-APPLE VISION PRO- - -KINGDOM OF JOGA-

-as of [29 SEPTEMBER 2024]–

$3499

-[apple vision pro] is an upcoming [mixed-reality headset] developed by [apple incorporated]-

It was announced on June 5, 2023, at its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and is set to be available for purchase in early 2024 in the United States

It is Apple’s first major product introduction since the Apple Watch in 2015

Apple has described the Vision Pro as a “spatial computer,” where digital media is integrated with the real world and physical inputs, such as motion gestures, eye tracking, and voice input, can be used to interact with the system.

The headset is a standalone device that runs visionOS, a derivative of iOS designed for extended reality software

History

Development

In May 2015, Apple acquired the German augmented reality (AR) company Metaio

The company intended to use Metaio’s technology in its electric car project, codenamed “Project Titan”

That year, Apple hired Mike Rockwell from Dolby Laboratories.

Rockwell formed a team that included Metaio co-founder Peter Meier and Apple Watch manager Fletcher Rothkopf

The team, called the Technology Development Group, developed an AR demo in 2016 but faced opposition from then-chief design officer Jony Ive and his team

Augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) expert and former NASA specialist Jeff Norris was hired in April 2017

Rockwell’s team helped deliver ARKit in 2017 with iOS 11.

According to The Information, Rockwell’s team sought to create a headset and worked with Ive’s team; the decision to reveal the wearer’s eyes through a front-facing eye display went over well with the industrial design team.[7]

The headset’s development experienced a period of uncertainty with the departure of Ive in 2019. His successor, Evans Hankey, left the company in 2023.[8] Senior engineering manager Geoff Stahl, who reports to Rockwell, led the development of its visionOS operating system,[6][9] after previously working on games and graphics technology at Apple.[10] According to the New York Times and Bloomberg, Apple’s extended reality headset is meant as a bridge to future lightweight augmented reality glasses, which are not yet technically feasible.[11][12] In November 2017, Apple acquired Canadian augmented reality company VRVana for $30 million. The VRVana Totem was able to overlay fully opaque, true-color animations on top of the real world rather than the ghost-like projections of other headsets. It was able to do this while avoiding the often noticeable lag between the cameras capturing the outside world – and have a 120-degree field of view at 90 Hz. The totem used IR illuminators and infrared cameras to perform spatial and hand tracking. [13][14]

Unveiling and release[edit]
Information about a headset, then rumored to be called the Reality Pro,[15] began surfacing in 2022. In May 2022, Bloomberg News reported that Apple executives previewed the device, including CEO Tim Cook.[16]

The company began recruiting directors to develop content for the headset in June.

One such director, Jon Favreau, was enlisted to bring the dinosaurs on his Apple TV+ show Prehistoric Planet to life

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman shared further information about the headset in April, noting that Apple was attempting to attract developers to make software and services.[18] According to Apple, the company filed over 5,000 patents for technologies which contributed to the development of Vision Pro.[19] The Apple Vision Pro was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2023, announcing that it will be available in early 2024 in the United States and would retail at a starting price of US$3,499.[20] An estimated 1,000,000 units will be shipped initially.[21]

On June 6, Apple acquired the AR headset startup Mira, whose technology is used at Super Nintendo World’s Mario Kart ride.

The company has a contract with the United States Air Force and Navy. Eleven of the company’s employees were onboarded

Specifications

Hardware

Apple Vision Pro has a laminated glass display front, an aluminum frame covered by a flexible cushion, and an adjustable headband.

The frame contains five sensors, six microphones and 12 cameras.

Two micro-OLED displays with a total of 23 megapixels, each with a size of a postage stamp, will be seen by the user through the lens.

The eyes are tracked by a system of LEDs and infrared cameras, which form the basis of the device’s iris scanner named Optic ID (used for authentication, like the iPhone’s Face ID).

Custom optical inserts are supported for users with prescription glasses;

these lenses will attach magnetically to the main lens and are developed in partnership with Carl Zeiss AG.

The device’s speaker is inside the headband and is placed directly over the user’s ears.

It can also virtualize surround sound

The Vision Pro uses the Apple M2 system on a chip.

