The Apple Vision Pro has made my eyes work harder than ever before. It's not only because I have ultra-sharp, super brilliant micro-OLED panels directly on my face: The Vision Pro depends on eye tracking for navigating visionOS, its revolutionary "spatial computing" operating system. If you want to start an app, browse a website or do just about anything that would ordinarily need a mouse or a touchscreen input, your eyes have to stare right at them.
It's wonderful, almost psychic. The Vision Pro's eye tracking makes it feel like you're discovering the might of the Force, a sense that's reinforced by the natural hand movements used to interact with whatever your eyes are focused on. But by depending so much on your eyes, the Vision Pro may rapidly become taxing when you run across challenges, like trying to press a tiny button on YouTube's visually crowded page. The eye strain is genuine.
That's pretty much the Vision Pro experience in a nutshell. Wonder and frustration. A view into the future that's constrained by the hardware that exists now - even if that hardware is among the greatest we've ever seen.
Before you ask, no, you probably shouldn't even consider about getting the Apple Vision Pro. It's exclusively aimed for coders, affluent Apple enthusiasts who won't think twice about jumping on a $3,500 curiosity, and, of course, clout-chasing influencers. But you also shouldn’t disregard it totally. This is simply the beginning of Apple's spatial computing adventure. Like the iPod and iPhone before it, the Vision Pro has the potential to profoundly transform the way we live with technology.
That future is likely years away, if Apple manages to offer a cheaper and lighter headset. But it's exciting to see the corporation kick off a totally new area of computing, without knowing precisely where it's heading.
What is the Apple Vision Pro?
Despite Apple’s reticence to mention the words virtual reality, or even the letters V and R in that sequence, the Vision Pro is a virtual reality headset. What makes it distinct from practically every other VR headset we've seen over the past decade (except for the Meta Quest Pro and Quest 3), is that the Vision Pro provides a video feed of the actual world to its micro-OLED panels. It's a considerably degraded vision of reality — colors are subdued, dark areas seem blurry and things distort as you walk about — but it's the greatest attempt we've seen at augmented reality (AR) from a VR headset.
The Vision Pro isn't a totally AR device like Microsoft's HoloLens and Magic Leap's headgear, both of which display digital overlays above clear glasses. Those gadgets give significantly more realistic AR experiences, as they don't have to replicate the real environment via cameras. But they can never reach the sensation of immersion you experience from a VR headset, when your whole field of view might be taken over by digital surroundings. (The Magic Leap 2's fading screens are one attempt to fix that.)
In an ideal scenario, Apple wouldn't have to perform the labor of collecting reality through cameras and putting it into a headset display. VR devotees call this "passthrough," but it’s really a brute force way for replicating augmented reality. It's considerably easier to make the world digital, rather than dealing with sophisticated new display technologies to paint the real world with virtual items.
The Vision Pro's hardware
Given the amount of technology jammed inside the Vision Pro, though, it may be understood why Apple didn't want to squeeze in a large battery. The headset has an M2 processor with an eight-core CPU, 10-CORE GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine for AI processing. There's also 16GB of RAM onboard, along with Apple's R1 CPU for processing all of the cameras and sensors needed to record a feed of the actual world. Those include a LiDAR scanner, TrueDepth 3D camera, six world tracking cameras, two high-resolution primary cameras, four internal eye-tracking cameras, a flicker sensor, ambient light sensor and four inertial measurement units to detect how your head and body is moving in 3D space. Whew.
Perhaps most controversially, the Vision Pro arrives with a measly 256GB of storage. That's pretty low for a $3,500 tablet, especially given Apple is presenting it as a full-fledged computer, which means you'll be installing tons of applications and games. And while you'll likely be streaming video to it most of the time, such a limited amount of storage doesn't give much place for offline material (there's no SD card expansion either, usual for a mobile Apple device). If you're getting the Vision Pro, we'd recommend the $3,699 512GB model for a bit more breathing room, or you can top it off with 1TB of storage for $3,899.
