Apple Developing Version of visionOS for Future Smart Glasses

[JippaLippa]

Apple should put all their efforts into fixing the whole apple intelligence mess.
I feel they're falling too much behind the competition.

I understand them wanting to preview the technology of tomorrow, today, with the Vision OS, but they now need fo focus on their core products.

I don't like Samsung or Google, but it's clear they have surpassed apple in many regards, from the hardware to the software.
I remain loyal to apple, as I like the philosophy of the company, but I don't feel the iPhone is the absolute flagship it used to be during the iPhone 4/4s/5/5s age.

 

[surferfb]

It costs $10K to make. If Vision Pro is a flop, a large factor being the price tag, who's going to buy AR glasses for over $10K?

Hands-on with Orion, Meta’s first pair of AR glasses

Meta’s AR glasses are an impressive tease of what Mark Zuckerberg thinks will replace the smartphone.

www.theverge.com

Meta RayBans, which is what I was referring to, are a couple hundred bucks. While Orion looks impressive, they're nowhere close to shipping, so might as well be vaporware at this point.

 

[robertosh]

I think Apple lost the battle here. They should focus in something else. Seriously, the big flop of the Vision Pro will affect sales of subsequent products.

They should have focused on spatial computing over AR alone, like Xreal, RayNeo did. Just a light-weight, affordable, USB-C powered AR glasses (no battery). If you connect to your mac, you see an extended desktop and if you do to an iPad/iPhone just show a AppleTV like interface for big screen movie consumption or some kind of game mode if you are playing a game.

I think the problem was to try to make it a different device, instead of an accessory. Being a difference device, you need to add specific content to it, if you make it an accessory, you can just use all the content available already. Of course you can also get specific content, but at least you have a great base of content for day 1.

Just random thoughts, sorry for the block

 

[Unregistered 4U]

How can you tell how well Apple has the supply chain locked down? When the leakers just start rehashing the obvious as “coming”. Comfortably far enough into the future, that when the time comes, people will have forgotten.

“Project Titan” “Project Atlas”, both likely used for finding and shutting down leakers.

 

[X38]

I bought a Vision Pro on day 1, but returned it after two weeks.

I really wanted to like it and mostly did, but it had one fatal flaw. Wearing it gave me terrible headaches due to the fit. The sad thing is that was unnecessary as it was due solely to lacking an over the forehead strap. I’ve tied a number of VR headsets all the way back to VPL Research back in 1990 and never had a serious discomfort problem like the Vision Pro. All of them had some manner of over the forehead support though. Sadly, somebody at Apple obviously has a stylistic phobia against having a workable head strap design, and so sadly created a fatal flaw in what is otherwise the hands down best VR system yet, by far.

The other big problem is obviously the cost. I was willing to pay that much if the pain hadn’t prevented me from using it, but clearly too high for mass market. Hopefully that’s just a repeat of the Lisa to Mac situation and a cheaper model is on the way. (Hint - drop the external screen - that part is useless.) Add a proper head strap and I’ll definitely give it another shot.

 

[thefrost]

If they can't even get the Vision Pro right, how do we expect them to do well with smart glasses?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Why does Mark change his idea of what the Vision Pro is depending on what narrative he’s trying to push?
Makes it really hard to take someone seriously when one second they’re calling a product a “flop” then the next second they are saying that Apple “ doesn’t even have the capacity to ship these in large quantities”.

Because bad information is the best information when your “job” is making sure you have lots of attention and folks signing up for your newsletter. The further what you’re communicating is from what’s “expected” at any given time is the only requirement, truth/fact doesn’t factor into it!

 

[paradox00]

Separately, Apple is also said to be working with Sony to bring support for PlayStation VR2 hand controllers to the Vision Pro for gaming purposes. The two have been collaborating for several months, and could bring VR controller support to the Vision Pro as an optional feature.

This is where Apple always fails at games: optional. Developers have to develop a control scheme that works for all supported modes. If it has to be playable without a controller, controllers simply can’t be used to their full potential.

