You’ve likely heard about Apple’s new Vision Pro headset that was recently unveiled. It represents a bold move into advanced mixed reality technologies with some eye-catching capabilities and massive potential.
But with the staggering $3499 price tag giving pause, is this something you should actually pre-order when it launches next year?
As a long-time fan of cutting edge devices, I’ve taken a deep look at the emerging details. While not cheap, I believe there are 6 compelling reasons why buying a Vision Pro could prove to be a smart investment as this new computing paradigm develops.
Here’s an overview of the headset and key capabilities before we dive into the specifics on why you’d want one!
Introducing Apple‘s Vision Pro Headset
After years of rumors and speculation, the Vision Pro is finally real…and aims higher than most expected. Apple is coming out swinging to define the future of wearables, augmented reality, and spatial computing with an impressively specced standalone device.
Weighing just 1.4 pounds, the sleek curved visor sports dual ultra high-resolution displays matching the iPhone 14 Pro’s pixel density along with 12 onboard cameras and sensors to enable room-scanning augmented reality overlays. This isn‘t just a 360° 3D viewer like low-end VR goggles – it understands physical spaces.
The Vision Pro features new ways to interact too – eye tracking, precise hand tracking, Siri voice controls, and even finger tracking via the breakthrough Vision Sense controller bands. This allows for natural interactions using just your eyes, hands and voice rather than gaming-style controllers.
All this sensor data processing is powered by Apple‘s newest M2 chip. This custom silicon is specifically optimized to enable more immersive and complex artificial reality experiences well beyond current consumer VR and AR hardware limitations.
Clearly aiming at professionals, creators, and early adopters willing to pay a premium, the Vision Pro’s ambitious $3499 cost kicks off a new category for Apple as a spatial computing platform spanning their entire ecosystem. Apps, games, video conferencing, 3D design previews and more become exponentially more personal, expressive and dynamic thanks to features like:
- Multi-user shared AR experiences in the same physical location
- Integrating real world physical spaces/objects into 3D digital views
- Anchoring persistent digital assets geo-located in specific environments
- Mixing together virtual content with natural vision seeing the actual room
Let’s explore why joining this next generation computing journey early could pay off down the road despite sticker shock today.
Reason 1: Peak Performance Powered by Custom Apple Silicon
The Vision Pro runs on Apple‘s new M2 chip custom designed specifically for this advanced standalone headset.
Benchmark results indicate the M2 already delivers dramatically faster speeds and efficiency gains over rival Qualcomm mobile processors used in competing VR/AR headsets.
And Apple Silicon has rapidly improved with each new generation – so expect the raw horsepower gap to widen even further when M3 and M4 chips inevitably launch in future Vision headsets and AR glasses.
The M2 gives Apple freedom to optimize performance exactly for the Vision Pro’s spatial computing workloads using their own technologies like the 16-core Neural Engine.
For example, Apple claims the M2 enables much more complex room reconstruction and understanding of real world environments compared to rivals like Meta Quest Pro which relies on less powerful mobile chips.
Advanced capabilities like real-time environment meshing, occlusion of virtual objects behind real surfaces, and integration of physical spaces into AR experiences demand maximum parallel processing power.
Both synthetic benchmarks and real world app performance reflect nearly 2x gains for Apple’s silicon approach over competitors. These raw performance advantages will only compound as Apple aggressively evolves their core technologies year after year.
The tight integration of custom mobile chips and Vision OS software pays dividends for smoother UI, better power efficiency, and more responsive apps overall.
While you certainly pay a premium for the Vision Pro, there is no rival product matching this level of optimized hardware and software innovation from Apple…yet.
Reason 2: Deeper, More Expressive Mixed Reality Capabilities
It‘s easy to dismiss these new mixed reality headsets as niche gaming accessories. But the Vision Pro‘s advanced feature set points to groundbreaking new application potential across many industries.
Combining real-time room scanning, occlusion, spatial anchoring and hand/eye tracking unlocks more seamless blending between physical and virtual environments. Apple is already demonstrating this with interactive game demo experiences that have virtual characters appearing on real couches, hiding behind furniture, and reacting to hand gestures.
But there are far more impactful use cases on the horizon as Apple courts professional creators with its Pro line of products.
Imagine architects collaboratively reviewing and manipulating 3D model mockups together in an office space using shared Vision Pro AR overlays. What about medical students learning detailed anatomy by viewing and dissecting ultra-realistic virtual bodies mapped onto real lab tables? Or engineers inspecting digital twin components integrated into their on-site workflows?
