Apple is preparing to enter the virtual and augmented reality headset market with their rumored Vision Pro headset. While Apple has yet to officially announce the Vision Pro, reports indicate they are developing a high-end VR/AR headset targeted at developers, creative professionals, and tech enthusiasts.
The Vision Pro is expected to focus on augmented reality applications, allowing users to overlay digital images and information onto the real world. It will likely integrate with Apple devices and software ecosystems like iPhones, iPads, and macOS.
Unlike many consumer VR headsets designed primarily for gaming, Apple hopes to pioneer consumer-facing AR apps and experiences with the Vision Pro. Rumored features include multiple ultra high-resolution displays, advanced hand tracking and gesture controls, spatial audio, powerful onboard cameras and sensors, and a dedicated app store for VR/AR content.
While Apple has not confirmed details, the Vision Pro headset will likely be a premium-priced product when launched, possibly starting around $2,000 or more. Apple hopes to demonstrate the headset’s capabilities and spur developer innovation in preparation for more mainstream and affordable AR products in the future.
Design
The Apple Vision Pro headset has groundbreaking industrial design. Apple has developed an ergonomic, comfortable, and visually striking VR headset.
The Vision Pro headset is made of lightweight materials like aluminum and composite polymers. This helps reduce the overall weight. At around 300-400 grams, the Vision Pro is substantially lighter than competing headsets like the Meta Quest Pro which weighs 722 grams. The streamlined design and carefully contoured surfaces make the Vision Pro sit naturally on the head without too much pressure at any one point.
Apple engineers conducted extensive research on head and eye strain caused by prolonged VR headset use. They identified key areas of discomfort like the nose, forehead, and back of the head. The Vision Pro design addresses these pain points for a more comfortable long-term wearing experience.
The fabric and cushioning on critical contact surfaces is soft and breathable. The distribute weight and avoid irritation during long VR sessions. The goggles are cleverly counterbalanced to feel almost weightless on the face.
Aesthetically, the Vision Pro continues Apple’s tradition of combining simple visual elegance with technical sophistication. The smooth contours and minimalist look give it a slick, futuristic profile without being clunky or overwhelming. It looks and feels like a natural extension of the user.
Overall, Apple has leveraged its design expertise to create the most comfortable and visually refined VR headset on the market. The Vision Pro sets a new standard for wearable technology by seamlessly integrating with the human body.
Displays
The Apple Vision Pro headset features dual micro OLED displays, one for each eye, providing a remarkably lifelike visual experience. The displays have a resolution of 4000 x 4000 pixels per eye, adding up to 16 million pixels across both displays.
With this ultra-high resolution, the Vision Pro headsets can present crisp, vivid visuals without any discernible pixels. The field of view is estimated to be over 100 degrees diagonally, giving users a wide, immersive view.
To further enhance the visual quality, the micro OLED displays support HDR with a high contrast ratio. This allows for incredible dynamic range, with bright highlights and deep, dark blacks.
The displays also have a fast 120Hz refresh rate for smooth motion and responsiveness. This high frame rate creates a very natural viewing experience when moving your head and looking around in virtual environments.
The combination of high resolution, wide field of view, HDR support and high refresh rate makes the Vision Pro’s displays a leap forward for AR/VR headsets. Users can expect an incredibly seamless and lifelike visual experience whether using the headset for work, gaming or entertainment.
Cameras and Sensors
The Vision Pro headset contains an array of cameras and sensors to enable seamless augmented reality experiences and natural input methods.
Outward Facing Cameras
The headset has over a dozen outward facing cameras located around the device. These provide pass-through video to blend digital objects into the real world. The cameras capture a wide field of view in high resolution to maintain visual fidelity as users move and look around. Advanced computer vision techniques stich together the video feeds to provide a smooth, immersive experience.
Eye Tracking
Inward facing cameras precisely track the user’s eyes. This allows for foveated rendering, where the graphics are sharpest at the center of focus and blurrier in the peripheral vision just like real life. Eye tracking also enables natural user interfaces like selecting menu options by looking at them.
Additional Sensors
The Vision Pro contains other sensors to map environments and track motion. A LiDAR scanner measures depth and surfaces in the surroundings. Accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers precisely track the headset’s orientation and movements. These sensor inputs combine to anchor digital objects in real-world locations for believable augmented reality effects.
Chipset
The Vision Pro headset is expected to be powered by a custom Apple silicon chip designed specifically for augmented and virtual reality. Previous rumors have suggested Apple is developing a chip similar to the M1 that will offer increased performance and efficiency compared to competitors.
The VR/AR chip is expected to significantly outperform even the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips used in devices like Meta’s Quest Pro. Apple’s custom silicon allows for tight integration between hardware and software, enabling advanced capabilities like eye tracking and realistic graphics rendering that may not be possible with an off-the-shelf Snapdragon.
Benchmarks of Apple’s chips against competitors like Qualcomm and MediaTek have shown enormous performance gains, often 2-3x faster. This is thanks to Apple’s investments in areas like the neural engine, image signal processor, and powerful GPUs tuned exactly for tasks like VR and AR.
By controlling both the chip design and software, Apple can optimize the Vision Pro experience far beyond what any competitor using stock Qualcomm silicon can offer. Expect incredibly responsive interfaces, graphics that look closer to reality than ever before, and new capabilities that take advantage of Apple’s processing power.
Controls and Input
The Apple Vision Pro headset will likely offer multiple modes of input and control to allow for intuitive interaction in both AR and VR modes.
