5 Apple Products To Avoid Buying

Apple is a technology juggernaut. Some customers buy Apple products no matter what it is, forming a fairly pricey habit. The latest iPhone 15 starts at $799. An iMac starts at $1,299.

If you’re constantly buying Apple products, you’re dropping a serious amount of cash. And, some tech experts say a few of these products aren’t worth the investment. Read on to see which Apple products you’re better off without.

Price: Starts at $3,499

The Apple Vision Pro is a virtual reality headset that claims to help you organize your apps, immerse yourself in entertainment and see your photos and videos in renewed depth. Tyler Hall, VP of technology at Empathy First Media, has spent years evaluating the latest tech products. Hall said the Apple Vision Pro isn’t worth the hefty price tag. 

“At nearly $4,000, this product currently only serves as an entry product for developers to carve the VR platform before it’s worth taking the dive as a general consumer,” said Hall. “It’s not the last headset they’ll release, but it’s certainly not for the public at the moment. Best to wait for the next headset release before considering such a niche product.”

Reviews cite bugginess and low battery time as some customer disappointments with the VR headset. Customers also complain that the Apple Vision Pro is too heavy for long wear.

Price: Starting at $169

If someone has an iPhone, they probably spend a fair amount of time with AirPods in. However, some customers haven’t been happy with the performance. Erin Lawrence, a professional tech reviewer at Tech Gadgets International, detailed her experience with AirPods in a video review.

“From my own experience, I’ve had constant and ongoing problems with mine that are incredibly frustrating,” said Lawrence. “Mine have just stopped working. One pod will disconnect, requiring a factory reset to repair. I’ve also faced a crunching or staticky sound when used.”

Lawrence’s video has more than 150,000 views with comments from similarly dissatisfied customers. When looking for a solution to her problem, Lawrence was disappointed once again. “While in some cases Apple has been known to replace potentially defective AirPods, mine were out of warranty so I was on the hook for replacement. I’ve ended up having to replace both the left and right pods at my own expense.” said Lawrence.

Price: Varies

So you’ve dropped hundreds of dollars on a new iPhone and now you’re looking into the accessories. Since basically everything–including the charger–is separate from the phone, you might think you have to purchase the accessories for the phone to work best. This isn’t entirely true. You don’t need to purchase every accessory for your Apple product for it to reach its full potential.

“Apple is known for over-priced accessories,” said Hall. “A notable example can be seen in the ‘Apple Mac Pro Wheels Kit’–which are just wheels for your Mac–priced at $699.99.” 

Hall said if you purchase extra bells and whistles for your phone, you can find better-priced accessories elsewhere.

“Apple offers high-quality products; however, there are third-party alternatives available for accessories for your Apple devices – namely there are reputable sellers like Anker, OtterBox, or Spigen. They sell cables, cases, batteries, speakers, etc. at a fraction of the cost Apple provides them,” said Hall.

Price: Varies

When you’re at the Apple store and have bought a new product, you might be tempted to buy the case right then and there. You might want to think twice about that.

Sam Devia of eRepair said the cases for Apple devices are wastes of money. “In my opinion, the silicon and fine woven cases Apple sells are not worth it. For an absurd $50-$60, they offer little to no protection from fall damage, and wear pretty easily,” said Devia. You can also rely on third-party sellers to provide better cases for less cash. 

Price: Varies 

One way to reduce the cost of your Apple products is to buy the model with the lowest storage capacity. However, Hall said you’re better off splurging on a device with more storage.

“As the data we consume and store grows in size, that baseline storage can become insufficient and fill fairly quickly,” said Hall. “If you can invest in storage upgrades initially, we recommend you buy those instead of the base-line devices because Apple products can’t be upgraded like PCs or Android phones. The reality is once you run out of space on your devices, you have only two options: (1) buy cloud storage or (2) upgrade the entire device.”

So, investing in a device with more storage saves you money over time.