Apple’s New Virtual Reality Headset
Apple just unveiled its virtual reality headset which the company said aims to merge the real world with immersive video and audio.
However, even with Apple's reputation as a pioneer in the smartphone industry and the company’s ability to leapfrog other tech companies to the forefront of innovation and creativity, there are many doubts about the success of their $3499 device, especially considering the challenges faced by rival tech giants like Meta and Microsoft in bringing virtual reality into the mainstream.
But who is going to pay that amount of money to wear something on their face? The answer is: not many people it seems.
Paul Tassi, writing for Forbes, lambasted the product, arguing its mostly useless functionality will not take well with consumers.
“Guess how many people I know who watch full movies in VR with a thing on their face? Zero. This is not a thing people do regularly. That will not change when it’s AR instead of VR,” he writes.
According to what appears to be a growing number of critics, Apple's headset is both an experimental and costly venture; although the company could afford it. With tens of billions in profits last year, Apple can afford to spend the approximately $1 Billion on R&D for the Vision Pro.
While the same could be said for other successful devices like the iPhone, those technologies were introducing new possibilities, whereas Apple is venturing into well-explored territory where others have struggled.
What these warnings mean is that Apple is likely to fail in this endeavor to get people to love wearing a bulky and inconvenient headset.
The Vision Pro headset, showcased at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, is designed to offer blended reality experiences for popular apps from Apple, Microsoft, and other companies, blending virtual and physical spaces for work and entertainment.
The headset features a "see-through" experience, allowing wearers to interact with the physical world while engaging with virtual content. It even generates a digital representation of the wearer's appearance for use in FaceTime conversations and other immersive experiences.
Expected to hit the market in early 2024, Apple's upcoming headset is connected to a pocket battery via a woven cable, providing approximately only 2 hours of usage time (!)
This aspect of the product is a huge disappointment, and most users will be put off by the need to carry a battery pack in their pocket with a wire extending out from the headset.
Apple claims that the device operates silently and maintains a comfortable temperature during extended use, but this claim will have to be put to the test by whichever wealthy consumers actually bother to purchase it.
Powered by the R1 chip, a new Apple computer chip, the headset processes data from 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones, aiming to minimize sensor lag.
Control of the headset can be achieved solely through the wearer's visual gaze, voice commands, and small hand gestures like pinching and flicking motions - another area of VR that has yet to be perfected, and we will have to see if Apple’s Vision Pro lives up to the hype and the expectations.
The Challenges to Come
For years, Silicon Valley has been striving to bring various forms of extended reality (XR), which encompasses virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, into the mainstream.
One of the primary challenges faced by XR headsets is their high cost, along with the discomfort and unwieldiness of wearing bulky devices. However, an issue that has often been overlooked is virtual reality sickness, which is akin to motion sickness.
Meta’s metaverse platform has struggled with its own technology and headsets. Prior to Apple's headset announcement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the upcoming Quest 3 VR headset, also offering a mixed reality experience, but it too is unlikely to have the desired effect on consumers.
No one wants to shell out big money for an experimental device that is not going to deliver on experience and ease of use.
Even during the Coronavirus pandemic when many people stayed home, virtual reality and other XR headsets did not experience significant adoption. Global shipments of VR and AR headsets actually decreased between 2021 and 2022.
Experts say the user base for VR remains relatively small and primarily focused on video games and entertainment - not on daily tasks such as work and phone calls.
Considering this dismal landscape, Apple has at least taken the smart step on the side of caution and set modest sales expectations for its headset, projecting less than 100,000 units sold and a total production of potentially 300,000 headsets, as reported by TrendForce.
It is unlikely the device will take off as a popular consumer product. Sure, the wealthy will buy it for their kids on Christmas, and perhaps other industries will use it as an experimental device, but for the most part, that is exactly what this is: an experimental device.
The technology behind VR and XR is almost there but not quite. It will take a few more years to perfect it. If anything, Apple’s Vision Pro is a terrific leap forward and adds a new layer to the possibilities that lie before us in this realm of virtual and extra reality.
But we aren’t there yet. For now, the Vision Pro is nothing more than an experimental toy for the wealthy.