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Video: A First Look at visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro
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I think you’re probably right about pricing. The idea that the Vision Pro is for developers and business and that a cheap “consumer” model is coming soon is ridiculous. There’s no way they bring the price down anytime soon. This is a new, very premium product category. A neutered cheap consumer version won’t be able to offer the Vision Pro experience.
The only way Vision Pro gets cheaper is through economies of scale, but even then I don’t expect prices to drop much, if at all. The top of the line iPhone keeps getting more expensive, after all. I think it’s likely that Apple will offer very compelling financing on the Vision Pro, maybe even 3 years interest-free.
Any of the Reality Composer Pro tool sessions should do. It’s plain as day that 3D objects in space is a major area of consideration.
Where can these videos be found?
One should remember that these session videos show developers what the structure of developing is, so the 3D object examples are very low quality. It’s up to developers to decide how nice they want the objects to look, and what they want to do with them.
So the capabilities you guys are asking about are 100% there, it’s up to developers and their imaginations what to do with them.
Edit: For the life of me I’ll never understand the formatting of quotes and images on this forum. Sorry about the weirdness with the pictures
Meet ARKit is probably the best for showing some real cool hand tracking stuff.
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Yeah, no regular consumer would need. It's called the Apple Vision Pro for a reason, and I think people have just suddenly forgotten what the entire Pro line of Apple's products is targeted towards...
I think Apple is playing a longer game. I looked for headlines about expectations from before the announcement:
"Analysts at TD Cowen estimate Apple could sell as many 1 million of the headsets in the first year. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives reckons that Apple will sell 150,000 of the devices."
"May 24, 2023 — Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently said that Apple now expects to sell around 900,000 headsets this year."
If you imagine that Apple expected to sell millions the first year, then it's easy to see why you would imagine that Apple would be disappointed.
Since the announcement I've read that Apple expects to sell one per store per day. At that rate, I think people will make appointments to get theirs, and there will be a waiting list after all the appointments fill up.
Fun fact. I had to make an appointment to get my Commodore 64 in 1982. It had just been released, and I bought it from a computer shop that was just eight parking spaces, a waiting room, and a counter, deep in some industrial park. Stores like Computer City and CompUSA weren't yet a thing.
Lol. Pro is a meaningless marketing term. That’s all. The most popular iPhone is the iPhone Pro. So much for that theory.
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“Pro” just means premium in Apple language. This Vision Pro can be for work or play, as long as you are willing and/or able to spend the money on this premium product.
Ok Guest Mode. Got it. How about multiple users/fast user switching, ala macOS? This is something I’d also like to see in iPadOS.
No. Very poor analogy. All the AirPods versions are in the under $1k easy consumer price range. Macbook Pro versus Macbook Air is a better example, where only those folks who want pro-level competence pay twice as much ($4k+) and carry 1.5 pound more.
Everyone please STOP insisting the AVP needs to be some cheaper thing that need to sell like iPhones do. Realize that AVP is more like a $4k+ Macbook Pro than it is like an iPhone or any other mass-consumer device.
Apple yesterday released the first ever beta of visionOS and the SDK that will allow developers to create apps for the Apple Vision Pro headset. visionOS can only be explored through Xcode right now, but we thought we'd take a hands-on look to see what we can glean about the headset experience from the operating system.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Testing out visionOS is as simple as getting the latest Xcode 15 beta and the visionOS 1.0 simulator, but to be honest, there's not a whole lot to see that Apple didn't already tell us about.
You can only see the operating system on the screen of your Mac, so it's not what the headset will really be like, and you can't experience the same level of immersion. That said, you can see what visionOS will look like, including the Home View and app windows, plus you can see how 2D iPad and iPhone apps will look.
Webpages can be loaded into a visionOS version of Safari so website developers can see what their webpages will look like and what needs to be tweaked. Everything looks a lot like iOS, but if iOS were in your living room or kitchen.