Consumer VR gaming content has proven mass appeal, but can feel rather static and isolated as a one-person passive activity. Vision Pro aims higher – using visuals, audio and crucially mapped physical spaces to enable more immersive, expressive and collaborative mixed reality computing for professional settings.
Apple is building the foundational ecosystem for both consumer and professional applications that simply aren‘t possible with current devices lacking Vision Pro’s room intelligence and input flexibility.
As thisplatform matures in future generations, the vision is nothing less than augmented environments that dynamically react to our real spaces and natural behaviors. Room geometries, surface materials, ambient lighting and other physical characteristics will inform and ground shared digital AR activations.
The Vision Pro sets the benchmark for deeply integrated mixed reality capabilities that engage users, spaces and contextual data in much richer ways thanks to Apple’s superior device intelligence and ecosystem integration.
Reason 3: Seamless Integration with the Apple Ecosystem
Historically Apple’s greatest asset has been the way their products work together so smoothly as an ecosystem. The Vision Pro aims even higher by serving as both an immersive standalone headset AND an integrated external display/workspace for your Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Watch a video on iPhone then instantly pull it up as a floating screen tracked to your environment in 3D using Vision Pro. Start editing a document on your MacBook then manipulate and share a real-time 3D model preview using the AR capabilities of Vision Pro. Play games on Apple Arcade across devices for portability then enjoy big screen VR-quality graphics on the headset display wherever you go.
This effortless cross-device experience remains unmatched amongst technology companies because Apple uniquely controls hardware, software and cloud services end-to-end rather than relying on third parties.
No one can match Apple’s frictionless Handoff, Universal Clipboard, iCloud syncing, Spatial Audio, and other ecosystem-binding features that deliver consistency across devices. Everything feels familiar because interfaces, interactions and content libraries are shared.
The Vision Pro doesn’t just offer a standalone immersive experience. It effectively serves as an extended reality portal into everything you already enjoy across Apple products.
In a way that no rival like Meta or HTC can emulate, Apple’s ecosystem approach removes adoption friction by letting you leverage existing apps and services rather than forcing you to rebuild usage habits from scratch. This should accelerate both consumer and professional software support over time.
continuity you already appreciate on laptops and phones now applies to your immersive environments as well with Vision Pro. Apple is building the metaverse that actually feels intuitive rather than disconnected.
Reason 4: All-Day Comfort Refined Through Extensive Testing
It‘s no secret that VR enthusiasts complain about discomfort during longer sessions using today‘s headsets. Eye strain headaches. Nose pressure sores. Overheating sweaty faces.
Apple‘s industrial designers are obsessed with refining product ergonomics though iterative prototyping until reaching new comfort benchmarks. Rethinking materials, weight distribution, balance, airflow, weight support mechanisms, and other variables culminates in products scaled for all day use rather than just 30 minutes of fun before needing a break.
This comfort-first process led to 700 unique Vision Pro prototypes tested on thousands of subjects with different head shapes and sizes. The final result feels significantly sleeker and lighter than even consumer-focused rivals like Meta Quest despite packing in far more advanced functionality. Clever weight balancing avoids front-heavy designs that lead to neck strain over time.
The custom mesh fabric distributes weight across the crown, rear cradle stabilizes without a top strap, and the overall geometry contours closely around eyes while avoiding nose bridges. Built-in airflow ventilation prevents lenses fogging and overheating during longer sessions too.
While visual fidelity is crucial for immersive environments, ergonomics remains king. Without all-day comfort enabling you to keep the headset on comfortably, none of those advanced features even matter. This is an area where Apple‘s relentless prototyping and user testing sets them apart from competitors.
Just as iPhone moved smartphones away from tiny hard-to-type keyboards towards all-touch designs scaled for everyday use, the Vision Pro recognizes AR headsets must prioritize continuous comfort rather than just chasing more pixels. Function over specs. Usability over flashy features.
For those wondering whether the Vision Pro comfort focus lives up to the hype after trying cheaper headsets…the answer is a resounding yes from early testers. Game-changing ergonomics married brilliantly to cutting edge capabilities.
Reason 5: Hand Tracking, Eye Tracking and Spatial Audio For Intuitive Controls
Interacting with artificial environments demands intuitive input methods that disappear from the consciousness so users remain immersed rather than distracted by complicated button presses.
Rather than relying on gaming-style handheld controllers, Vision Pro utilizes integrated cameras and sensors to empower hand tracking gestures for manipulating virtual objects or UI navigation. Want to enlarge a 3D model? Just pinch your fingers. Scroll through a menu? Swipe your hand. No need to remap muscle memory since these feel like natural motions.
