I think Meta/FB gave VR a really, really good shot. It's kinda becoming clear that most people don't find a use case for VR in their daily lives.
What problems is Apple trying to solve here? What's lacking in our daily lives? The whole concept just seems so forced and superflous, as opposed to Apple's other major products that actually made people's daily lives easier.
If a technology can basically take full control of what our eyes see and what our ears hear, the "problem" being solved is ANYTHING that uses our vision and hearing. In the very best case, this is basically a personal Star Trek holodeck or Matrix-like simulation where anything you want to experience with those 2 senses can be experienced in a realistic way.
I'll offer a few concepts...
Those of us who use Apple and Windows tech for work probably have desktop and laptop computers to cover both home/office and on-the-go computing needs. Inevitably, we face situations every day where we wish we had ready access to either... or perhaps when we have access to one, we wished we had access to the other, etc. Or we might wish we had more screen RE for some task. Or now we need the Windows machine. Etc.
If the resolution is good enough, you could have a dynamic Mac Studio Ultra-Ultra-Ultra with any number of screens always with you... and a Maximus PC too. Sitting in that cramped seat on the plane where you can't even unfold a laptop to get something done, VR could give you an apparent expansive mobile desktop in a row where you only have enough room for a virtual keyboard. Need 2 screens or 6 screens for something? No room in reality but endless room in virtual reality. Need 50 screens? Use 50 screens.
In other words, think about all of your productive tech from phone-to-tablet-to-laptop-to-desktop. What if it was all available to you at all times and anywhere because it's ALL IN there? Now you have ONE device that pretty much covers everything Apple offers... and could cover pretty much all AV experiences too.
Rather watch the big movie on a screen bigger than the iPhone or iPad you have with you? Your biggest/best TV could be IN there too. Prefer an IMAX-like theater screen? That can be IN there too. IMAX anywhere you are. Prefer to watch surrounded by an audience? A virtual audience could be around you. Want the audience to be a bunch of super models? There they are. And so on.
Eating lunch in a drab setting under overcast skies. Transport yourself to your ideal setting anywhere in the world for lunch.
Wishing you could be court-side for the big game but can't afford court-side tickets? VR could be a way to attend every kind of sporting event and show in the best seat in the house. And everyone else could sit "there" too. One set of seats that might cost $8K-$50K for a single show could now be sold for a much more affordable "attendee" that actually numbers in the many thousands.
Etc. Basically, imagine if you had access to the holodeck. What would you like to see/experience? Your answer to that question is conceptually doable with a technology that can fully feed your eyes and ears. See the Beatles play live in 1964? Do it. Walk with dinosaurs instead of your daily walk without them? Do it. Take to orbit or explore the solar system or visit any historical event as if you are there, etc. Pilot the Millennium Falcon? Do it. Do it. Do it.
Right now a whole lot of people pay a whole lot of money to ride a stationary bike while looking at a screen to barely imply they are actually riding it THERE (wherever "there" is on that 2-dimensional screen). VR could make it seem so much more like you really are there. For example, look left, right and behind you and there is something "there" to see in those directions too.
How I imagine this is like that. The power to show my eyes anything and play any sounds to my ears means I could basically be anywhere in the universe at any point in time and have anything I want to watch or hear there play. Would I like to type this post from an office on the moon with a view of the Earth? Conceptually, it could seem like I'm there, doing that. I may actually be jammed into a corner of dirty subway train riding to my stop. But this lets me escape that and have all my goodies with me whenever I want them.
Will Apple's cut of this be that? I don't know. For all of that to happen, my imagination has just written some big software development checks that may not be cashable for many years to come. But if the hardware is able to do it, then it's only software to make it do such things. If enough software experience developers get interested, any visual & audio event becomes potential to deliver.
