Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D - Page 14

Apple's Vision Pro headset is now finally available for preorder after months and months of waiting. The headset was first announced in June of 2023 but with preorders now live the headset will finally go on sale on February 2. Those who order a headset today might have to wait until the middle of March for it to arrive, but those who ordered quickly will receive their headset on February 2. But how many headsets were sold? Given an expected limitation on the number of headsets that would be ready for launch day, one analyst believes that Apple was able to sell up to 180,000 headsets.

According to a report posted to the Medium website by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple likely sold between 160,000 and 180,000 during the first three days of the preorder window. And while Apple selling through its initial availability of the headset is perhaps not a surprise, Kuo suggests that there is still a concern to be noted here.

Writing in the same post, Kuo suggests that while delivery estimates ran anywhere to seven weeks pretty quickly, that estimated delivery window has not changed since. Whereas an iPhone preorder window normally sees these windows expand initially once stocks are exhausted and then continue to do so as more preorders rack up, that doesn't appear to have been the case here. Instead, the same delivery estimate remains in place today which might suggest that Apple has not been able to sell through all of the headsets it expects to be able to produce in a second wave of availability.

Apple's new Vision Pro headset will cost you $3499 for the base model, scaling up to $4800 if you opt for 1TB of internal storage... but you will NOT want to damage it, as repair costs are as high as $2400 if you don't have AppleCare+ protection.

The company opened up pre-orders for its new Vision Pro headset a couple of days ago, where if you buy the minimum 256GB internal storage model, you're looking at $3499, while 1TB of storage will set you back $4800.

You'll want to get AppleCare+ protection which costs $499, because without it, if you damage something catastrophic (expensive) like the display or another part of the Vision Pro headset, you could be looking at spending $2399 on repairing your expensive new headset. AppleCare+ protected? $299 for that same repair.

Apple announced the Vision Pro AR/VR headset way back in June 2023 but it didn't give us all of the details that you might have expected. But now, as the headset gets ready for its big June 2 release the company has started to share more and more details about what we can expect when the headset finally arrives. As a part of that, we now know what apps the headset will come with preinstalled.

Apple has shared a full list of the apps that will come installed on every single new Vision Pro when buyers first put it on, and there is a total of 25 apps for people to look forward tousing. However, out of those 25 apps a surprisingly large number aren't Vision Pro apps at all. Instead, they're iPad apps that have been preinstalled on the headset to make up the numbers. And perhaps more worrying is the fact that some of them are core apps that you might have expected Apple to focus on getting ready for the big day.

Of the 25 apps that Apple will preinstall, the following have been redesigned and optimized for the Vision Pro:

Apple's Vision Pro spatial computing headset is available for preorder now and people will start to receive their new devices next month and we're still learning new things. As part of the preorder window going live Apple has started to publish a number of new support documents to its website that details the headset, its capabilities, and more. And one of those has confirmed that other people will be able to see what Vision Pro owners see if they want them to.

That's thanks to the magic that is AirPlay, with Apple confirming that the headset will be able to send its display content to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or any other AirPlay-capable smart TV or device. The move means that others will be able to see whatever the Vision Pro wearer can see, something that we were not aware of until now.

There is one big limitation in terms of how the AirPlay experience will work, however. While each of the displays inside the Vision Pro headset are 4K affairs, sending that content over AirPlay will see Apple limit the resulting image to just 720p. That might not be an issue for those watching on an iPhone, but it does mean that throwing the image onto a big screen via a projector, for example, could be problematic.

Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset is now finally available for preorder and it will officially go on sale on February 2. That's when those who placed a preorder can expect the headset to arrive, while in-store orders will also begin on that same date. But Apple has shared a new support document that could be enough to give some people pause before placing an order.

