In Cupertino, California, Apple on 5th Feb 2024 revealed the Apple Vision Pro, a groundbreaking spatial computing device that merges digital content with the real world in a seamless fashion, enabling users to remain engaged and in touch with others. Vision Pro offers a limitless workspace for applications, extending well beyond the confines of conventional screens, and debuts a fully three-dimensional interface that can be navigated through the most natural and instinctive inputs imaginable—namely, the user’s gaze, gestures, and voice commands. Equipped with visionOS, the first spatial operating system of its kind, Vision Pro revolutionizes how users engage with digital content, making it appear as though it’s actually part of their environment. The innovative design of Vision Pro incorporates an ultra-high-resolution display system that boasts 23 million pixels over two screens, along with custom Apple silicon organized in a novel dual-chip arrangement, ensuring that every interaction feels as immediate and lifelike as if it were happening right before the user’s eyes.
“Today signifies the dawn of a groundbreaking chapter in the realm of computing,” proclaimed Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. “In the same way that the Mac ushered us into the world of personal computing and the iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro ushers in the era of spatial computing. Rooted in Apple’s decades-long tradition of innovation, Vision Pro stands far ahead of its time and is unparalleled in its creation—featuring an innovative new way to interact with technology and thousands of revolutionary innovations. It paves the way for extraordinary experiences for our users and opens up thrilling new possibilities for our developers.”
“Developing our inaugural spatial computer called for innovation in virtually every aspect of its design,” stated Mike Rockwell, Apple’s Vice President of the Technology Development Group. “By seamlessly integrating hardware with software, we’ve crafted a standalone spatial computer in a sleek, wearable design that represents the most sophisticated piece of personal electronics ever created.”
Revolutionizing Personal Computing
Apple Vision Pro introduces an innovative leap in how users engage with their preferred applications, immortalize and revisit memories, immerse in breathtaking TV series and films, and stay connected through FaceTime.
A boundless workspace for applications in both professional and personal settings: visionOS unveils a three-dimensional interface that transcends the limitations of traditional screens, allowing applications to be displayed together at any desired size. This enables users to enhance their productivity like never before, with limitless virtual space, seamless access to their go-to apps, and novel multitasking methods. Furthermore, with compatibility for Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, individuals can craft their ideal work environment or integrate the robust functionality of their Mac into Vision Pro wirelessly. This integration offers a vast, private, and mobile 4K viewing experience featuring exceptionally sharp text.
Transformative Entertainment Experiences
Apple Vision Pro elevates the entertainment experience to new heights, turning any environment into a cinematic venue with what appears to be a 100-foot wide screen, complemented by an advanced Spatial Audio system. Viewers can dive into movies and TV series, or explore the vivid dimensions of three-dimensional films. Apple Immersive Video introduces 180-degree, high-definition recordings paired with Spatial Audio, offering users a curated selection of immersive videos that whisk them away to completely new environments.
The realm of spatial computing opens the door to innovative gaming experiences, with games that cover a broad range of immersion and introduce players to entirely unprecedented worlds. Additionally, users have the opportunity to engage with over 100 Apple Arcade games on a display of any desired size, enhanced by captivating immersive audio and compatibility with popular gaming controllers.
Expansive Immersive Environments
With the introduction of Environments, users can extend their surroundings beyond the confines of their physical space, embracing dynamic and beautiful landscapes designed to enhance concentration or minimize distractions in cluttered areas. By simply adjusting the Digital Crown, users have the flexibility to dictate their level of immersion or presence within these virtual settings.
Bringing Memories to Life
Equipped with Apple’s pioneering three-dimensional camera, the Apple Vision Pro offers users an unparalleled opportunity to capture, revisit, and deeply immerse in cherished memories, complemented by Spatial Audio. Each spatial photograph and video serves as a portal back to precious moments, whether it’s a joyous celebration with friends or a meaningful family event. Users can seamlessly access their complete photo library on iCloud, and experience their pictures and videos in true-to-life scale, showcasing vibrant colors and exceptional clarity. Every panoramic image captured on an iPhone comes to life, enveloping the user, and creating the immersive feeling of standing right in the midst of where the photo was taken.
Spatial FaceTime Interactions
With the Apple Vision Pro, FaceTime conversations are elevated through the utilization of the space surrounding the user, showcasing each participant in life-sized tiles along with Spatial Audio, creating an auditory experience that mimics the real-life positioning of voices. When participating in a FaceTime call via the Vision Pro, users are represented by a Persona—a digitally crafted avatar generated through Apple’s cutting-edge machine learning technologies—which accurately mirrors facial and hand gestures in real time. This innovation allows users to share experiences like watching a movie, browsing through photos, or working together on a presentation in a more immersive and interactive way.
Enhanced App Ecosystem
The Apple Vision Pro introduces an entirely new App Store, enabling users to explore a wide array of applications and content from developers, along with access to hundreds of thousands of well-known iPhone and iPad apps. These apps are not only fully compatible but also excel on the Vision Pro, thanks to an automatic integration with its innovative input system. This opens up new horizons for Apple’s developer community, who are now empowered to leverage the robust and distinctive features of Vision Pro and visionOS. Developers have the opportunity to craft novel app experiences or transform current ones for the spatial computing domain, pushing the boundaries of digital interaction.
