Apple announced its new VisionPro headset to the world today at WWDC 2023. Here is what we know so far. It was the first of its kind for the tech giant and its signified a new era in the wave of AR/VR tech. In this article we will go over some of what we know so far and look at some of what was revealed about the VisionPro from the keynote.
Apple VisionPro User Experience
The Apple Vision Pro blends the real world with the digital world. It is the first VR goggles of its kind that you can both look through and look at. You can see, hear and interact with digital content, as well as control it using your hands, eyes, and voice. You are no longer limited by a display. Your surroundings become an infinite canvas. You can use your apps anywhere and make them any size you want. You can watch your movies, shows, and sports, and immerse yourself in a giant screen surrounded by immersive audio. You can connect with people as if you’re in the same room with them. These are just some of the ways they blend the digital and the physical.
The Mac brought us personal computing. The iPhone brought us mobile computing. Now, the Vision Pro brings us to spatial computing. It has a 3d interface that can be controlled with your hands, eyes, and voice. First you see your space and everything in it. Then you can see your apps in the home view. The interface looks and feels present. You have every element crafted to have a sense of physicality. You can experience in vision pro that you aren’t constrained to boundaries. You can fill the space around you. You can make apps larger than life. You can place them anywhere and it feels like you’re moving real objects. You can launch multiple apps adjacently. You can use the room around you and expand them to fill the space. You can create a private moment of calm by switching to a fully immersive tranquil environment like a calm lake. You can use the VIsion Pro to go beyond the dimensions of your physical room. It can extend and transform your space.
You can control volumetrically the immersion of the image by turning the digital crown. You can have a small portion of your room be VR or the complete thing. You can use the landscape however you see fit. Your eyes are used as the cursor to direct where you point. Your fingers are used to click and scroll. The VisionPro displays your eyes when someone is nearby. It reveals your eyes to let people know when you can see them and when you can’t see them. Even if fully immersed, when someone is near you, the VisionPro reveals your eyes to them.
The VisionPro augments the outside world using digital vision. It is simply not a transparent screen. You remain present in your space plus can interact with the world around you. If you look at your Mac, it will prompt it to open. Everything you see is on a 4k display. The VisionPro is great for traveling. You can enjoy remote collaborations on documents, as well as an amazing Facetime experience in spatial mode. You can see everyone in life sized form on the group call. With FaceTime, you can share things with others using SharePlay, which works across all devices. You can capture and experience photos and videos in real time. Panoramos now creates an immersive fully viewable experience. Experience spatial cinema in any space as your VisionPro can easily transform into a moviegoing experience. You can adjust the screen to perfect size, dim surrounding lights, and surround yourself with spatial audio. You can even scale it up to 100 feet wide depending on the backdrop. Any room can become your personal movie theater.
You can watch 3d movies as well. With enhanced depth and motion, it feels like you’re looking into the movie itself. You can play your favorite Apple Arcade games on a large screen with game control and audio. There will be 100 games launched on Day 1, including new games and ports as well. There was also a huge announcement of a Disney + Apple partnership. There will be interactive Disney+ content. There will be video games, as well, all available on day 1.
Apple VisionPro Build
You can experience the 3d laminated glass with a wide array of cameras and sensors under the hood. It is housed in a lightweight frame with a digital crown. You can experience the custom aluminum alloy, which curves to wrap around your face. There are many displays, cameras, sensors, and high performance computer hardware under the hood, all kept cool by an efficient thermal design. They have studied 1000s of heads to design a modular, light but flexible shield that flexes to conform to your face. The flexible straps conform to your head, ensuring the audio stays in your ear. The headband has been knitted for comfort, allowing you to customize the strap fit and tightness as well as the band strap. For glasses wearers, there are custom optical inserts that can accommodate a huge range of vision correction. The battery life lasts all day when plugged in and for 2 hours of use with an external battery.
There are 23 million pixels across 2 panels. There are more than 4k resolutions in each eye. There are 3 element lens: wide, color, and wide dynamic range. With audio, you can experience the dual driver audio pods. This provides you with ambient spatial audio. It matches the sound to you and your room using a technique called Audio Ray Tracing. There are high speed cameras on the device so you don’t have to use your hands. The device has two chips. The M2 and the R1 chip. The device processes inputs from 12 cameras, 5 sensors, and 6 microphones. This eliminates lag and latency, displaying frames in less than 12 milliseconds. It is 8 times faster than the blink of an eye. The curved OLED panel gives perspective to your eyes. It makes the device “look” transparent. The device is not transparent.
As a developer, this is all powered under the hood by VisionOS, the new operating system for the headset that will allow developers to build a whole new generation of apps. Developers can enjoy a variety of native frameworks from pervious systems including XCode, SwiftUI, RealityKit, and UIKit. Developers can use RealityComposerPro to create experiences for the new VisionPro headset. Apple has partnered with Unity to offer popular unity based apps and games on the VisionPro. There will be a brand new app store with native and cross platform apps.
Regarding security, the new OpticID uses your Iris as a fingerprint. This data is encrypted and never leaves the device. It works with ApplePay and other apps that require verification. Additionally, apps and websites aren’t allowed to track where you look. They can only track where you click. Camera data is processed at the system level. Individual apps don’t have access. To date, the Vision Pro has over 5000 patents.
In Closing
Today was a monumental day for AR technology. The VisionPro is a true mixed reality device, allowing you the closed off experience of a VR headset, elevated with teh finest hardware specs and cutting edge software and vision specs. Additionally, it combines the AR experience with the blended AR vision via the cameras and senors. All in all, I think with this new headset, Apple has undoubtedly elevated the game and we will see a rise in adoption and a new wave of innovatin in this space as a result. What was your favorit announcement? Let us know in teh comments below.
TJ