Apple Vision Pro has had a rocky launch to say the least. It’s one of the most technologically advanced gadgets you can buy, but it’s hurting people’s heads, necks, eyes and wallets.
There is a plan to turn it around, though. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman Apple is hard at work on a next generation Vision Pro that will fix some of our biggest problems with it.
However, if this is true, I’d probably hold off on buying one because Vision Pro 2 is merely a side quest to Tim Cook’s endgame — AR glasses that rule the world and beat Meta.
Vision Pro-er
At first, Apple was planning a "more basic refresh" — leaving the design of the Vision Pro well alone and just bumping up the chipset inside. That plan has changed drastically.
Gurman is talking about a lighter and cheaper next generation headset, which contradicts earlier reports that the project had been postponed. How the “lighter” part is done, the report is light on details. But if I may be so bold as to recommend a few things (if you’re reading this, Apple):
- Change the materials: the premium aluminum chassis and glass optics are gorgeous, but heavy is the head that wears this setup.
- Better weight distribution: the overhead strap is a necessity to not feel the fatigue of the Vision Pro dragging down on your nose. Make the most of room on that head band and maybe move some of the computational elements around the side.
- Incorporate the battery pack around the back: Yes it’s additional weight, but this would balance out the front-loaded heaviness. And no more getting your hands caught up in the loose cable!
Elsewhere, the $3,499 price tag will be tackled by this new headset (fingers crossed for something around the $1,000 or less mark), and to eliminate latency for using with a Mac (one of the most-loved features amongst Vision Pro users), it will have the ability to connect wired to your Apple laptop or desktop).
"The idea is to create an ultra-low-latency system for streaming a user's Mac display or for connecting to high-end enterprise applications," Gurman writes.
"Some customers have been using the Vision Pro for things like viewing imaging during surgery or for flight simulators. Those are two areas where a user would want the least amount of lag possible — something that can't be guaranteed by a fully wireless system."
The AR Glasses race
But all that said, something even more exciting could be happening behind the scenes. As Gurman reports, “all of this is a stepping stone toward Cook’s grand vision, which hasn’t changed in a decade.”
Apple’s eyes are set on “lightweight spectacles that a customer could wear all day” — offering AR elements that “will overlay data and images onto real-world views.” But not only is this a “grand vision,” the Cupertino crew are “hell-bent on creating an industry-leading product before Meta can.”
According to an inside source, Tim Cook "“cares about nothing else" and “It’s the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.”
I love my Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and with rumors of the ‘Hypernova’ glasses from Zuckerberg’s gang coming by the end of this year, this is incredibly exciting. It’s obvious that the next move for VR and AR is for a gadget that takes the computational power of a VR headset and crams it into a pair of specs.
To see Apple racing towards that and bringing the “it just works” synergy to the smart glasses space would be significant. Let’s just hope that Apple Intelligence is in a better position for when they arrive, because that would make them a must-buy for me.
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