Groundbreaking Operating System and Interface
visionOS, the product of years of engineering advancements in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, has been meticulously crafted to meet the unique demands of spatial computing, ensuring minimal latency. This innovative operating system paves the way for immersive spatial experiences that utilize the surrounding space, offering novel possibilities for both professional and personal use.
The interface of visionOS is a fresh, three-dimensional design that integrates digital content seamlessly into the physical environment of the user. It reacts in real-time to changes in natural lighting and projects shadows, enhancing the perception of scale and proximity. Apple Vision Pro debuts a new method of interaction, enabling users to navigate and engage with spatial content through intuitive eye movements, hand gestures, and voice commands. This allows for effortless app navigation—users can open apps by looking at them, make selections with a tap of their fingers, scroll by flicking their wrist, or perform tasks using voice commands.
Breakthrough Design
Apple Vision Pro builds on Apple innovation and experience designing high-performance products like Mac, iPhone, and wearables like Apple Watch, culminating in the most advanced personal electronics device ever. To achieve ambitious goals for performance, mobility, and wearability, Apple utilized the most advanced materials possible.
Apple Vision Pro has an astonishing amount of technology in a compact design. A singular piece of three-dimensionally formed and laminated glass is polished to create an optical surface that acts as a lens for the wide array of cameras and sensors needed to blend the physical world with digital content. The glass flows into the custom aluminum alloy frame that gently curves around the user’s face, while the modular system allows for a tailored fit to accommodate a wide range of people. The Light Seal is made of a soft textile, and comes in a range of shapes and sizes, flexing to conform to a user’s face for a precise fit. Flexible straps ensure audio remains close to the user’s ears, while a Head Band — available in multiple sizes — is three-dimensionally knitted as a single piece to provide cushioning, breathability, and stretch.1 The band is secured with a simple mechanism, making it easy to change to another size or style of band.
Unmatched Hardware Innovation
The Apple Vision Pro stands out for its exceptional computational power packaged within a sleek, wearable design. It showcases a state-of-the-art ultra-high-resolution display system, powered by an Apple silicon chip, employing micro-OLED technology to achieve an astonishing 23 million pixels within two displays, each comparable in size to a postage stamp. These displays boast a broad color spectrum and high dynamic range, setting a new standard in visual technology. Coupled with bespoke catadioptric lenses, Vision Pro offers unparalleled sharpness and clarity, ensuring users experience truly immersive visuals. For those requiring vision correction, Vision Pro incorporates ZEISS Optical Inserts, guaranteeing both impeccable visual quality and precise eye-tracking capabilities.
Central to the Apple Vision Pro experience is its sophisticated Spatial Audio system, designed to immerse users in sound that feels as though it is emanating from their immediate surroundings, perfectly harmonizing the audio with the spatial context. This system features two amplified drivers in each audio pod, offering Personalized Spatial Audio tailored to the unique contours of the user’s head and ears. This customization ensures a deeply immersive audio experience, making it feel as if the soundscapes are interacting naturally with the environment around the user.
The Apple Vision Pro not only introduces a state-of-the-art display and cutting-edge audio capabilities but also features a high-performance eye-tracking system. This system employs high-speed cameras and a circle of LEDs that emit invisible light patterns onto the user’s eyes, facilitating responsive and intuitive control.
These significant technological advances are driven by Apple’s proprietary silicon, utilizing a distinctive dual-chip architecture. The M2 chip offers unparalleled independent performance, while the newly developed R1 chip is tasked with processing inputs from an array of 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones. This ensures that digital content not only feels but also appears as if it is unfolding directly before the user’s eyes, in real-time. Remarkably, the R1 chip is capable of refreshing images on the display within 12 milliseconds—eight times quicker than the blink of an eye.
Designed for continuous operation when connected to power, the Apple Vision Pro also supports up to two hours of autonomous operation with its external, high-capacity battery, accommodating a wide range of activities and environments—from engaging conversations at home while seated on the steps to seamlessly integrating with a computer for work tasks.
Apple Vision Pro sets a new standard in privacy and security, ensuring that users have full control over their personal data. It introduces Optic ID, an innovative secure authentication system that uses iris recognition. This system operates by analyzing a user’s iris with different exposures to invisible LED light, then matching it against the Optic ID data stored securely in the device’s Secure Enclave to instantly unlock the device. Optic ID data is thoroughly encrypted, inaccessible to any applications, and remains exclusively on the device—never uploaded to Apple’s servers.
Privacy is also paramount when users navigate the Apple Vision Pro. Eye tracking data is kept confidential, not shared with Apple, third-party applications, or websites. Additionally, camera and sensor data are processed on the system level, meaning apps can enable spatial experiences without accessing images or information about a user’s environment. EyeSight technology further enhances privacy by including a visual indicator to notify others when the user is capturing spatial photos or videos.
In terms of pricing and availability, the Apple Vision Pro is priced starting at $3,499 in the U.S. It will be available early next year through apple.com and at Apple Store locations across the U.S., with availability in additional countries to follow later in the year. Customers can visit Apple Store locations to learn more about the Vision Pro, experience it firsthand, and customize their fit. For further details on the Vision Pro, interested individuals are encouraged to visit apple.com/apple-vision-pro.
[1] : Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer – Apple
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