OFFICIAL! Apple’s “One More Thing” was the VR/AR headset: Vision Pro! (WWDC 2023)

Although the WWDC 2023 focused most of it on announcements related to upgrades to Apple’s software products, the big star was none other than the Mixed Reality headset, which is not just a rumor… but reality! The Vision Pro is the AR/VR headset, which aspires to put users in its new era Spatial computing, as Apple itself now calls it. The “One More Thing” of the “giant” company of technology, aspires to create an unrepeatable immersive experiencecompletely changing the way that cooperate, we communicate, we are having fun and we understand the world around us!

Vision Pro is the result of decades, combining the best elements from the development of Apple’s Macs, iPhones and wearable devices. Tim Cook described it as Apple’s first device that the user looks at through it and will not look direct in it, enabling its user to see the real world and at the same time project 3D objects into it, surf the Internet and activate applications in the available physical space! The peculiarity of this headset is that it creates a transparent feeling to the userso that it is not completely isolated from the natural environment, but can see the world and have contact with those around it (in contrast to other VR/AR headsets, here the interaction and contact with the natural world is not lost).

To make all of this a reality, of course, Apple developed more than 5,000 different technological patentss, while he had to introduce two chips into the Vision Pro that can cover his increased needs in computing power. So the Vision Pro has one at its heart Apple Silicon M2 chipset, which takes over the performance in conjunction with a specialized R1 chipwhich undertakes the processing and blending of the physical with the virtual world, managing the data from the 12 cameras (!) and the sensors device. This standalone headset, which is rightly characterized by Apple as “one of a kind” (and not unfairly), comes without the need to use a dedicated controller (as is the case with most headsets on the market), but relies entirely on voice commands and gestures, with the technology EyeSight to completely change the way we communicate with a headset.

The first wearable spatial computer as described is made of a series of lightweight materials and features a number of technological breakthroughs that we have not seen before. It has two panels 23 million pixels in tiny LEDs in a tiny size, even surpassing the performance of one 4K TV! The Audio Dual Pods placed on the arms make its concept a reality Spatial audio sound, essentially tricking the brain into hearing ambient sound from different directions. In fact, the Vision Pro will feature the «OpticID» a technology that will read the user’s iris, offering maximum security (and essentially acting as an evolution of FaceID). In fact, from what Apple showed in the context of WWDC, the user will be able to create one digital person, making use of the neural network engine, which will accompany him on his journey through the virtual world. Behind all this will be the new operating system VisionOSwhich was specially developed by Apple to be able to give life to the sophisticated and unique capabilities of Vision Pro, with this dedicated operating system incorporating years of technological development and enabling the possibility of multi-app real-time execution.

Undoubtedly, the Vision Pro is a new “journey” by Apple into a new market, and at this stage it is unknown what its path will be. However, what we do know is that in its early stages it will be a product that will not be aimed at average useras it will cost $3,499an amount that marginally ranks it among High-tech luxury gadgets. The Apple Vision Pro is expected to be available in early 2024.