Apple Vision Pro | Specs, price and release

After years of specu­la­tion, Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro, the tech giant’s first spatial computer, at WWDC23 in June 2023. At the presen­ta­tion, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook spoke of “a new era for compu­ting,” while Mike Rock­well, Apple’s Vce Presi­dent of the Tech­no­logy Deve­lo­p­ment Group, described the Apple Vision Pro as “the most advanced personal elec­tro­nics device ever” (source: Apple).

Promi­sing words, but what can the Apple Vision Pro really do? The Apple Vision Pro has been available in the USA since February 2024 and in Germany from July 2024. This makes it all the more important to take a closer look at the latest inno­va­tion from Apple and decide whether it’s worth buying.

Over­view and hard­ware

Personal compu­ting, mobile compu­ting, spatial compu­ting — the Apple Vision Pro is the third major inno­va­tion from the Cali­for­nian tech­no­logy company after the Mac and iPhone. Visually imple­mented as a wearable mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro repres­ents a stan­da­lone spatial computer that connects digital content to the physical world without isola­ting the user from their envi­ron­ment (the Apple Vision Pro is not intended to be clas­si­fied as a VR or AR device).

What does that mean exactly? Apple Vision Pro creates an infi­nite canvas for apps that inte­grates seam­lessly into the room without being limited by a display. The three-dimen­sional user inter­face is controlled by eye move­ments, hand gestures and voice commands.

Let’s take a look at the hard­ware. The Apple Vision Pro basi­cally consists of four compon­ents:

The lens

The central element of the Apple Vision Pro is a conti­nuous piece of three-dimen­sio­nally formed, lami­nated glass that flows into a slightly curved aluminum alloy frame. This glass acts as a lens and contains all the internal hard­ware of the Apple Vision Pro, inclu­ding all sensors, cameras and chips.

On the left side of the frame is a shutter button for taking photos and videos in 3D, and on the right side is the Digital Crown. Clicking on it opens the home screen; by turning it, the user can adjust the degree of immersion, and thus decide for them­selves how much they want to immerse them­selves in the virtual world.

The light seal

Lens and frame are connected with a light seal made of a soft textile that keeps unwanted light away from the eyes. It can be bent to adjust the fit and is available in a range of shapes and sizes.

The head­band

The head­band is made of three-dimen­sio­nally knitted fabric and has a light gray color with orange high­lights. It provides cushio­ning, is breat­hable, stretchy and also available in multiple sizes.

The battery

To reduce the weight of the Apple Vision Pro, the battery is not inte­grated into the headset, but can be connected to it via a woven cable, similar to a power­bank. It fits easily into the pocket of a jacket or pants.

Overall, the Apple Vision Pro has a modular design so that the ideal-fitting model can be put toge­ther for every head and face shape.

Display: Micro OLED tech­no­logy and EyeSight

The Apple Vision Pro uses two ultra-high-reso­lu­tion, micro-OLED displays in the size of a postage stamp, each with 23 million pixels per display. That’s a higher number of pixels than a 4K TV has — per eye. In addi­tion, there are special cata­di­op­tric lenses that are supposed to ensure outstan­ding image sharp­ness. With these tech­nical features, the Apple Vision Pro lite­rally trans­forms any place into a home theater with a screen that feels 30 meters wide.

Glasses cannot be worn under the Apple Vision Pro, but users with vision correc­tion needs can use ZEISS optical inserts that are magne­ti­cally atta­ched to the inside of the display. The lenses have to be purchased sepa­ra­tely.

EyeSight was deve­loped so that users can better interact with other people while using the Apple Vision Pro: This inno­va­tive feature makes the device appear trans­pa­rent as soon as someone approa­ches. Users can see the person, while at the same time the eyes of the user are visible. However, these are not the actual eyes, but rather a reali­stic projec­tion in the lens.

Cameras und eye tracking

Two main cameras, four down­ward-facing cameras, two infrared cameras, two side cameras, two True­Depth cameras and five sensors — they are all inte­grated into the glass lens and conti­nuously capture the user’s surroun­dings as well as their hand or eye move­ments, even in low light.

