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Cheaper Apple Vision Headset Might Require a Tethered iPhone or Mac

As long as it has to be tethered to a battery anyway this is a good solution to reduce costs. No need to completely duplicate all the processing power or storage or battery that you already paid for on your phone.
I probably won’t be interested until they get it under $1000.

Edit to add: Some of these naysayer comments are silly and shortsighted. “No real use case” “What is the killer app?” And it reminds me of the early days of iPhone. It didn’t do much more than a flip phone did when it first came out but of course it didn’t stay that way. The more people on this platform, the more apps and use cases will be created. The “killer app”? It’s the App Store itself. It turned the iPhone into a versatile all purpose device with millions of apps. That’s the killer app. Just like iPhone many years later, everyone has their own uses for it. It’s still a first gen device. Just wait.
 
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Naraxus said:
Had they a CEO with actual vision (pun fully intended), they would have killed this albatross before it ever hatched.
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You realize this started under Jobs, right? Jobs was talking about VR and AR in the early aughts, and initial sketchings of concepts from Apple from that era that have leaked over the years bear a remarkable similarity to what Apple released, as well as the idea of tethering to a seperate device (in the sketches an ipod)

MR had an article about it in 2013, the patents were from 2008 https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/1...-goggles-highlighted-in-newly-granted-patent/

I get people like to hate on Cook on MR, but do some googling first eh?
 

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seek3r said:
You realize this started under Jobs, right? Jobs was talking about VR and AR in the early aughts, and initial sketchings of concepts from Apple from that era that have leaked over the years bear a remarkable similarity to what Apple released, as well as the idea of tethering to a seperate device (in the sketches an ipod)

MR had an article about it in 2013, the patents were from 2008 https://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/1...-goggles-highlighted-in-newly-granted-patent/

I get people like to hate on Cook on MR, but do some googling first eh?
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You realize I'm talking about the VP lineup itself and not this specific device right?
 
Someyoungguy said:
I have a terrible time remembering names, especially at a party. AR implemented in normal looking glasses could provide names floating above everyone’s head, and even add a short bio. to help with conversation or avoid sensitive topics. Watch the assistant on Veep for more use cases!
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Yea again this feels more commercial to me. Maybe useful at a convention or trade show to show your first name, last initial, position and company you work for. But I'm not offering my name and bio to strangers at a party.
 
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cardfan said:
Sounds like a device with even more friction to use.
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Not really. The Venn diagram of who owns a Vision Pro and who owns an iPhone has to be greater than 99%. You just plug it in like you do the battery pack in your pocket. It reduces friction because you can make it lighter and therefore more comfortable to use for extended periods. It could also make it look less bulky and weird, and it allows you to upgrade your Vision Pro when you get a new phone. I'm sure Apple will add new features to entice us to upgrade the display over time, as well as compatibility issues. They'll still make a lot of money, and have the services component on the back side as well as App Store revenue.

Honestly, I always expected the future slimmed down glasses product to be essentially this: Apple develops a proprietary high speed wireless video protocol called the V1 chip that also includes some parallel data channels for telemetry and camera data that routes through your iPhone in your pocket. The glasses are just an always on display for your phone, that can overlay and understand context of things in the real world around you, in an unobtrusive way. This would be a fully wireless solution, but it's going to take some time for battery life, wireless speeds, and chip efficiency to catch up. I'm expecting such a product in the early 2030s.
 
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I was hoping Apple would go the tethering route. If I can tether it to an iPad Pro, that would be great, since an M chip-powered Vision device (like it is now) is better than an A chip-powered Vision device, I’m sure.

Since it’s already tethered to an external battery right now, it may as well run off the battery of the device it’s tethered to. Two birds, one stone, basically. Plus, it forces customers to keep buying multiple devices, instead of only buying a Vision Pro (though I doubt many were going to exclusively use the AVP).

Hopefully the FOV is actually equal to or greater than the current AVP, instead of narrower, in spite of this rumor.
 
"Gurman says that Apple is still struggling to bring the cost down while retaining key features."
Let me translate this from Apple to English.
"Apple is still struggling to maintain the disgusting profit margin for people that aren't loaded"
 
BGPL said:
"Gurman says that Apple is still struggling to bring the cost down while retaining key features."
Let me translate this from Apple to English.
"Apple is still struggling to maintain the disgusting profit margin for people that aren't loaded"
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You have a source for 4K MicroLED screens that don't run you $300+ for the pair? How about a real-time OS and chip to do sensor fusion?

The AVP, it's not a mainstream consumer product (and despite the delusions of some here, was never meant to be one), but its still cheaper than its closest peers the HoloLens and Varjo XR-4 while being more capable.

When the entire product development is considered, I don't there's much of a margin to be had given the estimated BOM is around $1400.
 
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nikaru said:
- Remove expensive CNC machined aluminium and use plastic.
- Remove the external display and glass front.
- Remove battery and storage case from the box.
- Remove M1 chip and let the iPhone handle all the compute power needed.
=
Vision for less than 1000$
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But if Apple use plastic, then we need Jony Ive for the product launch. Only Ive could perfectly muster the magical word "Unapologetically Plastic" in this planet. No one else could.
 
Untethered VR will always be jank crap. You need powerful processing to get anywhere close to the potential of the HMD screens. Wireless tethers are getting close, but still arent' quite as good, but are still a better alternative to trying to run high end graphics off the back of a headset.
 
Apple should create Mac mini type puck with processor to existing battery attachment. It can tether it to AVP glasses. It makes it easier to upgrade glasses or processors.
 
This should have been the original one. Less cool, but cheaper and actually useful, using as a Mac display (especially for CAD software) or watching movies. Release a new Apple TV Pro Max Whatever with thunderbolt ports so it can drive a couple headsets.
 
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nikaru said:
- Remove expensive CNC machined aluminium and use plastic.
- Remove the external display and glass front.
- Remove battery and storage case from the box.
- Remove M1 chip and let the iPhone handle all the compute power needed.
=
Vision for less than 1000$
Click to expand...
That actually sounds like a great product.
 
Cervisia said:
This should have been the original one. Less cool, but cheaper and actually useful, using as a Mac display (especially for CAD software) or watching movies. Release a new Apple TV Pro Max Whatever with thunderbolt ports so it can drive a couple headsets.
Click to expand...
Exactly this. Give us cool sunglass OLED screens with best-in-class resolution, hertz, and field-of-view. USB-C tether to any device, Mac or PC. Charge a premium for stellar screen display tech, but keep it reasonable. Make movies, content, or a giant desktop screen look amazing. This, I think, would have sold and been much cheaper to develop and improve.
 
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