Video: A First Look at visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

I know you’re joking, but I do honestly wonder what happens with mirrors. Is LiDAR effected by it?

LiDAR will see a mirror as a wall as some of the signal likely will still reflect back to the source. It’s just to determine distance to an obstruction using 905 and 1550nm wavelengths (typical).

The cameras may be confused a little by an object since they are o my looking at visible light, but more than likely, nothing special will happen.

You were a bit late to that tech. 🙂

I bought my Laserdisc player in 1994… and yes it might well have been the equivalent of USD2,000.
Still, it was fun while it lasted.

Got mine in 1996 tired of waiting for DVD. Paid “only” $700 for a non-digital storage version. The last LD I bought was Episode I: The Phantom Menace imported from Japan in 2000. Retired the player in 2001 with DVD. Still all works.

 

[MrAR]

I just find it a bit worrying that Apple themselves didn’t even have one single app that really used the spatial potential to show-case what can be possible. Just making 2D floating apps and leaving it entirely up to other devs to figure out how to build spatial apps feels a bit lazy somehow… or perhaps they were just rushing it to having it out on the market as fast as possible.

But Hopefully Apple is currently working on some really cool spatial apps.

 

[NT1440]

I just find it a bit worrying that Apple themselves didn’t even have one single app that really used the spatial potential to show-case what can be possible. Just making 2D floating apps and leaving it entirely up to other devs to figure out how to build spatial apps feels a bit lazy somehow… or perhaps they were just rushing it to having it out on the market as fast as possible.

But Hopefully Apple is currently working on some really cool spatial apps.

Look at the WWDC sessions, there’s nothing to worry about in that front.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Sure, geeks did. However, mainstream regular people didn't know they wanted it until they saw it.

People absolutely knew they wanted something like that. I can't even begin to think of the number of times random, non-geeky friends, mentioned wishing they had AIM on the go, etc.

 

[darngooddesign]

People absolutely knew they wanted something like that. I can't even begin to think of the number of times random, non-geeky friends, mentioned wishing they had AIM on the go, etc.

Lots of phones already did things like AIM. Regular people who wanted a pocket computer already had options. In fact, at launch the iPhone was less of an all-purpose pocket computer than most of its competition.

 

[bobob]

No one needed the Apple Watch and now 80% of the people around me bought one for various reasons that there isn't a better cheaper alternative

Unless you don’t want to wear a computer on your wrist.

Flash forward to the 2033 MacRumors forum:

koruki: No one needed the Apple Vision and now 80% of the people around me bought one for various reasons that there isn't a better cheaper alternative

Surf Monkey: Unless you don’t want to wear a computer on your face.

 

[anselpela]

i think i was interested in Vision Pro more before I saw this video

Probably because you didn't understand it well, like many people apparently.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

POV: It’s 2024 and this shows up.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Flash forward to the 2033 MacRumors forum:

koruki: No one needed the Apple Vision and now 80% of the people around me bought one for various reasons that there isn't a better cheaper alternative

Surf Monkey: Unless you don’t want to wear a computer on your face.

I’ll take that bet.

AVP isn’t the next iPhone. You’re welcome to dream that it is, but it isn’t.

 

[JamesHolden]

To put it simply, the Apple Vision Pro is the Mac Studio, not the iPod.

I don’t disagree with your perspective, but I also have to wonder how Apple will deliver a cheaper headset anytime soon. If you compare the iPhone to the iPhone Pro or iPhone SE, there are clear hardware trade-offs. There are clear hardware trade-offs between the Mac Studio and MacBook or iMac.

What kind of hardware compromises can Apple make with the Vision Pro to bring pricing down? Fewer cameras and sensors? Lower quality displays? No spatial photos? Less powerful processor? Won’t those trade-offs seriously compromise the experience?

I think people who believe a non-Pro version is waiting in the wings will be sorely disappointed. There’s a reason the Vision Pro costs what it does. It’s cutting edge. Apple only has two options for bringing the price down. They need to sell a ton of units to bring component costs down and/or they need to release a non-Pro version that compromises on features. Given what they’ve shown us so far, it’s hard for me to see how they’ll preserve the Vision experience with lesser hardware.

 

[NY Guitarist]

iPhone is an essential part of my day. Syncing my data to my iCloud and communication via text, email, and FaceTime no matter where I am makes it indispensable.