The two main cameras are Apple’s first 3D cameras. They are located on the bottom front and allow taking photos as well as videos with a larger depth of field. LiDAR scanner and true-depth cameras create 3D maps in real time, among other things.

In addi­tion, there is the high-perfor­mance eye tracking system: It uses high-speed IR cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invi­sible light patterns onto the user’s eyes. This enables respon­sive, intui­tive input, making addi­tional hard­ware to control the Apple Vision Pro obso­lete.

Control

Spea­king of control: No control­lers or the like are needed for the Apple Vision Pro. The three-dimen­sional user inter­face is controlled intui­tively by the user’s eyes, hands and voice. For example, the hand does not have to be raised to select certain things with the fingers — it can simply remain in the lap or at the sides of the user’s body.

Spatial audio und audio ray tracing

The Apple Vision Pro has an extre­mely advanced spatial audio system that provides a more intense sound expe­ri­ence. For this purpose, the user’s ears are scanned in advance (HRTF = Head-Related Transfer Func­tion) to custo­mize the spatial audio to the indi­vi­dual head and ear shape (this option has already been available since iOS 16). Two indi­vi­du­ally ampli­fied drivers inside each audio pod, which are located in the imme­diate vici­nity of the user’s ears, gene­rate this perso­na­lized 3D audio and transfer it directly.

Further­more, the Apple Vision Pro has audio ray tracing: This func­tion uses sensors that detect mate­rials and objects in the room to then give the impres­sion that the sound comes directly from the surroun­ding envi­ron­ment.

Opera­ting system: visi­onOS

The first spatial computer conse­quently also uses the first spatial opera­ting system: visi­onOS features a three-dimen­sional user inter­face that appears as if it were physi­cally present in the room. Visually, it resem­bles a mixture of iPhone, iPad and Mac screen, but at the same time it is some­thing comple­tely new.

The boun­da­ries of a display are removed so that apps of any size can be displayed side by side in the space around the user — multi­tas­king is rede­fined here. A connec­tion with Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad or a Mac itself is also possible. In this case, the Apple Vision Pro becomes a very large, private and portable 4K display.

The visi­onOS user inter­face responds dyna­mi­cally to natural light and casts shadows to help the user under­stand scale and distance. Inter­ac­tion itself happens via eyes, hands and voice, as mentioned earlier: Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, select apps by tapping their fingers toge­ther, scroll by flicking their wrist, and dictate with their voice.

Processor, RAM and storage

For a smooth user expe­ri­ence, the Apple Vision Pro features a dual-chip design: the M2 chip provides stan­da­lone power to allow the device to operate inde­pendently, while the R1 chip provides a lag-free content expe­ri­ence. Heat gene­rated by the proces­sors is dissi­pated as the Apple Vision Pro draws air up the bottom of the headset and vents it out at the top.

The newly intro­duced R1 chip processes input from twelve cameras, five sensors, and six micro­phones, ensu­ring that content feels as if it is appearing in real time. New images are streamed to the displays within twelve milli­se­conds, eight times faster than the blink of an eye.

In terms of memory capa­city, the M2 chip has 16 GB of RAM and the R1 chip has a memory band­width of 256 GB/s.

Battery life

If the Apple Vision Pro is connected to the mains (via USB‑C adapter), it can be used all day. Apple also offers an external battery that is connected to the headset via cable, similar to a power bank. The runtime is appro­xi­m­ately up to two hours.

Weight and dimen­sions

The Apple Vision Pro measures approx. 16 x 9 x 25 cm (width x height x depth inclu­ding head­band).  The housing alone is about 4 cm deep, inclu­ding the light blocker it is 9 cm.

With a weight of 600–650 g (depen­ding on the light seal and head­band), the Apple Vision Pro is not exactly a light­weight. The sepa­rate battery weighs 353 g.

