Durability Test Shows Apple Vision Pro Front Glass Prone to Easy Scratching

An Apple Vision Pro being scratched with a knife [YouTube/JerryRigEverything]

The build quality Apple Vision Pro has already undergone some intensive scrutiny since launch, including a reasonable set of drop tests and a complete teardown. The latest major headset-destroying video does the same, but focuses its ire at one manufacturing decision.

Monday night’s video by YouTuber JerryRigEverything promotes itself by claiming the Apple Vision Pro is “plastic,” using a smaller fact about the device as a clickbait title.

The issue stems from the scratch test, which puts the headset’s front display against various implements to determine where it lies on the Mohs Hardness Scale. While the scale does go up to 10, as written on the sticker before the test, only the early stages of the scale are actually used.

After clearing the second level without a scratch, light scratches appear when the third level is introduced, and more significant gouges are produced at level four. “I was so shocked I had to go back and check again,” the YouTuber comments on the discovery.

He initially thought he was scratching a screen protector, but then discovered that it was a thin plastic layer that is actually part of the construction of the front glass itself.

Apple describes the component as a piece of “three-dimensionally formed laminated glass,” which acts like car windshield glass to contain shards if it’s ever shattered. Glass in eyes is generally considered bad, so that’s where the laminate glass like a car windshield comes in.

However JerryRigEverything’s complaint is that the more easily scratched plastic is on the side facing the user, both inside and out of the headset, where it can be “permanently scuffed up.”

He then stresses the point by saying it’s expensive to repair the glass, even with an AppleCare+ plan, while continuing to attack the front with a sharp knife.

Comments are also passed about the internal lenses, which again have a similar laminate structure given the proximity to the user’s eyes.

Towards the end of the video, he manages to remove the front glass and, using the hardest tool from the test scale, manages to confirm the presence of glass by shattering it. However, while the spider webbing covered the entire piece, it was still held together by the plastic layers.

The Solo Knit Band is given some compliments initially, as “the softest, most cuddliest piece of fabric I’ve ever felt in my whole life.” The snowboarding boot-style adjuster is also praised, with it used to tighten the band on the wearer’s head.

Later, he uses a lighter to set fire to parts of the band, before declaring not to use the Apple Vision Pro while smoking or standing near a campfire.

Scratches are made on the silver anodized aluminum using knife scrapes. This is performed while the construction of the main frame is praised by the narrator.

Eventually, the soft inner lining is torn away and the insides separated from the casing, giving a brief look at the chips used to power the device.

Once the destruction concludes, Apple is praised for trying something new, and a request is made for increased accessibility for people with physical impairments. A suggestion is a wrist twist gesture instead of a finger tap, as an alternative for users without finger functionality.

AppleInsider does not recommend that buyers of the Apple Vision Pro subject their $3,500 device to similar abuse after purchasing the rare and expensive helmet. While YouTubers doing destruction tests for views can be entertaining, most people don’t have that kind of money to burn — and they aren’t generally applicable to actual use.