Hand Tracking: The headset will utilize advanced hand tracking capabilities powered by the multitude of onboard cameras and sensors. This allows for natural hand gestures and movement to directly interact with virtual objects, interfaces, and menus. Hand tracking helps enable a seamless blending of the physical and virtual worlds.
Gaze Tracking: Sophisticated gaze tracking will be another key input method. The headset will use eye tracking to determine precisely where the user is looking at any given moment. This enables intuitive targeting and selection of interface elements and objects just by looking at them. It also enables powerful foveated rendering techniques to optimize graphics performance.
Dedicated Controllers: While hand tracking provides a controller-free input option, Apple is also developing dedicated physical controllers to enable more precise input and deeper gameplay capabilities. These controllers will likely detect finger and hand positions for detailed gesture and grip detection. Haptic feedback such as vibration motors could also be included. The controllers will pair with the headset for low latency input.
The combination of these modes of input will allow for versatile control schemes tailored to a wide range of use cases from productivity to immersive games. Apple is focused on natural and intuitive interaction to enable the headset to fade into the background as much as possible.
Software and Apps
One of the key features of Apple’s Vision Pro headset will be its deep integration with Apple’s existing software ecosystems – iOS and macOS. This will allow the Vision Pro to leverage the millions of apps already available on the App Store.
Rather than developing a proprietary operating system, the Vision Pro will run a specialized version of iOS optimized for augmented and virtual reality. This allows full compatibility with standard iOS apps. Developers will also be able to optimize their apps to take full advantage of the headset’s immersive environments.
The Vision Pro is expected to come preloaded with a suite of Apple productivity and creative tools tailored for mixed reality. This will likely include apps like Messages, Maps, FaceTime, Safari, Photos, and even Xcode for developing MR apps. Apple will make it easy for developers to adapt their iOS apps or create new experiences.
There will also be new app genres enabled by the headset’s cameras, hand-tracking, and object-scanning capabilities. For example, fitness apps could place virtual trainers in your living room. Shopping apps can fill your home with 3D models to preview products. Social apps can project lifelike avatars of your friends and family into your surroundings.
Reality Pro
The killer app for the Vision Pro is expected to be “Reality Pro” – Apple’s mixed reality creation and sharing app. This will allow users to easily build and experience persistent augmented worlds overlaid on the physical environment. The shared experiences could range from virtual art exhibits to multiplayer games and more.
Apple’s tight integration between hardware, software, and services has always been a core advantage. The Vision Pro aims to leverage this ecosystem to pioneer incredible new app experiences and solidify Apple’s leadership in mixed reality.
Seamless compatibility with iOS, custom MR features, and innovative new apps like Reality Pro will make the Vision Pro’s software capabilities a key selling point.
Connectivity
The Apple Vision Pro headset will likely have the latest wireless connectivity options to seamlessly integrate with Apple devices.
It is expected to support WiFi 6E for fast, reliable wireless connections. WiFi 6E offers the bandwidth and speed improvements of WiFi 6 extended into the new 6GHz band.
For short-range wireless, it will likely include Bluetooth 5.3. This latest Bluetooth spec has longer range, faster speed, and enhanced connection capacity compared to previous versions.
In terms of wired connectivity, early reports suggest the headset may connect via a Thunderbolt 3 port. Thunderbolt 3 provides a super fast 40Gbps connection speed, enabling real-time processing by linking the headset to a separate computing module or Mac computer.
It is unclear if the headset will allow both wireless and wired connectivity or require one or the other. However, Thunderbolt 3 with its high bandwidth capacity would enable low latency video and audio transmission for a smooth, immersive experience.
Battery Life
The Apple Vision Pro headset is expected to have excellent battery life thanks to its custom processor and power efficiency optimizations.
Apple has reportedly tested prototypes with varying battery sizes, but the final version is rumored to have a battery capacity around 300-400 mAh. This should enable up to 8 hours of continuous mixed reality usage before needing a recharge.
For comparison, the Meta Quest Pro offers 1-2 hours of usage on a single charge while the Pico 4 can last around 3 hours. So the Vision Pro would significantly outlast competing standalone VR/AR headsets.
Charging will likely be handled via a USB-C port, allowing for fast charging either through a wall adapter or by connecting to a Mac or iPad. Some reports indicate there may also be wireless charging support to provide more flexibility when topping up.
Overall, battery life is shaping up to be a strong point for Apple’s headset. The combination of cutting-edge power efficiency, optimized software, and robust battery capacity should deliver all-day endurance that takes the hassle out of real-world use. This could give Apple an edge as users won’t be tethered to an outlet as frequently as with other extended reality headsets currently available.
Price and Availability
The Apple Vision Pro headset is expected to be priced starting at $2,999. This positions it as a high-end device aimed at professionals, developers, and early technology adopters.
Apple has not officially announced a release date, but rumors suggest the Vision Pro will be unveiled in the first half of 2023. An announcement could potentially happen as early as Apple’s spring event, with shipping estimated to begin in April or May.
Some key things we know regarding pricing and availability:
The base model with 128GB storage is likely to be priced at $2,999. Higher storage options will push the price even higher.
The target launch window is within the first half of 2023. Rumors point to an April/May timeframe.
This will be a limited release at first, not a mass consumer product. Expect low initial stock.
Availability will likely be tight for months after launch, with long waitlists. Patience will be required to get one early on.
Given the high price point, don’t expect carrier subsidies or payment plans. This will be an unlocked product sold directly by Apple.
While official details remain scarce, it’s clear the Vision Pro headset will demand a premium price and initially be hard to come by. Early adopters will need to pay up and wait patiently. Broad consumer availability is still years away.