Apple could have played it safe with the Vision Pro's battery and storage to make place for its display, which is one of the most magnificent screens to ever afflict my eyes. It's a Micro-OLED panel (a technology that's so new, I've only seen it on one other commercial product: the BigScreen Beyond) sports 23 million pixels, or roughly three times the resolution of a single 4K screen.
Setting up the Vision Pro
Getting started with the Apple Vision Pro wasn't too different from my hands-on experience last year. Once pre-orders were available, I simply scanned my face on the Apple Store app (which determines the size of your light seal cushion and headband) and picked the 512GB storage option. That's pretty much it for possibilities, unless you're adding extras like the $200 travel case.
Since the Vision Pro doesn't accept glasses, I also had to punch in my eye prescription to customize the $149 Zeiss lenses (which fit onto the headset magnetically). My prescription expired, it turns out, which led to a frenetic race for a quick eye check. Thankfully, it was straightforward to input a fresh prescription via the Apple Store app — you're not compelled to visit another shop for custom lenses like the Quest 3.
Once my Vision Pro came on launch day, I tore open the package and was surprised to find it crammed with accessories. In addition to the headset, battery and Solo Knit Band, you also get a soft cover, an extra Light Seal Cushion (which may be thicker or thinner than the one put on your headset), and a Dual-Loop band for added protection. There's also a USB-C charger, 1.5 meter USB-C cable, and a cleaning cloth (which really came in handy.)
Read Also: Review of the Google Pixel 9
Hello, Spatial Computing
With the arduous labor done, I was faced with a usual site: A home screen. But this one was hovering above a mound of toys in my family room, not restricted to a screen like my iPhone or iPad. The first time I used the Vision Pro, I was sitting in a drab Apple conference room that was quickly erected to show off the headset. But now I was home and I was gazing at the VisionOS's UI hovering just where my kids play. It felt like using an iPhone for the first time. I knew computers would never be the same.
As my eyes flew over familiar program icons, including Safari, TV and Photos, they each came to life, ready for me to start them simply tapping my thumb and index finger together. I had been thinking for weeks about the first thing I would do with the Vision Pro, and it ended up being a fantastic inaugural moment for Apple's spatial computing vision.
I opened Photos, proceeded to a recent Spatial Video from a trip to Zoo Atlanta, and my eyes welled up a bit with tears. My wife and kids were seated on a tiny train ride, ready to complete a loop around the zoo, and I was rewatching (practically reliving) that event in 3D. It's as if it was caught in amber. Sure, the quality and frame rate should be greater (iPhone 15 Pro Spatial Videos are only taken in 1080p at 30fps), but it's still astounding how immersive it seems.
Immersive experiences (just don't call it VR)
In addition to displaying you a view of the actual world, you can also rotate the Vision Pro's Digital Crown to progressively immerse you into one of Apple's Environments, digital reconstructions of destinations like Mt Hood, Yosemite and the aforementioned lunar surface. These locales are all brilliantly depicted, and they even include changeable sound effects to further sell the sense of being there. While they seem like baby steps into the realm of VR, they're also a hint that Apple genuinely understands crucial qualities of immersion: Depth, size and quality.
You can only move about three feet of an Environment until the Vision Pro rips you out of it, yet like its virtual windows, the immersive experience endures at a fixed spot. If you visit the Moon in your living room, then walk to the kitchen and fetch a drink, you'll find yourself right back on the Moon when you return to your seat.
A Mac Superpower
While it's a great computer in its own right, the Vision Pro's most compelling use case for me is its ability to take a recent Mac, even a 13-inch MacBook Air, and convert its screen into a gigantic virtual window. All it takes is a glimpse at your Mac's monitor, a push of the "Connect" button and bam, you've got a Mac in Spatial Computing.
Many features of the Vision Pro feel magical, for want of a better description. But I'm honestly stunned by how beautifully the Mac integration works. Connectivity is smooth, your Mac screen appears clear, and there's very no latency when it comes to typing or mousing about. And to make the experience even more engaging, your keyboard and mouse/trackpad also operate with native Vision Pro apps. (It simply works, truly.)
