Apple’s much-hyped mixed reality Vision Pro headset (sorry, spatial computer) is now available for purchase in the US. The company began accepting pre-orders for the device on 19th January.
On February 1, a day before the stateside launch of the Vision Pro, Apple revealed that more than 600 apps have been developed for it. Notable in the “missing apps” list were Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. It’s possible that the decision makers behind these services don’t think that the Vision Pro is currently a big enough deal to bother developing a “spatial app” specifically for it.
I mean, the $3500 price of the headset is not likely to draw enough consumers towards it, given that it isn’t a crucial piece of tech like a smartphone or a laptop. However, the early reviews are generally favorable and seem to indicate that Apple has introduced a great first iteration of a novel new product.
Industry experts might be able to point out to plenty of use cases for an AR/VR headset like this in work or factory settings, but Apple has yet to make it cheaper and more useful for regular consumers if they want to expand its user base.
Reports of how the Apple Watch has saved people from various life-threatening situations helped the smart watch move past its ‘aspirational’ status years ago. The Vision Pro needs to have a similarly important reason for its existence in the B2C market.
First off, it’s battery life of 2.5 to 4 hours might be a deal-breaker for many. The point of such a marvelous piece of tech might be dulled by the necessity of being attached to a wall charger if you want to work long hours on it.
At 722 grams, the weight of the Vision Pro may be another off-putter. Facebook’s Quest 3 weighs in at 515 grams with its integrated battery, just to give you an idea of how noticeably heavy Apple’s headset might feel in comparison.
So what can you do with the Vision Pro that you can’t do with all the devices in your possession right now? You can watch content in a more immersive manner, you can sync it up with your MacBook and have the laptop’s screen blank out while you continue working on your project on a virtual display instead and you can enjoy the various AR/VR apps that have been created especially for it.
You can’t actually see right through the Vision Pro. When you have it on, you will be seeing the world around you in (practically) real time through the video being fed to your eyeballs. This makes it more of a VR headset, than an AR one. But the video passthrough is reportedly as exceptional as the hand and eye tracking Apple has put into it.
The Apple Vision Pro’s availability in the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea has yet to be announced. So if you want to give it go, but live outside the US, you will have to wait patiently for an update.
