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Who is Apple Vision Pro for?

8:05 video

Apple finally announced its long-rumored augmented reality headset, and I’m trying to sort out how I feel. Here are the use cases, and why I would want the Apple Vision Pro.

The demos

Impressive, even mesmerizing: a very large personal movie screen, multiple apps side by side that you can size and place, and turning immersion up or down to just the right amount of reality. The tech is seriously impressive: dual 4K-plus displays, cameras, LiDAR, infrared projectors, a front-facing screen, and latency down to 12 ms. Windows have shadows and react to the room’s light, your hands are tracked constantly for gestures, and your eyes select things. All of it is over-engineered in the Apple way. It was stunning on stage, if it’s true, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what I’d use it for.

Work

I’m not going to wear this walking around the office, talking to people or going to conference rooms. I don’t care that your eyes appear from a void on the front; it just won’t be socially acceptable in most offices. Most apps look like iPad apps, and have you used Excel for iPad? It’s pretty limited, so you’ll hit app limitations for regular business apps. Wearing it all day at my desk for office apps, messaging and video calls would be super tiring on my face and head.

Some reviewers said it’s heavy. What long-term consequences are there from many hours a day with something pulling on the front of your head? It reminds me of The Jerk, where people who used the Opti-Grab went cross-eyed over time. I already have bad posture.

Moving your whole Mac display into it is interesting, but it doesn’t add real estate, just makes what you have larger. I do want to try it. (And let’s be honest, people will use it for their private browsing needs.)

Battery

The battery pack is only about 2 hours, so you’ll need multiple batteries or to plug in constantly. Luckily it charges over USB-C, and UGREEN, the sponsor of this video, makes the Nexode 30 W charger: compact GaN II, fast charging for iPhones and Samsung phones (an iPhone 14 Pro to 55% in 30 minutes), a folding plug, short-circuit, overload, over-voltage and temperature protection, MagSafe wireless charging, and it can even power an iPad or MacBook.

FaceTime

Apple spent a lot of time on FaceTime, stacking people next to your apps. In the demo I wondered how others would see you, and Apple answered: after scanning your face, an interpretation of you is sent to the call. The word seems right: it looks like a high-end video game render of a character, with facial expressions and movement like a deep-fake version of you. It’s uncanny valley, almost real but off. FaceTime is also personal, holding a device and talking to friends or family, and this feels impersonal. It will also work with Zoom and Teams for work calls, which might be less of a personal interaction. Still, something about it feels weird. So work and FaceTime are mostly a no-go for me, though some will like them.

Entertainment

I’m more interested here: watching a movie in a really large theater all to myself, with HDR and spatial audio, could be a good use case. I’ve used this on other devices, but it was always lackluster, and I didn’t feel immersed. I hope Apple is accurate with the latency and precision needed to lock a floating window in AR. But I usually like to watch movies with others, and think movies are better shared. You could buy one for your partner or family and watch with SharePlay, at a prohibitively expensive $3,500 a piece. I won’t get into the price here, but wow.

Games

The most obvious use case, I think. Gaming is a more personal activity than movies, and Apple showed Apple Arcade games with a PS5 controller, which is really cool, as long as it plays out as shown. I wish Apple would get its act together with AAA game developers, so we could have console, or even PC, games on all Apple Silicon devices. With the M2 Mac Pro, supporting other GPUs is clearly gone, so Apple needs to make a really good case, or pay a lot of money, to get bigger games on its platforms. If that happens, the Vision Pro could be one of the best ways to play.

And I know I said all that about wearing a headset for a long time, but in smaller, bite-size sessions on a comfortable couch or chair, I think it might be acceptable, versus an all-day desk use.

Overall

I’m very curious and want to try it. I’m not trying to be negative; I’m just not sure in how many situations this, or any headset, makes sense beyond entertainment. Are you skeptical like me, or can’t wait?

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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