An Apple VR/AR headset has been rumored for over six years, and it is finally here. Eight months after Apple announced the Vision Pro at WWDC, the headset is shipping to customers. The highly anticipated headset is meant to take mixed reality experiences to the next level.
Apple has gone as far as claiming that the Vision Pro is the “most advanced personal electronic device ever.”
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Pre-orders for the device began on January 19, and — despite its steep price point starting at $3,499 — Apple already sold 200,000 units in the first ten days, according to insider insight shared with MacRumors.
This begs the question: Is the Vision Pro worth the price? Here is everything you need to know about the company’s newest product, including specs, functionality, and some insights from ZDNET editor-in-chief Jason Hiner’s own hands-on experience.
Apple Vision Pro with the tethered battery pack Jason Hiner/ZDNET
The design of the Vision Pro differs from many existing AR/VR headsets. For example, the device has an external battery pack that resembles the size of an iPhone and connects to the headset via a cable.
Therefore, a user would have to place the battery in their pocket and deal with a dangling cable when using the Vision Pro.
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By having a tethered battery system, Apple was able to reduce the weight of the Vision Pro headset to make it noticeably lighter than the competition. This, according to Apple, should solve one of the biggest issues with VR headsets: discomfort after extended use.
The look of the Vision Pro itself resembles ski goggles, and its curved front has an external screen that allows the wearer’s eyes to be seen when approached by others through a feature called EyeSight.
The front of the headset is made from three-dimensionally formed, laminated glass that connects to a custom aluminum alloy frame. The Light Seal, made of soft textile, and the three-dimensionally knitted HeadBand come in a range of sizes to provide maximum comfort.
The device features two OLED displays that together pack a total of 23 million pixels (more than a 4K TV for each eye), Apple’s M2 chip, 12 cameras, five sensors, six microphones, and the popular voice assistant, Siri. It also features the brand-new R1 chip, which runs in parallel with the M2 chip to ensure that there is no lag.
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The headset has two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pad to power its Personalized Spatial Audio, which personalizes audio for a user based on their head and geometry.
To switch between AR and VR, the headset will have a crown similar to the one found on the Apple Watch. There is also a knob that will allow users to easily customize the fit and a button on top of the headset to take photos.
Users will be able to control the headset with eye and hand tracking, a feature that’s slowly being adopted by other headsets on the market, as well as voice commands. For example, users will be able to pinch to select and flick to scroll.
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Vision Pro runs on a new Apple operating system, VisionOS, which resembles the iPadOS interface, bringing the continuity of Apple’s apps and services ecosystem to the headset. This operating system was created specifically to support spatial computing.
The headset is capable of running popular Apple applications, including Books, Camera, Contacts, Facetime, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Safari, and more in mixed reality — a blend of both AR and VR. It is also launching with 600 new apps built for the headset including Zoom, Microsoft 365, Slack, Todoist, and more.
According to Apple, the apps will feel like they are in your natural space and environment. As a result, moving apps is similar to moving actual items around you. In his hands-on demo write-up, Jason Hiner shared that by the end of his 30-minute demo, moving objects became second nature.
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“Within five to ten minutes, I was rapidly opening and closing apps, scrolling up and down and right to left, selecting things, and moving apps and windows around in the space in front of me,” said Hiner. “By the end of the demo, I was doing all of this without giving it much thought and with a lot of accuracy and confidence.”
Immersive video is one of the biggest selling points of the device, allowing users to feel as if they are physically present in the space where the video is taking place. For example, with the headset, you can stream a movie and watch it as if it were playing on a giant screen in another environment, such as the beach, with immersive spatial audio.
The Vision Pro headset will also be compatible with existing third-party streaming services to ease the continuity between your favorite applications and the headset. For example, users will be able to access Disney Plus, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, IMAX, and MUBI, to name a few.
You can also leverage spatial video to watch your own videos created on your iPhone, and this experience is one of the biggest standouts of the headset, according to Hiner.
“The difference between regular photos and videos and spatial photos and videos is almost like the leap from black-and-white to color in photographs and film — although this may be an even bigger jump,” shared Hiner.
If you are interested in using the headset for work purposes, you are in luck. The headset will be able to double as a 4K external monitor for a connected Mac by mirroring what’s on your Mac onto the AR interface.
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In addition, Facetime for Vision Pro will allow for videoconferencing in a collaborative environment, which you can use to work with your coworkers on projects at the same time. The tiles of people on the call will be “life-sized” and each person’s audio will be coming from the individual’s tile position, allowing for more natural conversation.
People on the call will see the Vision Pro wearer’s “digital persona”, which uses Apple’s machine learning technology to reflect the wearer’s face and hand movements in real-time, according to Apple.
To create your persona, the headset scans your face and then creates a realistic model of you that has depth and moves with you to represent you on Facetime calls. Third-party conferencing apps, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, are offering enhanced video calling experiences on the app as well.
Vision Pro scanning a user Screenshot by Christina Darby/ZDNET
Apple is also offering two additional tiers of storage options: the 512GB configuration, which retails at $3,699, and the 1TB, which retails at $3,899. The box itself includes the headset, the battery pack, a Dual Loop Band, a cover, a light seal cushion, a polishing cloth, a 0W USB-C Power Adapter, and a USB‑C Charge Cable.
Also: Don’t buy an Apple Vision Pro headset without this crucial accessory
In addition to the storage modifications, eyeglass wearers will also have to factor in the cost of the Zeiss Optical Inserts, which range between $99 to $149.
There are also other bells and whistles you can opt for, such as Apple Care+ for $499 or $24.99 per month or accessories such as the Vision Pro’s $199 Travel Case.
The Apple Vision Pro is available for purchase on the Apple website and in stores. Pre-orders for the device began on January 19, and those units began arriving at people’s doorsteps and became available for pickup on February 2.
Yes, you can try the Vision Pro before purchasing by booking a one-on-one demo experience with a Specialist at the Apple Store. You can find the booking link here. You can also purchase the Vision Pro, try it for yourself, and return it after trying it.
The return policy on the Vision Pro is the same Standard Return Policy as any other Apple product, giving you 14 days to return it if you are not satisfied or if you wanted to try the product out and are ready to send it back.
This is the three-and-a-half-thousand-dollar question. Ultimately, whether the Apple Vision Pro is a good fit for you depends on your use cases, interests, and needs. To help you make that decision, Hiner wrote two helpful articles:
ZDNET has Apple Vision Pros in hand at the moment, so stay tuned for more reviews, feature spotlights, and buying advice to help you make a decision.
