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D.A. Davidson is downgrading Apple to neutral from buy, saying that any good news from the new Vision Pro mixed-reality headset launch is already reflected in the company’s share price. “We believe there are important structural challenges for Apple when it comes to consumer adoption of AR/VR hardware, which could limit the near-term impact on its sales and profitability,” wrote Tom Forte, senior research analyst, in a Monday evening note. He also cut his price target on the stock to $185 from $193. Apple announced the $3,499 Vision Pro earlier Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference . The product will be available next year. The headset’s price tag is indeed one of those structural challenges, Forte said. “We believe we have not seen more meaningful consumer adoption to date of AR/VR hardware because the price points for the hardware are too high,” the analyst wrote. “Apple’s initial pricing of $3,499 does nothing to change that.” The availability of content is another hurdle for the tech giant, even though Disney+ will be available on the Vision Pro, the firm said. “While encouraged that Disney+ is expected to be available for use when the product is launched, we are taking a wait-and-see approach regarding the availability of additional content and applications that we believe will be necessary to make it a more mainstream product,” Forte said. One company that stands to benefit even as Apple enters the headset fray is Meta Platforms . The Facebook-parent already offers the Meta Quest 2 for $299 and recently announced it would launch Meta Quest 3 for $499 this fall. “In our view Meta Platforms stands to benefit from Apple driving consumer adoption and because it offers hardware at much lower prices,” Forte wrote. – CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
