Apple Vision Pro: This is Apple’s New Headset

Apple has just unveiled its mixed reality headset called: Apple Vision Pro.

It was announced by Tim Cook using Steve Jobs’ “one more thing” announcement at WWDC.

The interface looks like an iPhone or iPad. It looks like ski goggles on your face.

When you first put on Vision Pro, the home view lives in front of you with apps. The entire interface feels like “truly present in your room”.

As detailed by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the headset is showing a wire that attaches to an external battery pack. The rear part of the headset has a wide harness to fit the back of your head.

There’s a Digital Crown as seen on Apple Watch and AirPods Max.

Vision Pro is designed solely on your hands, eyes and voice. You browse the system just by looking at them with your eyes. Tap your fingers together to select and flick to scroll. The combination of hands and eyes together “truly feels like magic” says Apple.

With a feature called EyeSight, the headset shows your eyes. It also shows people around you what you’re doing with the headset. When someone is nearby you can see them in your view and then your eyes are revealed.

Here’s what Safari looks like in Apple Vision Pro:

There’s a virtual keyboard with Vision Pro. It works with Bluetooth accessories like Magic Trackpad. If you place your Mac nearby, it shows up in Vision Pro’s 4K display.

Apple touted Vision Pro as perfect for the office or great for the remote office when you’re travelling.

You can collaborate remotely with Vision Pro, as FaceTime is now available and Spatial. Group chats show people in life size. Spatial Audio is built into Vision Pro with audio coming from the location of their tile. SharePlay is supported in FaceTime as well.

You can capture spatial photos with Vision Pro, along with videos. Apple is touting Vision Pro as a great way to see the moments in your life.

This is how Vision Pro can show you a cinematic experience says Apple…dimming the experience around you:

Apple says you can use Vision Pro on an airplane with AirPods to change your airplane trips. 3D movies are also supported. “There is no other device in the world that can deliver this quality of experience” says Apple.

There will be over 100 gaming titles to play on day one with Vision Pro. This thing is being touted as an entertainment device.

Tim Cook says Vision Pro will change how we consume entertainment. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared on stage announcing the company’s collaboration with Apple with Vision Pro. Disney+ will be available on day one.

Apple partnered with Zeiss for the lenses. Supports 2 hours of battery life with the pack. The separate pack means you don’t have that weight on your head, touts Apple.

Vision Pro has 23 million pixels each on panels the size of a postage stamp, with over 4K resolution. There’s a custom 3-element lens that offers “jaw-dropping experiences” not possible with other devices.

There are dual-driver audio pods for ambient spatial audio. Sound is matched to your room using audio ray tracing.

Apple Vision Pro uses M2 and a new chip called R1, just for Vision Pro to process sensors. The headset is powered by a new operating system called visionOS.

Developers can create apps for Vision Pro with existing APIs, while a new Reality Composer Pro API is available. Vision Pro will be able to use iPhone and iPad apps at launch.

Optic ID unlocks Vision Pro by looking at your iris in your eyes for authentication.

Apple says Vision Pro is “the most advanced” electronic device ever and has over 5,000 patents.

As for Vision Pro pricing? It starts at $3,499 USD, or about $4,702 CAD, which is incredibly expensive. It’s coming “early next year” in the U.S. first, with more countries to follow, so hopefully that includes Canada. Who needs to pay a mortgage or buy groceries? Just buy an Apple Vision Pro instead.

…developing, refresh for updates