There's a Control Center with customizable options for things like light and dark mode, and there's a Guest Mode, which is how you'll be able to let curious people try out the headset without access to your sensitive data. Spotlight is available for searches, and you can set up a range of "Environments" that block out the world around you.
From the visionOS Xcode experience and visionOS code we know there are over a dozen Environments you can select, such as Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Mount Hood, and even the moon. There's a Visual Search feature that will be able to identify items around you, copy printed text from the real world, translate languages in real time, and more, plus Apple has designed a Travel Mode that can be activated when you're on an airplane.
Travel Mode ensures that you're stationary while you're wearing the Vision Pro, and it blocks out distractions around you. Certain sensors are turned off, perhaps for the privacy of other passengers or because close proximity to a number of other people can cause the sensors to malfunction.
Apple will provide Vision Pro testing labs to developers in several locations worldwide starting next month, plus the company is going to open up applications for a hardware-based Vision Pro developer kit that will allow developers to test their apps right on the Vision Pro itself.
Make sure to watch our full video to get a closer look at the early stages of visionOS.
Article Link: Video: A First Look at visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro
All those folks asking where is the cheap model? are simply setting a false goal for the AVP to fail to meet. Look for a device that helps an engineer design buildings instead of a device that lets your ten-year-old draw castles in the sky.
Some day your 10-y-o will get her cutesy device to draw sky castles with, but that is not the goal that early AVPs shouyld have their success measured to.
The point was just about the name, which to be frank, Apple is pretty bad and inconsistent about their naming schemes.
This (unfortunately common) thinking that what v1 AVP is about is "sit with my wife and look at photos, show her pictures of a house (even a 3D view in some websites), or watch a presentation together" or similar mundane consumer usages wrongly sets AVP up to fail. Instead of analogizing to things consumers have done for 50 years, think in terms of new things that AVP may facilitate.
I have no doubt that AVP will in later versions serve consumer needs as developers create new solutions that pique consumer interest, but IMO v1's obvious usage is in engineering solutions. Engineers took us to the moon largely behind slide rules, and IMO AVP may end up being as important an evolution in facilitating engineering & architectural thought/analysis as slide rules and calculators were.
Dp not measure AVP as if it was just another consumer toy. What shortsighted folks call niche solutions can easily justify AVP in the short term and allow slow development on the mass consumer side.
My $0.02
P.S. E.g. rather than considering using AVP to look at a new house to buy, think about an architect trying out new design alternatives on a specific location with full topo map, existing utilities, soil flaws, large trees, traffic patterns, etc. Or think about an engineer watching a transmission operate - from inside the transmission; and how that might impact design of the next generation of transmissions (or whatevers). Or think about engineers deciding how to cope with building failures, or how to support a proposed new design. Pick any engineering discipline and think forward as to how an AVP tool might be useful.
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Nonsense. Just because a term is also used in marketing does not make it meaningless. A Macbook Pro is hella more competent than a Macbook Air. A Mac Pro is more competent than a Studio which is more competent than a Mini. An iPhone Pro is more competent than an iPhone. The term means something, duh.
Correct, you are just being myopic. Think commercial world and professional usage instead of just consumer world and amateur usage.iPhone is an essential part of my day. Syncing my data to my iCloud and communication via text, email, and FaceTime no matter where I am makes it indispensable.
What bread-and-butter apps will make the AVP indispensable?
While I think the AVP is super exciting I still don't see what will compel me to put on a headset for daily computer activities once the novelty of 'spacial computing' wears off.
Maybe I'm just being myopic?👓
Pro often means more than simply premium, it usually means significantly more competent. A Macbook Pro versus Macbook Air, for instance. MBP is bigger, heavier and far more competent.
Ok, help me see. What bread-and-butter apps do you think will make the AVP indispensable for 'commercial world and professional usage'?
You are picking nits. The AR is immediate close and almost real time. Just like state of the art in pro cameras is now mirrorless with superb viewfinders, the AR of the AVP should not be called simulated, even though you are correct that we are looking via a display, just like we are in today's best cameras like Nikon's Z8 and Z9.