The Vision Pro headset is, like any other AR/VR headset, prone to causing certain issues including dizziness and headaches. To that end, Apple has shared a new support document that outlines the medical conditions that people should be aware of. If you suffer from one of these medical conditions, Apple says, you might find that it aggravates symptoms or increases the risk of discomfort and even injury. In short, you might want to have second thoughts about spending $3,499 on a new Vision Pro if you suffer from one of those issues.

The list of medical conditions that Apple mentions specifically includes:

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.

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.

The Vision Pro headset is going to go on sale on February 2 and preorders begin at the end of this week and with that in mind, Apple continues to get its ducks in a row ahead of the big launch. The AR/VR headset will likely live or die on the quality and quantity of its apps and to make sure that there are plenty to choose from Apple has started to make them available ahead of time.

The move, which will likely also help reviewers who need to put the headset through its paces ahead of the big day, means that app developers who have submitted apps for review are now starting to see them approved and made available for download. That means that anyone who heads to the App Store webpage for those apps will now see a new entry for the Vision Pro alongside the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Apps will require visionOS 1.0 or later, which is likely to be the software that the headset will ship with preinstalled.

Apple announced the headset back in June of 2023 during the WWDC event at Apple Park, and while developers weren't able to start working on apps immediately they have had months to get their work ready for launch. Being in the App Store on launch day is a big deal for app developers and has the potential to propel their app to the top of the rankings. For apps that also have iPhone, iPad, or Mac versions available that could also then turn into better sales and revenue on those platforms, too. With that in mind, it's no wonder that some high-profile apps will be ready come February 2.

Apple continues to release more information about the upcoming Vision Pro headset as we get ready for it to finally go on sale next month. We've already seen the company share details about a variety of features as well as what will come in the box, and now the company has confirmed the existence of a feature that will allow people to more easily use their Vision Pro on an airplane.

Writing in a larger press release about the Vision Pro's entertainment experience and what buyers can look forward to, Apple says that the headset will have a Travel Mode that is designed with airplanes in mind, although it can obviously be used when using other modes of transportation - although Apple is quick to note that people shouldn't wear the Vision Pro while they're operating a vehicle. Travel Mode is designed only for passengers, as you might expect.

Apple hasn't given all that much information about how Travel Mode will work but it did say that the feature stabilizes visuals, which suggests that Apple is aware that the on-screen interface could move around when people are not stationary. This is something that we'll need to see in person before we can be sure of how well it works, but we have to imagine that at least one YouTuber will take their Vision Pro on a rollercoaster to see how it performs.

Apple's Vision Pro will go up for preorder on January 19 before being made available to buy, finally, on February 2. But ahead of those dates, Apple continues to share more details about a headset that promises to be a big deal for a company that rarely ventures into new categories. One of those details revolves around a feature that is designed specifically to make it easier for people to show their new AR/VR headset off to people.

The feature, dubbed Guest Mode, will allow people to give their handset to someone else for them to try on and use temporarily without having to set everything up afresh. It should also mean that no new accounts will need to be created while also ensuring that most sensitive data won't be accessible, too.

Apple hasn't given in-depth information about the way Guest Mode will work, but it did warn that some app content including photo attachments in messages may be visible during the Gust Mode usage. However, the company's press release did note that people's Apple ID settings, Optic ID, passcode, passwords, Apple Pay, Persona, and health data will be restricted while Guest User is enabled.

Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset will finally go on sale on February 2, but only to customers who are in the United States. A global launch is obviously in the cards, and now a new report suggests that international customers should start saving for their new headset ASAP because it could be with them sooner than expected.

That's the claim by well-connected supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a new post on Medium. The analyst says that Apple has big plans for the WWDC 2024 event that will be held in June of this year and that to make the most of that event it should have the headset available in as many different countries as possible. That, Ming-Chi Ming-Chi Kuo believes, suggests that Apple intends to make the Vision Pro available internationally before WWDC.

The WWDC event is likely to take place in June which means that Apple still has a few months to make sure that the Vision Pro headset is available to as many people, and in as many countries, as possible.