The Javers Files: Apple Vision Pro in Moscow

it's been just over uh 2 weeks since Apple's Vision Pro headset officially hit store shelves and despite the tech Giants saying it would only uh be available uh in the US the buzzworthy product is finding its way uh onto the streets of a country uh in which Apple says it's no longer doing business uh aan je did some digging into how that's possible as a part of a cnbc's new series The Javers files hey Aman hey there Joe you're right on February 2nd Apple launched its new Apple Vision Pro at the

company's flagship store in New York the company said the product would only be for sale in the United States and because Apple paused its sales in Russia to protest the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago you wouldn't expect the Vision Pro to be for sale at all in Russia but a CNBC survey of Russian Tech blogs online sites and channel checks in Moscow reveals that the Vision Pro was readily available for sale at retail outlets in Moscow within days of its launch in the United States the fa

ct that the hottest new American tech product was available with almost no delay in Moscow before it is officially on sale in London Paris or Munich is a high-profile demonstration of the difficulty of unraveling the global economy even in an era of war and conflict asked about Apple Vision Pro Sales in Moscow an apple spokesperson emailed CNBC as you are aware Apple Vision Pro is only available at Apple retail stores in the US in the Russian Capital that statement May reflect Apple's intent but

it doesn't square with reality a retail outlet known as restore which was an official Apple reseller before the invasion is offering the devices for sale now but prices are high as much as 50% more than in the US prominent Russian Tech blogger Sergey ranv recently demoed the device walking through Moscow and says the Vision Pro sells for thousands of dollars more at stores there Roman Sev says he actually bought his device by pre-order in New York and had someone fly it to Moscow so he could de

monstrate it immediately after release to his more than 1 million followers on YouTube Romans SV predicts the high prices in Russia will keep demand down for Vision Pro in that country Apple sales continue because the Russian government wants them to in 2022 the Russian Ministry of industry and trade issued a document permitting Apple products to be imported to Russia even when official supplies are banned or suspended by the manufacturer in Russia that rerouting of Supply chains is known as par

allel import and it's part of the reason why nearly two years after the invasion and Apple's pull out of Russia Apple products and a wide range of other luxury goods are still available in stores there back over to you guys I'm just excited about the Javers files uh how often are we going to see something like that uh amen you know it's a new brand that we're using Joe it's going to be uh featuring sort of exclusive reporting uh you know stuff that you're going to see on CNBC that you're not goi

ng to see anywhere else and that's hard to predict how often you're going to get that stuff so we're going to use it as we can to Spotlight those things that we have that are exclusive to to us and to CNBC