The $3,499 Vision Pro lacks fast Wi-Fi 6E and any kind of Ultra Wideband technology

If you're buying a new Vision Pro mixed reality headset when it goes on sale on February 2, you're going to get one of the most advanced spatial computing products on the market for your $3,499. But what you won't get is support for Wi-Fi 6E or the even better Wi-Fi 7, nor will you get the same technology that can be found in a $29 Apple AirTag.

That technology is of course an Ultra Wideband chip that allows for precise location information to be collected. The iPhone also has an Ultra Wideband chip inside, while the Apple Watch also features the same technology. The Vision Pro? Not so much.

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We know that because the Vision Pro has now worked its way through the FCC which means that we now have a fuller picture of exactly what is and is not inside the headset. The lack of a UWB chip is a disappointment, although it isn't clear how big of an issue it will be. But the lack of Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 is more of an issue, especially considering the price of the headset itself.

Apple's Wi-Fi 6E technology is available on Apple's latest M3 Macs of course, but the M2 chip that is powering the Vision Pro does not support such technology and there are currently no Apple devices with Wi-Fi 7 support at all. However, with none of that likely to matter to people who don't have the very latest and greatest Wi-Fi technology at home or in the office, it's a matter for debate as to how big of an issue that really is in 2024.

Regardless of the features that the Vision Pro headset will be missing, it's still sure to capture plenty of attention when it goes up for sale next month. It'll be available for preorder starting this Friday, January 19, and that starting price of $3,499 will include 256GB of storage. It's possible that there will be more storage options available for those who want them, with rumors hinting that 1TB could be the upper limit but Apple is yet to confirm any of this information.

Early hands-on reports suggest that the Vision Pro is an impressive piece of technology, albeit an expensive one. It's also thought to be quite heavy on the head after half an hour to an hour of use, but a new type of band is thought to have improved matters. That band, and the one seen in most of the promotional artwork for the Vision Pro, will ship in the box alongside the headset itself.