Just the term "bread-and-butter apps" implies something pre-existing, and my point is instead to encourage forward thinking about usage of the AVP tool. But I will give the easy examples I cited earlier here:
E.g. rather than considering using AVP to look at a new house to buy, think about an architect trying out new design alternatives on a specific location with full topo map, existing utilities, future highrises nearby, soil flaws, large trees, seasonal weather, traffic patterns, etc. Or think about an engineer watching a transmission operate - from inside the transmission; and how that might impact design of the next generation of transmissions (or whatevers). Or think about engineers deciding how to cope with building failures, or how to support a proposed new design. Pick any engineering discipline and think forward as to how an AVP tool might be useful.
By bread-and-butter I mean uses that become part of normal every day computing. You're talking about highly specialized uses.
The AVP obviously adds the 'spacial' aspect to the UI and user experience but isn't indispensable to those applications, and can also be done with a large monitor.
You’re right. It’s not meaningless. The term Pro suggests a product with more features and better specs. It does not, however, mean that the product is geared exclusively towards professionals. Apple’s liberal use of the term Pro has basically changed the meaning of the term. In Apple marketing speak, Pro = Premium, not Professional.
I was responding to a comment about Vision Pro being for professionals while the mere mortals wait for the fantasy Vision Consumer. What hardware will Apple remove from the Vision Pro to achieve a lower price point? How will Apple compromise the Vision Pro experience to bring the price down, like they do with other product lines where there are Pro and non-Pro models? At this point, that does not seem possible. If Apple could have offered the Vision Pro experience at a cheaper price point, they would have. The idea that we’ll see some major price drop and/or Vision Consumer headset anytime soon seems ridiculous to me.
So, anyway, back to Pro. The Vision Pro is not for professionals. It’s for everyone with a fat bank account.
Correct, I am talking about highly specialized uses, not normal every day computing. That is exactly my point: IMO trying to force-fit AVP to normal every day computing is wrong-headed thinking.
Agreed, AVP is not "indispensable" to those applications, and is done now with large monitors. Some of the things I referenced folks were doing in the 1970s without even a computer, just a calculator (and vision, in one's mind); and before that in the 1950s with a slide rule. Engineering tasks have been getting done on an ongoing basis, and indeed have evolved fully to CAD now, so AVP obviously is not "indispensable." However I can see AVP becoming an incredibly useful new tool quite quickly in design/engineering at the $3k-$5k price point - - and independent of the whims of consumerism.
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I think everyone here has already considered all of the sci-if Minority Report use cases that look good in the movies.
That architecture app sure sounds amazing. Now how does it make money? No one is going to write an app to do what you describe other than existing CAD developers. What you describe will become a feature of their already very expensive apps. Consumers don’t buy those apps. Sure, some architects might buy Vision Pros in order to have a better 3D visualization tool, but, realistically, how many sales are we talking? A few hundred thousand at best.
There are plenty of other niche professional use cases that might sell a few hundred thousand units. It’s hard for me to see how Vision Pro becomes a successful new platform if the primary buyers are niche professional users only. Most developers will avoid the platform and it will be harder for Apple to bring costs down and/or offer more affordable versions.
We’ve all thought long and hard about the many fantasy use cases that we’ve seen in the movies and TV for the past few decades. All of that stuff looks good on the big screen. Now that we’re in the age of AR and VR, it remains to be seen whether those ideas translate successfully into the real world. So far it’s been a mixed bag. Much of what you describe can already be accomplished today with existing VR and AR solutions, yet those apps don’t exist and those professional markets don’t seem interested. Microsoft has been pushing HoloLens for years, but it has remained very very niche.
Vision Pro will definitely set the new standard. Without widespread consumer interest, however, Vision Pro is a niche product like HoloLens. Apple is a consumer electronics company. Their keynote pitch was entirely consumer driven. The professional uses they explored essentially boiled down to work from home/travel FaceTime and virtual monitors for your web browser and spreadsheet or whatever. That entire keynote was a consumer pitch.