SPECIAL REPORT
A revolution in progress
It’s pricey, and far from perfect, but it’s also amazingly immersive
“What the heck is happening?”
That’s what we said as we played virtual DJ, spinning two records in front of us with a cross-fade knob and special effects we could control with our hands in mid-air. We just reached out and touched them.
We had a similar ‘What the heck’ moment – in a good way –when we looked at a MacBook to connect and supersize its display on the wall in front of us. Then we pinned the Apple Music app to the left of our desk and Slack to the right. This is what Apple means by spatial computing.
And we were left almost speechless when we viewed a 3D spatial video of three dogs coming towards the camera. It’s so immersive you may get a bit emotional. Oh, and you can watch regular 3D movies in the Apple TV app that will blow your local cinema away.
The Apple Vision Pro is an incredible piece of technology, with an eye and hand tracking interface that puts the competition to shame. But there’s some early bugs and some very weird things that come along with this revolution, including a freaky digital Persona version of yourself that can appear in FaceTime calls.
Starting at $3,499, the Vision Pro is obscenely expensive and for well-heeled early adopters only. But it is the most innovative product Apple has created in over a decade and a fascinating look at the future of computing and entertainment rolled into one very sleek package. Here’s what it’s like to use so far…
Price and availability
This headset may be able to track your eyes with amazing precision, but it also starts at an eye-watering price of $3,499 in the US – the only country it’s available to buy in right now. The entry-level model comes with 256GB of storage, and it’s $3,699 for 512GB and $3,899 for 1TB.
Wear glasses? The Zeiss optical inserts for readers cost $99 and prescription lenses cost $149, though we do like how easily they magnetically attach to the Vision Pro. Apple Care+ costs an additional $499, which gives you two years of unlimited repairs and damage protection.
