Apple Vision Pro Battery Supports Up to 2.5 Hours of 2D Video Playback

[Surf Monkey]

Will people be wearing these for more than 2.5 hours without a break? I'm not saying 2.5 hours is good, but we have to acknowledge battery limitations and Apple's goal of making you feel as immersed as possible without having a heavy battery attached to you.

Limited battery life is a hindrance to “making you feel immersed as possible.”

Let’s be realistic: 2.5 hours is Apple’s best case scenario. But what if the battery is no longer fresh out of the box? What if it’s not fully charged when you need to use it for two hours? How is your work flow impacted if you’re having to swap batteries?

These are simple and obvious questions that don’t even touch on the larger and more blatant issues with the device.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Okay, fine.

But don't get upset when no one buys it and the product languishes.

I'll probably buy it after judging it for myself in person vs. only what I imagine it can or cannot do, so that will likely eliminate the "no one."

And if I'm the only buyer but it does the one thing it appears to be able to do well, I'll be quite happy with a few years of no additional features/benefits/apps or updates.

 

[RowellE]

I am 99% sure they showed the cable in the original announcement

You’re right. I just checked old videos and they have the cable attached. That’s so weird that I didn’t really notice it before.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

So, why are we having to wait years for a new iMac Pro or 24" iMac so that 7% of people can put on a scuba headset?

why would your assumption be that?
Couldn’t it also be possible that Apple has slowed down on developments of future iMacs because… all in one desktops aren’t selling very well in 2024?

I mean, Apple has made it pretty clear that they think the large screened iMac is dead at this point, and anyone still waiting should just go for a Mac studio or a Mac mini with a display.

Apple Says There Won't Be a 27-Inch iMac With Apple Silicon

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I don’t know how much clearer it could get, the 27 inch iMac is dead, and it certainly isn’t because of the Vision Pro exists.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

This battery life is really a disaster and will be the biggest pain point of gen 1.

Especially without the ability to hot swap without losing power.

 

[tothemoonsands]

OK cool, only 2 batteries required for Oppenheimer or any of the other recent major Hollywood films.

 

[Hank001]

Really? I don't think anyone will be able to keep it on their head for 2 and a half hour.

Besides, the iPhone got 5 hours of battery life and it was a non issue. Nowadays it lasts all day.

 

[robbietop]

What a weird thing to write…

Speaking for myself:

iPhone?
I was in the queue to buy one of the very first ones on release. It was winter in the UK and I queued ice cold to get my hands on one.
Never doubted its success.

iPad.
Didn't queue, but started at Gen 1.

Watch?
Got a few generations, but returned them all.
Right now, as I type this out on my Mac I've got an Ultra 2 strapped to my wrist.
The Apple Watch finally delivered after quite a few generations.

Apple Vision Pro?
I am not convinced.
Maybe in a decade or so. But I guess that makes me a hater and a naysayer. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Totally agree. You're typing on your Mac. Your arms feeling relaxed? You having to wave them around like a sign language interpreter?

And the Watch still hasn't fully delivered. I still have one, but sometimes I wonder if they could just throw the old iPod UI on it and you could interact with the Watch using the Digital Crown or just swiping....

 

[mnsportsgeek]

So on fully 3D content, like a game, we're talking 30 minutes? If that?

Ya spatial content battery life is gonna be dreadful.

 

[dominiongamma]

I’ll wait for gen 2, better battery

 

[Smartass]

lol. 2.5 hrs of battery only on video playback? In reality, that would be really short to use.

More than enough for porn.

 

[darngooddesign]

"Come on man, ughhhh, you're so stupid and lame, man. Staring at a laptop or monitor for hours is ergonomically bad for you."

Tilting your head down so you can look at a device in your hands is ergonomically bad for your neck.

Says the guy typing on a smartphone or laptop or monitor.....

My MBP's screen is almost at eye level.

VR/AR is NOT SELLING.....millions per year is not a market. It's a niche. They will need TENS of MILLIONS to remotely challenge the smartphone's dominance. And I can't name anyone who knows VR/AR who would wanna use one. It makes no sense. You can't share what you're seeing with others, so it is inherently selfish, solipsistic, and narcissistic. "You can share what you are seeing to a TV!"

THEN BUY A TV!!!!!!!!

Not relevant to the ergonomics discussion. But it sounds like you are projecting some pretty heavy emotional issues on the VP; no wonder you don't like it.

 

[Mikey44]

It is absolutely a hardware limitation. Can you plug in infinite monitors in any size to your laptop? Nope. So what makes you think Vision Pro can do it? And “resolution may be limited”? That single sentence eliminates the device as a platform for my whole profession (graphic artist.)

It’s a mistake to casually imagine that this device can do impossible things.

Again, not a hardware limitation. On the M1 Mac, you can only have 1 monitor connected. However in VR, you can have 6 monitors as they are ‘virtual’; not physical.

I was stating the fact that it’s possible to do 5 and I’m thinking if you have 5, then yes, you may have to decrease the resolution, but if you have 2 or 3, the resolution may not be quite 4K quality, it’s hard to say specifically. To say that limitation is physical is a misunderstanding of the tech behind it. It’s more akin to a Remote Desktop, or Amazon WorkSpace than it is to a 1 to 1 screen.

