The Apple Vision Pro has made my eyes work harder than ever before. It’s not just because I have ultra-sharp, incredibly bright micro-OLED screens right on my face: The Vision Pro relies on eye tracking for navigating visionOS, its new “spatial computing” operating system. If you want to launch an app, visit a link or do just about anything that would typically require a mouse or a touchscreen input, your eyes have to look directly at them.
It’s magical, almost telepathic. The Vision Pro’s eye tracking makes it feel like you’re discovering the power of the Force, a sensation that’s buoyed by the intuitive hand gestures used to interact with whatever your eyes are focused on. But by relying so much on your gaze, the Vision Pro can quickly become exhausting when you run into issues, like trying to hit a tiny button on YouTube’s visually overstuffed website. The eye strain is real.
That’s pretty much the Vision Pro experience in a nutshell. Wonder and frustration. A peek into the future that’s limited by the hardware that exists today — even if that hardware is among the best we’ve ever seen.
Before you ask, no, you probably shouldn’t even think about buying the Apple Vision Pro. It’s purely meant for developers, wealthy Apple fanatics who won’t think twice about jumping on a $3,500 curiosity, and, of course, clout-chasing influencers. But you also shouldn’t dismiss it entirely. This is just the beginning of Apple’s spatial computing journey. Like the iPod and iPhone before it, the Vision Pro has the potential to fundamentally reshape the way we live with technology.
That future is likely years away, assuming Apple manages to deliver a cheaper and lighter headset. But it’s fascinating to see the company set off an entirely new direction of computing, without knowing exactly where it’s headed.
Apple
The Vision Pro is an ambitious first step into the world of spatial computing, with the best displays and AR integration we’ve ever seen. But it’s also clearly a beta product aimed at developers.
- Incredible Micro-OLED screens
- Intuitive gesture controls
- Convincing Spatial Audio
- Immersive Video is astoundingly realistic
- Incredibly expensive
- visionOS is very buggy
- Heavy compared to other headsets
- External battery is annoying and doesn’t last long
- Not many native visionOS apps
What is the Apple Vision Pro?
Despite Apple’s refusal to say the words virtual reality, or even the letters V and R in that order, the Vision Pro is a virtual reality…