Apple’s newly announced Vision Pro augmented reality headset carries a hefty $3,499 price tag. But buyers should be prepared for even more financial pain down the road if they decline AppleCare+ coverage and end up cracking the cover glass.

Without the additional protection of AppleCare+, a repair or replacement of a cracked Vision Pro cover glass will set you back a jaw-dropping $799. This approaches a quarter of the cost of an entirely new Vision Pro headset.

Meanwhile, AppleCare+ for the Vision Pro is priced at a reasonable $24.99 per month or $499 for two years of coverage. If you opt for AppleCare+ and crack the cover glass, your repair fee plummets to $299 – saving you a whopping $500 compared to the uncovered repair cost. In fact, two years of AppleCare+ plus one cover glass replacement adds up to $798 – literally one dollar less than a single repair without coverage.

The lesson is clear: AppleCare+ is practically mandatory for Vision Pro owners hoping to shield their bank accounts from the ruinous expense of cover glass repairs. Apple’s terms and conditions confirm that AppleCare+ covers “unexpected and unintentional external events” including cracks from drops or spills. Remarkably, AppleCare+ allows for an “unlimited” number of covered repair incidents over its two-year span, provided you pay the $299 repair fee each time.

While cover glass repairs may be the most likely calamity to strike Vision Pro explorers, more catastrophic damage exposing the headset’s intricate innards could empty pockets even faster. Repairs for non-cover glass damage can reach $2,399 without AppleCare+ in place – over two-thirds the total cost of a brand-new Vision Pro! Apple isn’t clear about what level of destruction could require shelving out for an entirely new headset. But with over 23 million pixel Micro-OLED displays packed inside, your neighborhood electronics repair shop likely won’t cut it.

In recent years, Apple has faced growing pressure from right-to-repair advocates and laws passed in states like California and New York. In response, Apple has gradually expanded access to repair manuals, genuine parts and tools to allow DIY and third-party technicians to service devices. After the iPhone 15 launch last September, Apple authorized DIY iPhone repairs about a month later. We may see a similar timeline for authorized Vision Pro repairs down the line. But for now, the scale of expense for cracked or broken Vision Pros rests squarely on whether buyers choose to insure their headsets with AppleCare+.

So if you recently unboxed a new Vision Pro, be sure to handle it gently until AppleCare+ enrollment goes into effect. With repair costs bordering on the ridiculous without coverage, Vision Pro explorers would be wise to view AppleCare+ as a necessary add-on rather than an optional luxury. The alternative is a financial nightmare if your brand-new $3,499 headset meets an early demise at the hands of human clumsiness. Add AppleCare+ immediately, and explore virtual worlds at ease knowing even Butterfingers can pay a reasonable price for any oopsies that happen along the way.