This week, Apple finally unveiled the $3,499 Vision Pro, its long-awaited “mixed reality” headset. It conjures up many descriptions—a “space computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world,” “a personal cinema with a screen that feels like it’s 100 feet wide”—but conspicuously lacks one word: “metaverse.”
The Metaverse, a virtual world where people meet in avatars to play, work, and socialize, was all the rage a while ago. Facebook rebranded to Meta in 2021, and companies from Microsoft to Sony proudly launched headsets. But the vision that excited executives is creating a buzz among consumers.
“This is for you believers . . . Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared with a touch of sarcasm last year when he launched his professional Meta Quest Pro headset. Incidentally, Apple’s own Zhou arrives late and dismisses those who arrive early.
Apple took its time. It’s been working on virtual and augmented reality for seven years, and the Vision Pro still lacks some of the sleek design it’s known for: a headset tethered to a separate battery. However, those who tried it briefly were impressed by the HD clarity of its images and the thought behind them.
“You know you’ve got a screen in front of you, but it feels very real. I’ve never had that feeling before,” Francisco Jeronimo, IDC’s European analyst, told me. Leo Gebbie of CCS Insight says he has tried dozens of headsets over the years and “I can say with confidence that this is the best experience I’ve ever had”.
Apple isn’t letting money get in the way. The Vision Pro is seven times more expensive than Meta’s upcoming Quest 3 headset, which aims to do some of the same things and is therefore very expensive. It crams 23 million pixels across two tiny screens, viewed through custom lenses, with photos and videos rendered by two Apple chips.
That might sound like overkill, but one of the problems with virtual reality is that it’s technically inadequate. Instead of being seamlessly transported to a digital utopia, headset wearers feel uncomfortable, disorientated, and sometimes nauseated. They also look ridiculous and isolated from their surroundings.
Instead of attending a launch event in California this week, I popped in to East London’s Otherworld, billed as “the world’s most immersive VR experience”.There, I wear an HTC Vive Pro headset, grab two controllers, and climb into a pod to play various games, including fruit Ninjain an island virtual universe.
Others had a great time, but my main feeling after half an hour was motion sickness and the urge to escape outside. Apple is trying to overcome the first problem, which is common in headsets, by rendering images fast enough that there is no noticeable lag, thereby reducing nausea.
But virtual reality has a deeper difficulty: the idea of the metaverse itself. No matter how keen Zuckerberg and others are to turn us into cartoons, spending hours in virtual worlds, it still doesn’t convince beyond games. I was never tempted, and judging by the sales figures, neither was anyone else.
It’s much more natural to stay in the beautifully lit, high-definition world we already inhabit, and overlay the digital elements with technology. The idea, called augmented reality, is what Apple is aiming for with the Vision Pro, and its demo this week managed to show how it works.
The first thing users see when they put on the headset is the room they are in, not the virtual world. They are shown the usual array of Apple apps, which they select using eye and hand motions, and open in a screen-like display. Even if they are watching a movie, they can see if someone is near them.
In fact, the Vision Pro is a trick mirror: It’s not an augmented reality device, but a virtual reality headset pretending to be one. Instead of staring through its visor, users see images of the world through the high-definition camera. Apple has yet to achieve the technological feat of making true AR glasses.
So when Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the door his remarks “Augmented reality is a deep technology,” he said, calling the Vision Pro “the beginning of a journey.” That’s probably sensible: I wouldn’t rush to shell out $3,499 to try and turn headphones into must-have tech.
But Apple achieved one thing this week: It made sense of the device’s mass appeal. It reveals something more familiar and complex than before, and makes today’s virtual worlds less enticing. Almighty’s metaverse already looked financially dangerous; now it feels dated.
Apple isn’t necessarily destined to dominate augmented reality. By the time the affordable Vision arrives, others will have time to adjust. But it has a habit of defining technologies, from the Macintosh to the iPhone. It still has a knack for being fashionably late, according to this week’s evidence.
john.gapper@ft.com