It is accompanied by a co-processor known as Apple R1, which is used for real-time sensor input processing. The device can be powered by an external power supply, a USB-C port on a Mac, or a battery pack rated for two hours of use.[24][25][26]

The user’s face is scanned by the headset during setup to generate a “persona”—a realistic avatar used by OS features.[27] Samuel Axon of Ars Technica reported during their demo at WWDC their face was scanned by an iPhone with TrueDepth camera for fitting purposes, their ears were scanned to optimize the speakers, and that this aspect of the process can be done with the user’s own iPhone or at an Apple Store as part of the purchase process.[28]

A digital crown on the headset is used to control the amount of virtual background occupying the user’s field of view, ranging from a mixed reality view where apps and media appear to float in the user’s real-world surroundings, to completely hiding the user’s surroundings.[24][25] The Vision Pro has an outward-facing display called EyeSight, which displays the eyes of the user’s “persona” to indicate the degree to which they are immersed. Their eyes appear dimmed when in augmented reality, and obscured when in full immersion, to give others an indication of the user’s environmental awareness. When someone else approaches or strikes up a conversation, EyeSight shows the user’s eyes normally, even when fully immersed, and the other person is visible to the user.[25][23]

Software[edit]
Apple Vision Pro runs visionOS, which is derived primarily from iOS core frameworks, and XR-specific frameworks for foveated rendering and real-time interaction.[29][30] The operating system uses a 3D user interface navigated via finger tracking, eye tracking, and speech recognition. For example, the user can click an element by looking at it and pinching two fingers together, move the element by moving their pinched fingers, and scroll by flicking their wrist. Apps are displayed in floating windows that can be arranged in 3D space. visionOS supports a virtual keyboard for text input, the Siri virtual assistant, and external Bluetooth peripherals including Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and gamepads.[25][31] Calls can be presented using participants’ “personas”, or individual windows with their video feeds.[28]

Apple stated that “hundreds of thousands of familiar iPhone and iPad apps” would be compatible with the platform;[32] the WWDC presentation showcased apps from the Microsoft 365 suite, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Teams, as well as Adobe Lightroom, FaceTime, Webex, and Zoom. The Walt Disney Company announced plans to develop apps for visionOS, including a Disney+ app incorporating mixed reality experiences.[33] Over 100 Apple Arcade games will be compatible with visionOS at launch.[31][34][35] The company is working with Unity Technologies to support the Unity engine on visionOS

Reception

Pre-release and unveiling

Samuel Axon of Ars Technica felt that the Vision Pro was “truly something I had never seen before”, noting the intuitiveness of its user interface in a choreographed demo given by Apple, and praising a dinosaur tech demo for its immersiveness

Axon felt that its displays were dim but “much better than other headsets I’ve used on this front, even if it still wasn’t perfect”, and that the personas looked “surreal” but conveyed body language better than a more stylized avatar (such as Animoji or Horizon Worlds).[28] He argued that the Vision Pro was not a virtual reality (VR) platform, nor a competitor to Meta Platforms’ Quest (formerly Oculus) product line, due to its positioning as “primarily an AR device that just happens to have a few VR features”, and not as a mass market consumer product.[28]

Jay Peters of The Verge similarly noted that Apple had deliberately avoided presenting the Vision Pro as a VR platform, including explicitly referring to it as an augmented reality (AR) device and “spatial computer”, avoiding use of the term “headset”, and not showcasing fully immersive games or metaverse experiences in its presentation (only depicting non-VR games, shown in windows and controlled using an external gamepad). He suggested that this positioning “leaves wiggle room for the likely future of this technology that looks nothing like a bulky VR headset: AR glasses.”[37]

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg noted that loud gasps were heard amongst the crowd in response to the announcement of the Vision Pro price tag, followed by criticism of the cost by both consumers and online commentators. The three priciest components in the Vision Pro are its camera and sensor array, its dual Apple silicon chips, and the twin 4K micro-OLED virtual reality displays. Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper model that is scheduled for release for the end of 2025 as well as a second-generation model with a faster processor.[38]

Trademark Issues[edit]
Apple may not be able to use the name Vision Pro for the product in China, since Huawei had already registered the name as a trademark in China on May 16, 2019.[39][40]