You heard it is coming and now it is official. We are talking about Apple’s very first augmented reality headset, officially called Apple Vision Pro (nice name, btw). Make no mistake. This ain’t no VR headset. This augmented reality headset is literally a computer that you wear on your head.
Apple described the Vision Pro as a “revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world while allowing users to stay present and connected to others” which is basically a fancy way of saying that it is a wearable AR computer.
If you still cannot wrap your head around (poor pun intended) what Apple Vision Pro is or what it can do, well, just think of it as an iPhone, an iPad, an Apple Watch, an Apple TV, and a Mac, all rolled into one and wearable to boot.
Vision Pro turns your world into an infinite canvas, allowing apps to populate the spaces you see. You can adjust the size of the interface, move them around and open multiple apps, and interact with them as if they are physically present.
You can interact with the virtual interfaces suspended in the 3D space via a full three-dimensional user interface controlled by your eyes, hands, and voice. No physical controllers are required. OK. Maybe there is a physical control and that is the Digital Crown which lets you control how present or immersed you are in an environment.
And did we mention that you can take FaceTime calls too? Users of Vision Pro during a FaceTime call will be reflected as a Persona, a digital representation of themselves created using Apple’s most advanced machine learning techniques, and will reflect face and hand movements in real-time.
The device runs on the world’s first spatial operating system, visionOS, and it is, of course, powered by a custom Apple silicon, a unique dual-chip design. As far as visual goes, Apple says the Vision Pro features an ultra-high resolution display system that packs 23 million pixels across two displays.
The Apple Vision Pro Augmented Reality Headset will be available early next year on apple.com and at Apple Store locations in the U.S., starting at US$3,499. More countries will be added later next year (2024). Meanwhile, you can learn more at apple.com.
Images: Apple Inc.
