Announced at Apple’s 2023 WWDC event, the Apple Vision Pro is a $3,499 AR headset designed to be the future of communication. However, there are a few issues with the iPhone maker’s new tech, the biggest of which being that nobody wants it.
Even before the laugh cue that was its price announcement, the internet guffawed at the prospect of Apple’s new AR headset. In development for years, the new headset aims to tackle the AR push that Microsoft and Google attempted over a decade ago.
Everyone remembers Google Glass, sleek smart glasses that nobody bought for fear of looking stupid. Apple’s idea seems to be for techies with a penchant for humiliation. If smart glasses made everyone laugh at you, a bulky fishbowl headset absolutely will!
Nevertheless, the underlying technology of the Apple Vision Pro is remarkably impressive. If it works anything like its on-stage demo, users will experience crisp image projection and flawless hand-tracking to view content in real-world space.
As someone who has used current-gen AR glasses like the NReal Air, the Vision Pro experience is much more refined, even if the headset itself is far more bulky. But at ten times the price, and weight, it’s still too far from where augmented reality needs to be to be successful.
On launch, the Apple Vision Pro will be a $3,499 headset for rich dorks that don’t mind being laughed at. For the most part, the headset will be used for watching content on Disney Plus, FaceTiming people who aren’t using goofy-looking headsets and viewing adult entertainment in a way your partner can’t catch you. (Well, as long as it’s on silent.)
AR technology does have massive potential, much more so than the failed VR Metaverse push by Facebook’s terribly-named Meta. Although, that company is also working on AR glasses that are planned to be sleeker than Apple’s.
Currently, there’s only one AR headset that can be deemed a success: Microsoft HoloLens. Another overly expensive tool, HoloLens’ popularity is only in industrial settings. While the tool has been pushed into military function, soldiers have complained that AR tech will undoubtedly get them killed.
When the technology is appropriately shrunk down, AR can help navigate you with maps in your view, it will let you check messages without your phone, and other neat tricks. Unfortunately, for Apple, the practical uses of AR aren’t feasible with a headset that will garner strange looks from literally everyone you meet outside.
Other companies are well aware of this. For as rough as the technology is now, even NReal knows that the glasses form factor is much more acceptable for augmented reality. Hell, some companies are even working on AR contact lenses to make the tech even more invisible to the everyday person.
The Apple Vision Pro headset will be Apple’s first major flop since the Mac trashcan; everyone knows it. However, it is a fascinating piece of high-end technology, and one that is undoubtedly pushing AR forwards.
Apple has been pushing small-scale AR into iPhone for years, and it’s certainly not giving up anytime soon. Hopefully, when Apple’s tech is able to be squashed down into a size that doesn’t make you look like a nerdy Ghost of Captain Cutler, it’ll make more sense in the mainstream.