internet with a pinch of salt, but the fact that every crack looks the same and has seemingly appeared while the headset wasn’t in use suggests that this is some kind of manufacturing issue rather than user error.
We’ve reached out to Apple to find out what’s causing the apparent cracks and if it has any advice for Vision Pro customers who are worried about their screens breaking.
Why are Vision Pro screens cracking?
It’s not clear exactly why the outer screen is cracking, but the reports we’ve seen all come from people who discovered the Vision Pro was damaged after leaving the device charging with the front cover on.
Our best guess right now is that as the headset charges it heats up, and because of the cover this heat doesn’t dissipate quickly. As the outer screen warms it expands, with perhaps one of the inner layers expanding faster than the outer layer causing tension.
Given the nose bridge is the area with the most complex curved design it makes sense this would be the place where the tension is at its highest. So when the screen can’t take anymore this is where it would most likely crack – explaining why all the images show near identical damage.
We’re not engineers though, so to know for sure we’ll need to wait for an official Apple explanation of what’s causing the cracks.
I have a Vision Pro, what should I do?
Because there are so many unknown factors it’s tough to say exactly what measures you should take to avoid the same issue happening to your Vision Pro.
Based on the current evidence we’d suggest that you don’t charge the headset with the cover on and that you don’t leave it charging for longer than is necessary. However, the best thing to do is to keep an eye out for Apple’s official guidance, and if a crack forms in your Vision Pro contact support as soon as you can.
While some users have said the Apple Care support team hasn’t been the most helpful – asking them to pay to get the screen fixed – u/Wohinbistdu posted an update to their original Reddit post saying that they were able to take their Vision Pro to the Apple Store and get a replacement unit. Their original has apparently been sent off for Apple’s engineers to investigate.
This was 12 days ago at the time of writing so hopefully Apple is close to finding what’s causing the problems, and is almost ready with a fix.