Could Vision Pro's M2 replace by M3 when launch next year?

[JPack]

I don’t agree. Using “future Apple Silicon” would have sent the wrong message. And testing code on M2 would make no difference since anything made for M2 will work for M3. We will find out soon enough.

What would be the "wrong" message? That a future product not available until early 2024 will use Future Apple Silicon?

Telling developers to optimize for M2 performance and then launching with M3 doesn't make sense. None of that M3 performance potential would be realized.

Now that M3 is public, Apple could have silently updated Vision Pro description to M3. But they didn't. Do you really think Apple will wait until the last minute to surprise developers?

 

[Piggie]

I feel it's going to be M2 as they've probably been making Vision Pro's and piling them up in warehouses for months now getting supplies ready for the launch.
The only slightly odd thing is how much Apple just spoke about the M3 with relation to enhanced graphics / GPU with the M3, and let's be honest 99.9% of Vision Pro is all about graphics performance.

 

[XboxEvolved]

For rich kids and suckers that just want to have it so they can stupidly walk around wearing it in public like at the airport or something the chip in it could be Dorito for all they care.

While I guess technically it would make more sense to put the M3 in it, I don’t think Apple would want to add any unneeded complexity to the final product this late in development either.

 

[Piggie]

Plus of course it will mean Apple can hold back the M3 as a "New Feature" for the next model of Vision Pro which they are of course working on right now as the current Vision Pro design was locked in stone many many many months ago.

 

[ric22]

Surely at this price point it will feature an M3 chip... I also expect it to be delayed, which makes it even harder to swallow. Now that the M3 Pro chip is less of a Pro chip and more energy efficient, I'd expect an upgrade to the M3 Pro chip to be an optional extra as well.

 

[JPack]

How many people still believe it’ll be an M3?

Apple’s press release today continues with the same theme as last year. Vision Pro is about selling a unique experience rather than nerding out about specs.

Apple Vision Pro available in the U.S. on February 2

Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online.

nr.apple.com

 

[KPOM]

How many people still believe it’ll be an M3?

Apple’s press release today continues with the same theme as last year. Vision Pro is about selling a unique experience rather than nerding out about specs.

Apple Vision Pro available in the U.S. on February 2

Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online.

nr.apple.com

Exactly. And it isn't as if the M2 is a slouch. I'm looking forward to the launch.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Exactly. And it isn't as if the M2 is a slouch. I'm looking forward to the launch.

Even the M1 is still a beast. I am more concerned about 256GB for using the device offline where there is slow or no Internet.

How many 3D movies in 4k fits in it? For gaming some triple a ios titles are tens of gb.

 

[Rychiar]

Well now it really makes no sense why they released the m3 notebooks this fall… woulda liked the extra power and raytracing on the Vision Pro….

 

[UltimateSyn]

It’s a shame they didn’t throw the M3 in late in the development process, but I can’t say I’m surprised.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Well now it really makes no sense why they released the m3 notebooks this fall… woulda liked the extra power and raytracing on the Vision Pro….

I have a PC with RTX4070 and an Xbox Series X. RayTracing isn't worth it on either hardware. The frame rate hit drop big - like 40-60%.

Games that look good with it, look great without it. In some cases you can't tell when it's on or off.
Games that don't look good with it, don't look good without it.

RT on a Vision Pro or mobile device isn't worth it if it drops frame rate below 30.

 

[subjonas]

Well now it really makes no sense why they released the m3 notebooks this fall… woulda liked the extra power and raytracing on the Vision Pro….

I forgot M3 has raytracing. I wonder how much that would have affected the experience. I guess eventually we’ll see with the next iteration.

 

[Polinsky]

It’s a shame they didn’t throw the M3 in late in the development process, but I can’t say I’m surprised.

So you're saying that Apple had plenty of time to switch to the M3, but didn't because of some nefarious reason? What is the development timeline? I assume you know it. When did the decision to use a certain processor occur in the development process. To state that you weren't surprised implies you know the answers to these questions. Looking forward to the insight.

 

[JPack]

Well now it really makes no sense why they released the m3 notebooks this fall… woulda liked the extra power and raytracing on the Vision Pro….

Probably because Mac shipments dropped more than 30% year over year.

Ray tracing isn’t going to make any difference on a first gen product. Should Apple have waited for 3G before launching the first iPhone? Everybody is still unsure about whole headset category and whether it’ll be acceptable to general consumers.

 

[Rychiar]

Probably because Mac shipments dropped more than 30% year over year.