What bread-and-butter apps will make the AVP indispensable?

While I think the AVP is super exciting I still don't see what will compel me to put on a headset for daily computer activities once the novelty of 'spacial computing' wears off.

Maybe I'm just being myopic? 👓

 

[JamesHolden]

Interacting with "flat windows" is just one aspect of the platform.

The content of those windows can now be truly 3D

• Imagine an architecture app where you can "walk into" a building, look around, move objects around, etc.
• Imagine a shopping experience where you can pick objects up, read labels, inspect every side, as if you were holding the real thing.
• Imagine a travel app where you can actually "be" in a new country. The world is all around you.
• Imagine a doctor performing surgery virtually while robot instruments are mimicking the exact movements.
• Imagine a pilot or astronaut training for their next mission, actually being "inside" the cockpit with such realism that they don't know they're not.

The list goes on.

None of these use cases is remotely mainstream.

Architecture is niche.

Shopping is the most mainstream use case but I doubt anyone is going to drop $3500 for a better shopping experience. I don’t need to “pick up” an object and turn it to read the label when a simple image of the label on my screen is more than sufficient. I still can’t touch or feel the object.

Medical? That would require Apple to get the Vision Pro certified as a medical device by the FDA. They still haven’t done that for the Apple Watch. Highly unlikely they do it for the Vision Pro.

Travel? Nice gimmick. People who enjoy traveling want the real thing. Vision Pro is a sad little shadow of the real thing, at best.

Simulations. Sure, it’ll enhance the experience but flight simulators (any kind of simulator really) are not a mainstream use case. Furthermore, I don’t see airlines, etc replacing their extremely expensive purpose-built flight simulators for a VR headset. Professional flight simulators are essentially cockpit replicas with all the controls, etc. How does VR improve that experience? Hint: it doesn’t.

 

[NY Guitarist]

Probably because you didn't understand it well, like many people apparently.

Help me understand.

 

[JamesHolden]

Help me understand.

It’s pretty simple. The critics don’t understand…and the eager fans aren’t delusional. 😜

 

[Arsenikdote]

… “I have not really been looking forward to this product, but after the Keynote and hearing from people who have tried, I see the path they are going and I am more than excited.” …

Same here, I was skeptical but the keynote and Dan’s initial tryout report video gave me new ideas, i see more possibilities and potential now. At the same time, I continue to worry about a potential for more adverse effects on human interaction, similar to the disruption of face-to-face communication by smart/brickphone users …

Absolutely I worry about how disconnected we are becoming in an ever more "connected" world. Truly an issue for humanity to figure out or a LOT of the old sci-fi premises could EASILY become a reality.

 

[Analog Kid]

The SDK was released half a year after the original iPhone, and the AppStore half a year later. There is no way to architect, develop, test, refine, test, and release both an SDK and an App Store in less than a year. SJ may not have wanted them personally, but Apple always planned on having 3rd party apps.

The SDK was released March of 2008. Regardless of when you start the clock, that's more than half a year. If you think "Apple" was busy doing something behind Steve's back, I think your memory of those years might be a little foggy... He was not a benevolent dictator...

You might be forgetting how limited the original iPhone SDK was and how much it has evolved over the years. At the time, it was mostly a matter of cleaning up and documenting APIs the internal team was already using. As I recall, the initial SDK wasn't much more than access to the GUI-- there's wasn't much in the way of sensors, you couldn't access music or the phone. You could make fart noises though, I remember that being a ground breaking feature...

Seeing the financial success of the AppStore and the phenomenon that iPhone has become, it's easy to look back and assume "of course they wanted this", but that's all hindsight. The no SDK approach is a pretty Jobsian stance, frankly. I don't think he trusted dirty developers putting their dirty code on his beautiful machine. I think he wanted to maintain the approach Apple took with iPod-- limited access to a private SDK for big name developers with all the gloss and sheen they brought with them writing apps that Steve had say over when they were ready for release.

I obviously didn't know the man, but of all the arguments for releasing the SDK, I suspect the one that sold him was as a deterrent to jailbreaking. "Steve, if you don't let them in the front door, they'll break in through the basement and make your jewel look like trash." I also think he wound up happy with the success of it all.

 

[tomtad]

POV: It’s 2024 and this shows up.

