They can charge a premium because they never sacrificed quality in any systemic way (obviously you can comment with your pet issues but the bottom line is that they kept the quality bar very high).

Some immediately jump to Harvard MBA teachings that caused this, or capitalism, whatever. In my opinion a deep focus on quality is rare in any business. It is very hard to scale and keep in your DNA. One reason small businesses continue to be formed and attract customers (beyond “buy local” pandering) is that solid small businesses are run by dictators that create an entity that is an extension of themselves, sacrificing nothing. Therefore they can charge a premium.

I patronize businesses that maintain their quality and I pay for it. Life is too short and I have too much spare cash not to. Apple achieves such standards. You may have to upgrade hardware every few years but that’s part of the price.

Sorry but could you mention some of these other business you talked about?

It's cheaper than HoloLens.

You're not wrong. $3499 Vision Pro vs $3500 HoloLens 2.