If it doesn’t work for you, that’s fine, but for developers that’s a God-send. It’s not impossible for Apple to support the technology.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Really? I don't think anyone will be able to keep it on their head for 2 and a half hour.

Besides, the iPhone got 5 hours of battery life and it was a non issue. Nowadays it lasts all day.

Lots of people will use it for 2.5 hours. It takes that much time or longer to watch 1 movie. And not everybody suffers from motion sickness.

And 2.5 hours is for 2d content. Cut that in half for spatial content.

 

[robbietop]

It's not intended to replace your computer for everyday/everyminute use.

It's for periodic AR/VR applications. With the focus on AR, which seems many here steadfastly insist on not taking the time to understand what that is.

Nobody is spending $3499 for PERIODIC usage unless you're one of the 1%. Where I work and live, $3499 is a used car in amazing shape.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Then what’s the advantage?

That you can stand up right from the desk, leave the keyboard and mouse there, and still use your computer.

 

[jz0309]

My first Powerbook G4 (priced at about this same level after configuration preferences- much higher adjusted for inflation) had a 2-hour battery pack. Knowing I might want to use it for longer than 2 hours in a stretch, I did the craziest thing: I bought 2 more battery packs. It solved all power problems using that Apple product for life of device.

Give this up to 20 years of evolution and it may eventually have no external battery pack and run for 18 hours. I'm glad Apple didn't give up on laptops when that old G4 could only run for 2 hours. It would be a sad world in 2024 without MacBooks.

"Think different"

Yup, just the typical whiners here on MR.
My first portable was a Compaq that didn’t have a battery and the first laptops lasted 2 hrs max on battery…
This is just very early and I for one am excited to try one out asap

 

[deepspacecowboy]

Of course, that might be qualified by single "active" display: the one you re looking at, being the active one. For example, look at the Mission Control setup on Mac. Set up 10 screen if you wish with apps on all 10 screens. You can only really focus on one at a time, so have the active computing going on that one screen. In the background, Mac is processing things happening on those other screens but your eyes aren't seeing things happen there because you are currently focused on- say- screen #3 of 10.

Now shift to screen #7 of 10. Whatever has been running on that screen updates the screen to current and now actively processes on that screen. #3 is frozen (still image) of where you left it until you switch back to it. OR maybe in moments of downtime when you are doing nothing on screen #7 but just reading something on the screen like an email, other screens in the periphery get still image updates of what they would look like if you were focused on them now.

I believe this is as plausible as how Mission Control works now. It doesn't require active 4K streams to every screen but only the one on which Vpro user is currently focused. All others could be like off-screen Mission Control screens are on any Mac.

Will it actually be this way? Who knows? But it seems like it COULD work like this if Apple chose to make it so. Open iPad apps basically update their screens when you switch to them. This might just have more space to show those static screenshots in the periphery while one looks at the main screen.

Interesting perspective. You could very well be right. That said, when people talk about multiple monitor setups, my hunch is they want to see all of them. After all, if you have a three monitor setup on your desk, most likely you’re using all three together, dragging windows between them, putting your active document on one and palettes on another, etc.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Really? I don't think anyone will be able to keep it on their head for 2 and a half hour.

Besides, the iPhone got 5 hours of battery life and it was a non issue. Nowadays it lasts all day.

“It was a non issue.”

LOL

It was a HUGE issue and battery life on iPhone CONTINUES to be an issue.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I’ll wait for gen 2, better battery

That’s what we were hoping for with the Apple Watch and that has been basically unchanged for a decade.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Totally agree. You're typing on your Mac. Your arms feeling relaxed? You having to wave them around like a sign language interpreter?

And the Watch still hasn't fully delivered. I still have one, but sometimes I wonder if they could just throw the old iPod UI on it and you could interact with the Watch using the Digital Crown or just swiping....

Plus the watch is co-opting a place on the body that lots of people already use for other things. I wear a mechanical wrist watch for example. I won’t be replacing it with a tech toy now or ever.

These types of market limitations are real and Vision Pro faces more of them than any other Apple product to date.

 

[blindzero]

Guess we'll need a Killers of the Flower Moon Apple Vision Edition.

 

[Bigkool2inSC]

So I can’t even watch killers of the flower moon in one sitting??

 

[Surf Monkey]

That’s what we were hoping for with the Apple Watch and that has been basically unchanged for a decade.

Because battery technology is basically unchanged.

Apple and other tech firms have trained their customers well. “The next generation will be way better!” But that hasn’t been the case for most tech for over a decade now.

 

[darngooddesign]

Totally agree. You're typing on your Mac. Your arms feeling relaxed? You having to wave them around like a sign language interpreter?

Doing that for VR activities is kind of the point of VR, but for passive consumption like browsing, videos, etc. your hands can rest comfortably by your side as the downward-facing cameras watch your hands. Not sure why this is even an argument for you since Apple has already stated that VP works with BT keyboards and mice.