They need to allow controllers to be a requirement of some games, pair the launch of controller support with a AAA game that requires them, and sell a bundle with Vision Pro and the controllers in their store. Of course at the current asking price, it doesn’t really matter. They won’t see widespread gamer adoption regardless of what they support.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I consider myself fortunate that I was one of the people the product was designed for. The weight is not a problem, the Solo Band is perfect for quick donning and doffing, tightening the dial gives me a fit that’s snug and won’t shift when I move my head, the external battery fits neatly into a shirt or pants pocket, all the right choices for me.

I would guess that for millions of folks, Apple DIDN’T make the right choices. That there are folks that WANT to use it, but can’t or, if they do use it, they can’t keep it on for over a few minutes without discomfort and CERTAINLY not for over an hour. Whereas, I can comfortably use it for much longer periods and can even fall asleep with it on.

Fortunately, there are companies that are creating the headgear that people need. It may never be as comfortable for those folks as Apple intends, but they’ll at least be able to use it the way THEY prefer.

 

[citysnaps]

the visionPro is perfect for immersive Media and 3D movies (potentially games) - beyond that I am struggling to find use cases

There are loads of AR/VR so-called use cases; in both personal and commercial domains. Over the last two years I've probably listed a couple dozen here on this forum.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If they can't even get the Vision Pro right, how do we expect them to do well with smart glasses?

Thing is, they got the Vision Pro SO right, that other companies are focused on copying what Apple has done rather than what Meta has done and Meta has been on the market for FAR longer. We’ve got products copying the VP’s looks, we’ve got products ripping off the UI and it hasn’t even been on the market for 12 months!

Folks are tossing off “spatial computing” as if it was a term prior to last year and interacting with a glance and a tap are being retrofitted into those things were it hasn’t been (with limited success) and becoming a “need to have” feature in those things that haven’t been released yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone was hoping that Apple shows what they’re doing with glasses so that they can all copy them on that

 

[thefrost]

Thing is, they got the Vision Pro SO right

Hmm really? 🤔

We’ve got products copying the VP’s looks

Fair point.

 

[doelcm82]

If they can't even get the Vision Pro right, how do we expect them to do well with smart glasses?

The Newton proved that handheld computing devices were a dead end.

 

[doelcm82]

Thing is, they got the Vision Pro SO right, that other companies are focused on copying what Apple has done rather than what Meta has done and Meta has been on the market for FAR longer. We’ve got products copying the VP’s looks, we’ve got products ripping off the UI and it hasn’t even been on the market for 12 months!

Folks are tossing off “spatial computing” as if it was a term prior to last year and interacting with a glance and a tap are being retrofitted into those things were it hasn’t been (with limited success) and becoming a “need to have” feature in those things that haven’t been released yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone was hoping that Apple shows what they’re doing with glasses so that they can all copy them on that

I hope you're right about spatial computing. There are a lot of possibilities when Apple understands your space. You could ask "Siri where are my car keys?", and if you're wearing a vision device, it could show you and x-ray view of your home with the location of the keys highlighted. If you're not wearing a Vision device, Siri could tell you "You put your keys on the bedside table, but they later fell on the floor."

 

[joecomo]

This

The Vision Pro’s ultrawide Mac display is very close to being a killer app

And I’m not even an ultrawide display guy.

www.theverge.com

if you have a super strong neck and can wear this comfortably for a long time - maybe.
Also the focal plane close to the eyes makes this tedious to look at - so I'll stay with my ProDisplay XDR.

 

[d-klumpp]

Everyone wants the same (everything) for cheaper. But as the article says...



The path to this "Cheaper" Vpro Jr is subtraction of FABs. As I understand it, the most expensive part of it "as is" is 4K-per-eye. There is abundant competition at the cheaper prices we want with 1080p-per-eye or less. And that's likely a major part

I'm not sure you're addressing the point of the initial article, as most of your arguments are seemingly relevant to VR experiences. In contrast, Augmenting daily experiences by providing real-time information within an FoV does not require a theater-like experience for efficacy. The HUD experience in my Audi is excellent, even in daytime. Sure, it doesn't look like a movie, but it doesn't need to to effectively convey information. Similarly, if my glasses had been able to convey local landmarks and walking directions during my recent trip to Paris, I would've been happy with slight blurriness — much better than the incessant dings of my AWU2.

