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From the $3,499 Vision Pro to the $17,000 gold Apple Watch, these are 6 of Apple's most expensive products ever

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Apple CEO Tim Cook stands next to the new Apple Vision Pro headset.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Apple is known for a lot of things, but selling cheap products isn't one of them.

The iPhone maker has long been dinged by critics for pricing its devices, dongles and accessories at a premium. "If you're Apple, you build hardware and you charge as much as you can on it," Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg famously quipped last year.

And while the company has made an effort in recent years to introduce some more affordable devices to its lineup in the form of cheaper iPhone and Apple Watch models, it still knows how to give customers some serious sticker shock.

That was the case this week when Apple unveiled its long-awaited mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro. Packed to the brim with cutting edge technology, the Vision Pro is Apple's first major product launch in almost 10 years.

But when the headset's $3,499 price tag was revealed at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, even the crowd full of Apple diehards couldn't help but groan.

For the price of one Vision Pro, you could buy three iPhone 14 Pro Max phones at $1,099 apiece, two high-end iMacs at $1,699 each or 11 of Zuckerberg's Meta Quest 2 headsets, which sell for $299 a pop.

Whether or not the Vision Pro becomes a hit with customers when it releases next year remains to be seen, but it has already entered the ranks of Apple's priciest devices.

Here are six of Apple's most expensive products ever.

Gold Apple Watch (2015)

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Price: $17,000

Though the Apple Watch is now known for its health and wellness-tracking features, when it was initially released it was marketed as a luxury fashion item. Apple released a gold version of the watch in 2015, with prices starting at $10,000 and going as high as $17,000.

Macintosh Portable (1989)

Science & Society Picture Library | Sspl | Getty Images

Price: $7,300

Adjusted for inflation: $17,716

Apple's first battery-powered computer makes the current $1,099 MacBook Air look like a bargain. The Macintosh Portable weighed 16 pounds, had a 40 megabyte hard drive and was discontinued by 1991.

Mac Pro (2023)

Brittany Hosea-small | Afp | Getty Images

Price: $6,999

The previous iteration of the Mac Pro made waves in 2019 when internet users realized that selecting every upgrade available on the Apple website could jack up the price from $5,999 to more than $50,000. Tricking out the newly-released Mac Pro model and adding a Pro Display XDR and Pro Stand to your cart will run you just shy of $20,000.

Apple III (1981)

A vintage 1980's Apple III personal computer.
Future Publishing | Future | Getty Images

Price: $4,340

Adjusted for inflation: $15,133

Pro Display XDR (2019)

Brittany Hosea-small | Afp | Getty Images

Price: $4,999

Apple's highest-quality display costs $4,999 for the base model, or $5,999 if you opt for nano-texture glass. Adding the Pro Stand will cost you an extra $999.

Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (1997)

Presentation of the "Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (TAM)" in 1997.
Ullstein Bild Dtl. | Ullstein Bild | Getty Images

Price: $7,499

Adjusted for inflation: $14,200

This limited edition computer, designed in honor of the company's 20th birthday, was one of Apple's most expensive flops and sold just a few thousand units before being discontinued.

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