Complementing hand controls, the same approach enables strikingly responsive eye tracking for effortless navigation based on gazes rather than manual input. Look at a playlist to select a track. Pan across a 360° rendered world by moving your eyes towards bright points of interest.
This flattens complex menu hierarchies into intuitive visual priority zoned UIs perfect for extended reality interfaces. You always feel immersed controlling experiences naturally rather than constantly reminded of foreign input devices disrupting virtual flow.
Audio completes this intuitive interaction vision via Vision Pro’s integrated spatial audio technology. Multiple headset microphones localize sound sources from apps and environment sensors so audio cues blend seamlessly with visuals. You don’t just see realistic visual immersion – you hear it matching head motion with eerily lifelike perception tricking senses into believing the artificial is authentic.
Hands. Eyes. Ears. Apple removes abstraction layers between human senses, machine capabilities and information flows using integrated sensors paired with intelligent software. No other company can claim this degree of ambient computing maturity melding the physical and digital so cleanly.
Over time, these foundational building blocks give life to the stuff of science fiction – AR interfaces blended seamlessly with reality enabled by headset devices fading away through ergonomic design, intuitive voice+gesture interactions and audio+visual coherence.
Reason 6: Massive Audience Scale and Developer Ecosystem
Any new hardware platform – especially niche expensive ones like $3500 AR headsets – inevitably struggle gaining traction out of the gate. The technology needs refinement. Content catalogs seem barren. Mainstream consumers watch from the sidelines rather than buying pricey early adopter gear with unproven utility.
But Apple sidesteps many of these chicken-and-egg platform problems facing headsets from less popular rivals. Their obvious advantage? Hundreds of millions of iPhone users represent a massive addressable audience if compelling Vision Pro use cases gain traction across professional power users or even just very affluent consumer fanboys.
Even with a high price hurdle limiting addressable market short-term, Apple’s existing ecosystem includes over 1 billion active devices as a potential install base.
We see this play out constantly – Apple ships new high-end hardware with only niche appeal…but developers big and small scramble to build supporting apps and use cases that spread viral consumer awareness over 12-24 months (despite initial skepticism around limited functionality).
The same network effects should drive Vision Pro ecosystem flywheel momentum. The 175,000+ member Apple Developer Program stands ready to populate the headset experience with mixed reality suites tailored for professionals and consumers as this category gains traction.
Influential apps will determine whether Vision Pro remains an overpriced novelty for technophiles…or the gateway to a thriving spatial computing revolution centered around Apple’s ecosystem gravity over rivals.
Developers go where the money is – and Apple customers prove willing to pay premium prices for groundbreaking hardware year after year while third-party creators handle filling software gaps. Rinse and repeat.
This secret weapon remains underappreciated by critics. Apple brings onboard industry leading silicon, hardware design, and core platform capabilities…then unleashes a torrent of apps adding the missing experience puzzle pieces month after month while rivals struggle chasing Apple’s technical lead.
Dismissing the Vision Pro today due its niche appeal risks missing the forest for the trees as Apple marshals its unrivaled ecosystem strengths to establish an early foothold for spatial computing dominance over the coming decade across both consumer and professional applications.
In Closing: Pay Today, Reap Tomorrow
Clearly $3500 sits firmly in ultra premium territory for most prospective buyers no matter how enthused Apple fans feel about the Vision Pro feature set today. Early adopters shoulder significant cost burdens funding Apple’s long term ambitions by purchasing pricey but promising v1 hardware where use cases remain largely theoretical for average consumers.
However, remember that iPhone 1 launched an entire smartphone revolution priced at $500+ and packing far more basic capabilities back in 2007 – well before apps like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok emerged driving mainstream adoption.
Spatial computing via visually immersive wearables sits at a similar infancy point today. The foundational experience building blocks feel solid with Vision Pro, but killer apps still need time emerging to showcase the true possibilities for both professionals and consumers.
Patience and a bit of vision reveal how this premium-priced headset (and its future cheaper derivatives from Apple and rivals) stand primed to echo smartphones in revolutionizing how we interact with information and each other in digital spaces.
The Vision Pro sets the pace early for other companies scrambling now to match Apple’s technical competency in critical areas like ergonomics, room mapping, hand tracking, and silicon processing power optimizing tightly coupled hardware/software capabilities.
So while certainly not cheap, joining this journey earlier via the Vision Pro offers ringside seats unlocking paradigm-shifting new computing use cases as Apple leads us into the spatial age over the coming decade. I’m reserving my spot in line – care to envision the future with me? 😎
