Apple Vision Pro

If you happened to tune into this years WWDC, then you caught wind of Apple’s long-anticipated XR headset, the Apple Vision Pro.

I won’t lie, the Vision Pro promises some pretty impressive feats, with it’s dual 4k+ resolution micro-OLED lenses, its standalone processing power, eye & hand gesture-tracking technology, and an adjustable XR dial that essentially toggles between an AR & VR experience, with implications that challenge the need for hardware moving forward. And I would expect as such, especially considering the fact that they filed over 5,000+ patents to achieve this new device.

Many of the presenters certainly made the case that hardware, e.g. monitors, keyboards, and even large form factor desktop computers would essentially be a thing of the past with the Vision Pro. And, if you can imagine it, it’s hard to argue against that. I would certainly say they’ve made the case for monitors, no doubt. Although I don’t think that they’re there quite yet, when it comes to the tactile / tangible experience of typing on a keyboard, moving a mouse, or the emulated feeling of a tangible object in your hand, which could potentially be solved with some form of haptic feedback.

Overall, the product is impressive, and it promises an entirely new means of consuming entertainment media experiences, ranging from movies, gaming, and even emulated travel, as well as product design & animation experiences, which Apple has cleverly dubbed “spatial computing”.

With all that said, it’s hard not to poke fun at them, considering the ironic segment right before their Vision Pro reveal, which was all about myopia, and how advocating for less screen time, and keeping your screen a healthy distance away from your eyes was integral to good eye health, only for them to reveal a product with dual 4k+ resolution micro-OLED screens, just inches away from your eyes. But I digress.

The one thing I’m not looking forward to with it, is shelling out for its hefty price tag, which starts at $3,500. But considering what they’re essentially solving for, and that it appears their end goal is to foster in a whole new means of computing experiences aka “spatial computing”, its hard to fault them for that. And at the end of the day, who’s their target audience (besides annoying rich tech hobbyists)? Multimedia professionals within the realm of gaming, animation, movies, industrial design, and even healthcare, and a wellspring of other unimaginable use-cases that will spring up from this new “spatial computing” experience.