Apple just unveiled the Apple Vision Pro, an augmented reality (AR) headset that seamlessly blends the physical and digital worlds. According to CEO Tim Cook, it is the first Apple device designed to be looked through rather than at. The device, which looks like a pair of ski goggles, provides an immersive AR experience.
Design
The Apple Vision Pro has a glass front, an aluminum frame, and a slew of outstanding components. It has five sensors, 12 cameras, and a dedicated 4K display for each eye to provide a high-quality visual experience. The headset includes a fan for cooling in order to maintain peak performance.
Apple designed the headset with the user’s comfort in mind. Both the “Light Seal,” which refers to the mask, and the “Head Band,” which refers to the strap, are modular and cloth-lined. They are made to flex and adapt to different face shapes and head sizes. The ribbed Head Band wraps around the user’s head, and Apple allows users to swap out different sizes and styles of bands.
Zeiss and Apple have worked to make personalized optical inserts for those who wear glasses. These inserts magnetically attach to the lenses, making them a convenient solution for those who wear prescription glasses.
Display
The Apple Vision Pro’s display technology outperforms Meta’s current products by a wide margin. It has two Micro OLED 4K displays, one for each eye, to provide an excellent visual experience.
Apple characterizes each display as being the size of a postage stamp, resulting in an astonishing pixel density. Furthermore, the aggregate pixel density of the two 4K panels is 23 million, which Apple estimates is 64 times that of an iPhone.
Moreover, the dual displays are also said to offer wide color and high dynamic range (HDR). However, whether this covers HDR standards like HDR10 or Dolby Vision is unclear. Apple’s newly built R1 technology allows content to be transmitted to screens with a phenomenal latency of only 12ms, assuring smooth and responsive performance.
Vision0S
Apple not only released the Apple Vision Pro headset during the WWDC event but also visionOS, a new operating system designed particularly for this mixed reality gear. VisionOS allows developers to natively write programs for Vision Pro and adds various new capabilities.
EyeSight is a distinctive feature that may be both fascinating and even unsettling. When you’re not totally engaged in the headset, EyeSight shows your eyes to the outside world, and it hides them when you’re in a virtual environment. If you’re absorbed in an app or activity, and someone enters your field of view, EyeSight gradually returns you to the actual world by fading in your eyes on the front display of the Vision Pro as the person fades into the twin 4K screens.
The Vision Pro and visionOS are designed to keep users engaged with their physical surroundings. While the crown control on the top of the headset allows for greater immersion in virtual experiences, visionOS is designed to cohabit smoothly with your physical space. It generates a 3D user interface that reacts to natural light, produces shadows, and allows programs to be expanded and manipulated with simple hand motions.
Although the native visionOS app collection is still expanding, the Vision Pro is compatible with iOS and iPadOS apps, giving users access to diverse selections from the App Store. Viewing images in a huge display or panoramic perspective, experiencing a full-room meditation in the Mindfulness app, and watching films and series from Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus on a theater-sized screen are just a few instances of how these apps work on the Vision Pro.
Apps
The Apple Vision Pro gives customers access to familiar productivity programs that are available on other Apple devices. Safari, for example, can be viewed on a large screen, and users can expand it to see all of their open tabs at once. FaceTime is also accessible, with the option to relocate people’s video streams to one side of the screen while other apps remain visible on the other.
However, your real-life appearance will not be displayed on FaceTime. Instead, the Vision Pro produces a Digital Persona to represent you during FaceTime sessions by simulating your face and hand gestures.
The ability to expand your Mac’s display into a more comprehensive 4K view just by opening it up inside your field of vision is a noteworthy productivity gain. Once open, you may watch your Mac’s display alongside other visionOS apps for a unified and smooth experience.
Controls
The Apple Vision Pro features new and straightforward controls that do away with the need for standard controllers. Instead, the headset’s sensors and cameras allow for control via eye motions, hand gestures, and voice commands.
Apple wants these controls to seem natural and effortless. Simply rotating your head can change the focus of the display, and a gentle tap of your fingers can simulate a mouse click. Unlike previous gadgets, you can maintain your hands in a natural position while making gestures instead of holding them in front of you. Additionally, you may glance at a search bar and input into it using voice commands, delivering a convenient and easy user experience.
The Apple Vision Pro has two well-known functions along with these novel control ways. First and foremost, Siri, Apple’s renowned speech assistant, is included right out of the box, allowing users to communicate with the headset using voice commands. Second, the headset works with a variety of Bluetooth devices. This includes support for controllers such as the PS5 DualSense and the Apple Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad, giving users who prefer traditional input methods to gestures or virtual keyboards more options.
Price
According to Apple’s announcement during the WWDC keynote, the headgear will cost $3,499. It’s worth noting that the initial release will be confined to the United States, and pricing for other countries has yet to be revealed.
Battery Life
Apart from its high price, one major disadvantage of the Apple Vision Pro is that it depends on being linked to another device in order to function. While some headsets, such as the Meta Quest 3, are stand-alone devices that can be connected to a PC, the Vision Pro requires an adapter to function.
Fortunately, Apple provides two solutions to this problem. The first option is to connect the headset to a power source and use it all day. However, Apple did not clarify whether this method works when plugged into a Mac or MacBook.
Apple has also built an extra battery pack that wraps around the temple of the headset through a woven cord. Apple says the battery pack is small enough to put in a pocket. Unfortunately, the battery barely lasts two hours and looks to be charged using a proprietary charger. Furthermore, it appears that the external battery pack must be purchased separately, adding to the entire cost of the Apple Vision Pro, which already costs $3,499.
Release Date
While there is no said release date for the Apple Vision Pro, Apple has announced a release window for the headset. The Vision Pro is planned to be ready for purchase in early 2024, according to Apple’s statement.
The Vision Pro will initially be accessible only to clients in the United States. However, it is expected that the headset will be available to customers in other nations shortly after its release in the United States.
The Apple Vision Pro is the company’s first venture into the mixed reality world. It’s vital to note that when we say “mixed reality,” we mean a complete experience. Despite its similarities to high-end virtual reality headsets, the objective of the Apple Vision Pro is not to isolate people within a virtual environment. Remarkable features like EyeSight and Digital Persona ensure a continuous link with the real world, allowing the physical environment to interact with the user smoothly.
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