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Oct 05, 2023

Apple Vision Pro: Revolutionary, But Not for You

The Apple Vision Pro looks like it could be a truly revolutionary AR/VR headset

The Apple Vision Pro looks like it could be a truly revolutionary AR/VR headset that combines a ton of advanced technology into one streamlined package. It will offer eye-tracking, hand-tracking, voice control, and seamless mobile app integration, all with Apple's signature elegant industrial design and direct, accessible user interface. It might very well be the most advanced consumer-available VR headset ever.

And it isn't for you.

Apple isn't limiting the Vision Pro to enterprise customers or developers, and at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, the company certainly presented it as a device for consumers everywhere. But it's very clear that's not what the headset actually is. This is the headset Apple is releasing before it releases the headset you'll put on your holiday wish list.

For all of Apple's optimistic statements on accessibility, simplicity, and use cases that might please everyone, the Apple Vision Pro is just a first, premium taste of how the company will turn AR/VR into a product category. The proof is in the name and the price that goes with it.

The headset is called the Apple Vision Pro, and that Pro part is telling considering there wasn't an Apple Vision before it. There was a MacBook before the MacBook Pro. There was an iPad before the iPad Pro. There was an iPhone before the iPhone Pro (actually 10, since the first Pro model was the iPhone 11 Pro). There was even an Apple Watch before the Apple Watch Ultra, which isn't Pro, but we'll count it. And yet, the Apple Vision Pro is the first headset of its kind.

Pro versions of Apple's products have always denoted that they're the most powerful, most serious models designed for people who need them to get work done. They take the basic designs and ideas of their product lines and add all the best hardware and top-of-the-line features Apple can fit in them. That's where the Apple Vision Pro is starting, stuffed full of every AR/VR tech trick currently available, hence the Pro in its name.

A Pro in an Apple product's name also indicates another big detail: A huge price tag. You can get a Mac mini for $599. A Mac Studio starts at $1,999. A Mac Pro? $6,999. Even iPads and MacBooks get premiums of several hundred dollars when Pro is added to them.

The Apple Vision Pro will sell for $3,499 later this year. That's a lot of money for any piece of consumer electronics. Big TVs cost half that much. Gaming PCs cost half that much. Every current game console together costs less than half that much. This new headset costs as much as the Microsoft HoloLens 2, and is several times more than the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation VR 2, and Valve Index. It actually costs more than those four headsets combined.

Even taking into account the typical Apple premium, the Vision Pro's price goes far beyond any realistic ambition for consumer sales.

The HoloLens 2, for example, was always a combination proof-of-concept and enterprise device. It's intended to show off what augmented reality can do, and it's mostly used in professional contexts like hard hat displays(Opens in a new window) and even the military(Opens in a new window). It's not a headset anyone has picked up at Best Buy and taken home to relax with on their couch. All but the most well-heeled and enthusiastic early adopters won't be doing that with the Apple Vision Pro, either.

Consider how Apple announced the Vision Pro. It debuted during a WWDC keynote, a developer-focused conference, not a separate, consumer-focused event. This is a platform that needs to build up its own dedicated software library, and this first-gen headset is a canvas for developers, who will build apps for the non-Pro Apple Vision coming down the pike.

I'll give Apple credit on the Vision Pro presentation. For an incredibly expensive, first-gen product intended primarily for proof-of-concept and software development, the Vision Pro could be the most consumer-ready device I've ever seen. VisionOS looks like another fork of iOS and iPadOS, and it can run iPad apps natively with ease.

That's a strong foundation on which to build a user experience, and every activity from web browsing to watching movies to making video calls is already baked in. Unlike the HoloLens, or any other enterprise-level AR or VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro will probably be a device you can realistically take home and simply start using without having to deal with a tiny library of limited apps or bespoke software.

But it's still a Pro device Apple is selling for $3,499. The latter detail makes it far too expensive for any typical consumer to even consider, and the former detail reinforces that message.

Looking past its name, the Apple Vision Pro is comparable to another product that didn't have the strongest first showing but would eventually define an industry: the iPhone.

The first iPhone sold for $499 when it launched in 2007, and it didn't have an App Store. The store arrived with the iPhone 3G in 2008, and it cost $199. The much lower price and third-party software library Apple built up and expanded from that point forward are what really made the iPhone synonymous with the smartphone as an idea. Out of the gate, the iPhone was technologically advanced but very expensive and not quite ready for wide consumer use.

I'm excited to try out the Apple Vision Pro, and I think its combination of features, processing power, and Apple's general design philosophy could make it an incredible headset. But it'll largely serve as a sneak peek at what Apple will put out down the line. Until we get a standard Apple Vision, hold the Pro, this won't be a headset for any consumer to realistically consider buying.

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