Privacy and secu­rity

Eye tracking, spatial audio — with so much sensi­tive data, the ques­tion arises how the Apple Vision Pro is set in terms of privacy and secu­rity. As it turns out, very well: The data coll­ected during eye tracking, for example, is stored locally and not shared with Apple, third-party apps or websites.

The data recorded by the micro­phones, cameras and sensors is processed at system level, so indi­vi­dual apps do not have to check the user’s envi­ron­ment them­selves. EyeSight, on the other hand, has a visual indi­cator that shows when users take a photo or video.

With Optic ID, a new authen­ti­ca­tion method is intro­duced that analyzes the iris of the user with various invi­sible LED light images, compares it with the Optic ID data protected by the Secure Enclave, and then unlocks the Apple Vision Pro. Optic ID user data is fully encrypted and remains internal to the device, so it is not stored on Apple servers. The data is not acces­sible to apps.

Price and release date

The price of the Apple Vision Pro starts at 3,499 US dollars. With the release date in Germany, the price in euros was also announced: The base model with 256 GB starts at EUR 3,999.

An impres­sive price that will prove diffi­cult to make the Apple Vision Pro acces­sible to a wide range of people. Apple is ther­e­fore repor­tedly already working on a cheaper model that could be called Apple Vision (without Pro).

As the cameras and sensors, the dual-chip design and the two OLED displays are the most expen­sive compon­ents of the headset, cutbacks could be made on these elements, in order to reduce the price. Accor­ding to industry obser­vers, the cheaper model could be laun­ched on the market in 2025 at the earliest, but probably not until 2026.

Apple only sells the Apple Vision Pro directly: in the Apple Online Store, the Apple Store App and in Apple Stores.

Apple Vision Pro — specs at a glance

Apple Vision Pro Test — what are the first reac­tions? 

Some testers had the oppor­tu­nity to try out the Apple Vision Pro shortly after it was laun­ched. Overall, all parti­ci­pants of the Apple Vision Pro demo are enthu­si­a­stic. “I think this is the first device where the word “magical” actually fits the most,” sums up web video producer Alex­ander Böhm on his YouTube channel AlexiBexi. One of the reasons why is that users don’t even realize that they are inter­ac­ting with a tech­nical device.

Nilay Patel from The Verge is also mostly posi­tive about the Apple Vision Pro, but notes that wearing the headset makes you feel oddly lonely. He wonders how you can, for example, watch a movie toge­ther or colla­bo­rate with people who are in the room and connected via Face­Time at the same time.

t3n was parti­cu­larly impressed by the intui­tive control of the Apple Vision Pro, the adjus­table immersion and the high reso­lu­tion, but criti­cized the high weight and the annoying connec­tion to the external battery.

We also have a model of the Apple Vision Pro in the Bitnamic office. Apple’s first spatial computer is certainly promi­sing — espe­ci­ally with regard to the possi­bi­li­ties for remote main­ten­ance and use in industry.

Apple Vision Pro in industry

Compared to other smart glasses for industry, the Apple Vision Pro is similar in appearance and price to the Micro­soft Holo­Lens 2. Like the latter, the Apple Vision Pro is also very suitable for indus­trial fields of appli­ca­tion: Espe­ci­ally in produc­tion and manu­fac­tu­ring, logi­stics, cons­truc­tion, but also in the phar­maceu­tical and health­care sectors, processes can be simpli­fied or acce­le­rated.

The high reso­lu­tion and delay-free image trans­mis­sion of the Apple Vision Pro are parti­cu­larly useful for precise work in main­ten­ance and service or quality control. Of course, there is also the possi­bi­lity of working with both hands free, as there is no need to hold an addi­tional device such as a smart­phone or tablet.

Most of the bene­fits are likely to be achieved in combi­na­tion with augmented reality: AR elements support remote main­ten­ance and step-by-step instruc­tions, while check­lists are displayed to help with quality control or product accep­tance. Various situa­tions could be simu­lated for trai­ning courses to test trai­nees’ skills.

We at Bitnamic will be running a few more tests, but we can already say for sure: The Apple Vision Pro has enormous poten­tial — and this needs to be unlo­cked.