 

[xander49x]

Mark Gurman can have his opinion, I have the Vision Pro and I use it daily for extensive periods. which is why I do not ever listen to mark gurman. #markgurmanunreliable

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I'm not sure you're addressing the point of the initial article, as most of your arguments are seemingly relevant to VR experiences. In contrast, Augmenting daily experiences by providing real-time information within an FoV does not require a theater-like experience for efficacy. The HUD experience in my Audi is excellent, even in daytime. Sure, it doesn't look like a movie, but it doesn't need to to effectively convey information. Similarly, if my glasses had been able to convey local landmarks and walking directions during my recent trip to Paris, I would've been happy with slight blurriness — much better than the incessant dings of my AWU2.

I replied to someone who stated they wanted the same with improved FOV for cheaper price. I wasn't writing about the original article per se, except to address some others seeming to perhaps believe they can get about the same from a regular glasses form factor with no light blocking and/or still nice & sharp views instead of "blurry."

I'll be delighted if the quality can remain the same (still 4K per eye, etc), FOV can be improved and price can be more than 50% discounted, as implied by the iPhone Pro MAX price reference. But I just don't have the 'vision' to foresee that in a 2025-26 version... and the article itself references cutting FABs.

Nevertheless, I'll hope right with everyone else. I'm one of the seemingly small subset of people around here who think Vpro is great... a small, MOBILE, any size screen that can be summoned anywhere you are in brightest day or darkest night. No fold/roll or projector can do all of that without scaling to much heavier weight & sizes (fold/roll tech) and/or working only in darker environments (projector).

 

[mongobongo]

For something to flop, there has to be an expectation of success, and there never was with the Vision Pro.

Wouldn't Apple have had internal expectations and sales targets though? And have they not been met would it be inaccurate to describe the VP as a flop?

 

[surferfb]

Wouldn't Apple have had internal expectations and sales targets though? And have they not been met would it be inaccurate to describe the VP as a flop?

Perhaps, but given reports that Apple expected they could only make 400-500k units in all of 2024 and estimated sales are in the 400k range, I doubt they missed internal expectations by much.

 

[mongobongo]

Perhaps, but given reports that Apple expected they could only make 400-500k units in all of 2024 and estimated sales are in the 400k range, I doubt they missed internal expectations by much.

Unless estimated demand was higher than estimated production capacity 😆 No but regardless there could be other metrics by which it's either a flop or a success. General excitement certainly seems to have died down though.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, the Vision Pro has so far been a flop.

To be fair all of the smart analysts called this very early on ...

 

[surferfb]

Unless estimated demand was higher than estimated production capacity 😆 No but regardless there could be other metrics by which it's either a flop or a success. General excitement certainly seems to have died down though.

Honestly I’m not sure it matters. Hypothetically even if it is seen as a huge flop inside Apple, I sincerely doubt Apple is going to drop the product category after one product, in which case they’ll probably learn a lot from their mistakes.

 

[mongobongo]

Honestly I’m not sure it matters. Hypothetically even if it is seen as a huge flop inside Apple, I sincerely doubt Apple is going to drop the product category after one product, in which case they’ll probably learn a lot from their mistakes.

I agree. Apple is playing the long game with VP so perhaps it's not possible to consider it neither a flop nor a success this early.

 

[surferfb]

I agree. Apple is playing the long game with VP so perhaps it's not possible to consider it neither a flop nor a success this early.

My theory is they’re trying to get developers and content for the device so when the technology gets to the place where it’s at “iPad Pro” price points there’s already an ecosystem there.

Some on here disagree with me about that, and of course it’s possible it never takes off with developers/content creators, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.