View attachment 2222558

Think you’ll be seeing that quite a bit with the 2 hour battery life 🤣

 

[doelcm82]

Looking at the video, I am assuming all the mouse 'clicks' are going to be done by a persons hand motion? If that is the case then many peoples arms and fingers are going to get tired very quickly (raised arms so cameras can see the hands).

That was a complaint people had when the movie Minority Report came out. As cool as the interface Tom Cruise was using looked, it wasn't practical because your arms would get tired. That's why Apple has never made any of its laptops or desktops touch screens. Having to reach out and touch the screen wasn't a good user experience.

So why would they be making you reach out and touch things in VisionOS. The answer is that they aren't doing that. You choose the things you want to click on by looking at them. Then you make the clicking motion with your hand, which can be resting on a table or in your lap. Your hand stays where you are comfortable. It should be less tiring to your hand and arm than using either a touch pad or a mouse.

 

[Crow_Servo]

I don’t disagree with your perspective, but I also have to wonder how Apple will deliver a cheaper headset anytime soon. If you compare the iPhone to the iPhone Pro or iPhone SE, there are clear hardware trade-offs. There are clear hardware trade-offs between the Mac Studio and MacBook or iMac.

What kind of hardware compromises can Apple make with the Vision Pro to bring pricing down? Fewer cameras and sensors? Lower quality displays? No spatial photos? Less powerful processor? Won’t those trade-offs seriously compromise the experience?

I think people who believe a non-Pro version is waiting in the wings will be sorely disappointed. There’s a reason the Vision Pro costs what it does. It’s cutting edge. Apple only has two options for bringing the price down. They need to sell a ton of units to bring component costs down and/or they need to release a non-Pro version that compromises on features. Given what they’ve shown us so far, it’s hard for me to see how they’ll preserve the Vision experience with lesser hardware.

I wonder about this too. There are predictions of a cheaper version coming by the end of 2025, but I think it’s more likely that the previous gen version will see a price drop whenever a new version arrives. The components in the older model will cost less to produce, in theory (like with the iPhones), and the new version will then occupy the price point of the previous gen model.

So in 2027, pricing could look like this:

Early 2027 model (Vision Pro 3): $3,500
Late 2025 model (Vision Pro 2): $2,999
Early 2024 model (Vision Pro): $2,499

They could also do what they did with the Apple Watch, and reuse the outer materials of the original Vision Pro, and just upgrade the processor to call that version the Series 1 and have another version that has an all new design and added bells and whistles and call that Series 2, but release them alongside each other at different price points.

So this initial version would be Series 0 like the original Apple Watch. Lots to think about. Really curious how long each of these will support updates. I remember the original Apple Watch didn’t support very many updates, but hopefully the M2 (+R1) chip will be able to power it well for years. You never know. They don’t even know what the developers will come up with yet. They could push the boundaries of the processor early on.

 

[doelcm82]

I’ll take that bet.

AVP isn’t the next iPhone. You’re welcome to dream that it is, but it isn’t.

I don't think it's the next iPhone. I think it's the next iPad. It does what the iPhone does (except for being a phone), but on a bigger screen. No one needs that. No one wants that.

But if 10% as many people buy the AVP as bought the iPad in the first year, that will be more than 700,000 units sold. Even if 1% as many people buy the AVP as currently by iPads annually, that will be over 400,000 units. sold.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I don't think it's the next iPhone. I think it's the next iPad. It does what the iPhone does (except for being a phone), but on a bigger screen. No one needs that. No one wants that.

But if 10% as many people buy the AVP as bought the iPad in the first year, that will be more than 700,000 units sold. Even if 1% as many people buy the AVP as currently by iPads annually, that will be over 400,000 units. sold.

I don’t see how that smallish scale matches Apple’s aspirations around the device.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

VisionOS Apple Pay concept 🥽

 

[tomtad]

I’m not seeing many widgets. Would be great to pin them to walls, put them on shelves etc.

 

[NT1440]

I’m not seeing many widgets. Would be great to pin them to walls, put them on shelves etc.

You’re in luck: https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...any-surface-into-a-display-with-touch-control

 

[MrAR]

Look at the WWDC sessions, there’s nothing to worry about in that front.

Well, I saw the whole event but I’m not sure that I saw any app or user interaction that really took advantage of the spatial possibilities. Sure there were some stuff from Disney but I was hoping/expecting something more..