(contemplative ambient music)
- Apple just announced
its long-rumored spatial reality headset.
It's called the Vision Pro.
It costs a whopping $3,500.
We haven't gotten to try it yet,
but we have gotten to see it
here at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park,
its headquarters in Cupertino.
This is by far the best looking headset in this category.
Apple's calling it spatial reality,
but really, it's mixed reality.
It blends augmented reality,
which is showing the world around you with virtual objects,
with full virtual reality.
So think having a giant TV floating in front of you.
The really distinct thing about this device though
is this front-facing display
and what it can do is show your eyes
as you're wearing the headsets
so that other people around you
can see where you're looking in real space.
This frankly has some creepy Black Mirror vibes
to me initially,
but it remains to be seen
how it's going to be more broadly accepted
as this device rolls out.
Apple isn't shipping this thing yet
until the beginning of next year, 2024,
only in the US to start.
So it's a long time
before you're gonna see this in the wild.
Apple is really positioning this
as a general computing device
similar to the MacBook or the iPhone.
They want you to think of it for FaceTime,
entertainment, gaming, productivity,
even mental wellbeing.
And really, all this is gonna be up
to third party app developers
to eventually make experiences for this headset,
which is why Apple announced it today at WWDC,
its developer conference.
So developers are gonna get some time
with this to experiment.
And then starting early next year,
you're gonna start to see the things shipping out.
The headset is powered by this detachable battery pack
that attaches with a cord
and a magnet to the actual headset.
It powers it for up to two hours on a single charge,
which isn't a lot, especially at that price point.
It's really showing how new this technology is.
Apple has packed a lot of new sensors,
optics, display tech, and hardware in this thing.
There are a bunch of cameras that can scan your face
and your eyes to recognize that it's you.
When you initially put it on,
it scans your face so that it can then
show an accurate 3D representation of you
in FaceTime calls while you're wearing it.
So Apple's also envisioning this for collaboration,
for working together,
but across the world potentially.
And that's been the real promise
of this category for a long time
is that companies like Meta have been saying
we see these headsets
as a way to feel more present with people
even when they're far away or not near you in the same room.
Apple is characteristically a little late to this market.
It's really been Facebook a la meta out there
for a long time with its Quest headset.
It just announced the Quest 3 recently
to preempt this Apple Vision Pro announcement.
But Apple's coming in at the high end.
They're pricing this thing super expensive,
way more than the Quest 3
coming out later this year at around $500.
Apple talked multiple times
about people wearing this thing on airplanes,
so I guess in the future,
you may see people in your rows next to you
with their eyes peeking through this display
watching a movie or Ted Lasso or something like that.
Remains to be seen.
That's gonna be an interesting social evolution,
one could say, for a product like this.
But Apple sees this for entertainment
as well as productivity.
And for people with glasses,
Apple has developed
this proprietary prescription lens system
that clips on the inside of the headset.
I haven't gotten to try it yet,
but it's the only way you can use the headset
with your prescription
because it's so snug on your face
that you can't wear it with glasses,
which is also something different from how Meta
and all the other headsets have worked today.
You know, Apple is Apple.
They know how to design beautiful hardware.
And for a headset,
this is by far the best looking one I've seen.
I'm not surprised that it costs this much money.
It has all these really fancy materials behind it
and technology.
That said, it remains to be seen
whether something that looks good
and costs this much is something
people are actually gonna wanna buy
in the year 2024 when it actually ships,
especially when Meta is coming in
with the Quest 3 later this year at just $500.
It's interesting to see Apple come in at the high end.
They do this traditionally in technology.
They did it with the iPhone,
they did it with the original Mac,
they did it with the iPad,
and eventually they bring the cost down.
And Apple is already working on a cheaper version
of this Vision headset for an undetermined date.
So eventually, they're gonna be competing on price.
But for right now,
this is a device for the early adopter crowd
that doesn't mind its spend.
Thanks for watching.
We've got plenty more on Apple's Vision Pro
on The Verge's website and all of our social channels.
- [Vjeran] Very good, very good.
(laughing)
Love it. - Okay.
- [Vjeran] Oh, no, audio wasn't rolling.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.