Ray tracing isn’t going to make any difference on a first gen product. Should Apple have waited for 3G before launching the first iPhone? Everybody is still unsure about whole headset category and whether it’ll be acceptable to general consumers.

Still releasing something so expensive that such a gamble to consumers should at least have the latest processors. I’m sure the new iPads will and the $500 Mac mini will soon. This coulda been the flagship device for it. Plus its more power efficient which is very needed

 

[dante_mr]

Still releasing something so expensive that such a gamble to consumers should at least have the latest processors. I’m sure the new iPads will and the $500 Mac mini will soon. This coulda been the flagship device for it. Plus its more power efficient which is very needed

I get that these products have to be finalized years in advance, but since it's a brand-new product with estimated low supplies anyway, I feel like Apple could have at least aligned development with the 3nm process to get the M3 on there.

Maybe delay the announcement to WWDC 2024 with a release around the holidays?

At least for the power efficiency and ray-tracing capabilities which I feel could be particularly helpful for a spatial headset.

Though I'm not sure how much more battery life we would get with the M3. If it's negligible then maybe that's why Apple decided to stick to the M2?

But M2 or M3, I'm sure the VP will be more than powerful enough for day to day use. My M1 Mac is still doing great.

 

[MayaUser]

If you want to make a big statement like apple did with m1… you go m3 on this and for kids that want to try gaming on this and lightning is a major factor for this close up displays and immersive exp..but no ray tracing no big focus for games but productivity and other
I wonder if the next one in 2025/2026 will have the m3 or m4

 

[Jensend]

I get that these products have to be finalized years in advance, but since it's a brand-new product with estimated low supplies anyway, I feel like Apple could have at least aligned development with the 3nm process to get the M3 on there.

Maybe delay the announcement to WWDC 2024 with a release around the holidays?

At least for the power efficiency and ray-tracing capabilities which I feel could be particularly helpful for a spatial headset.

Though I'm not sure how much more battery life we would get with the M3. If it's negligible then maybe that's why Apple decided to stick to the M2?

But M2 or M3, I'm sure the VP will be more than powerful enough for day to day use. My M1 Mac is still doing great.

Raytracing capabilities may allow prettier graphics, but a game with raytraced effects will run slower than a game that doesn't have those effects. PC gaming GPUs are much much faster than the M3, and have raytracing capabilities, but developers don't bother with putting raytraced effects in PC VR games.

 

[RobinNL]

Hope it can stream from a PC for scenarios where we do want the graphics.

That said the battery life improvements alone makes me want M3 on this. It makes much more sense.

 

[subjonas]

Hope it can stream from a PC for scenarios where we do want the graphics.

PC as in Windows? Pretty certain no. Maybe Mac but I’d think it would have to be wired to not have severe lag, so Apple would have to make a cable that can connect the VP to a Mac. I’m wondering though how the R1 chip would work with the Mac’s M chip, or if it even needs to. Maybe one would only plug into Mac for VR experiences which maybe doesn’t need the R1 chip.

 

[RobinNL]

Yeah it’s a long shot I know. Hoping the App Store rules are lenient and some app can make it happen. I wonder if a 4090+compression will beat native M2 on image quality.

But access to steamvr from day one would be amazing for gamers.

 

[JPack]

Still releasing something so expensive that such a gamble to consumers should at least have the latest processors. I’m sure the new iPads will and the $500 Mac mini will soon. This coulda been the flagship device for it. Plus its more power efficient which is very needed

It's not much of a gamble because there will only be 400,000 units available this year. In all likelihood, they will be sold very quickly. Apple is gated by supply, not demand from geeks asking about M2/M3. Apple is successful because they sell a complete experience. Vision Pro likely offers the absolutely best experience out there. They are not targeting the Android/PC geeks who want specs, specs, and more specs.

The original iPhone used an underclocked Samsung processor. Should Steve Jobs have waited a year to validate a faster processor and 3G baseband? We all know the answer.

Some people are seriously underestimating the power of Apple's first mover advantage, product awareness, along with attracting developers to their ecosystem.

 

[VPsmith]

My guess is Vision Pro will be on the even number of the M series. M2, M4, M6... This gives a two year window of development which seems pretty decent for the gradual evolution of this device. They won't release these every year at least not until they become super compact and consumer adoption skyrockets. Maybe in 6 years we will almost have glasses or maybe the surprise from Apple is Apple Glasses after Apple Vision and Apple Vision Pro have the stage for 4 years.