Extended Reality (XR) - Page 8

Apple has reportedly sold close to 200,000 of its upcoming Vision Pro headsets, according to a source of MacRumors, with the company accepting pre-orders for its Vision Pro headset on January 19, so it's only been available to purchase in the United States for just 10 days now.

It was only last week that Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that an estimated 160,000 to 180,000 Vision Pro units were sold during Apple's recent pre-order weekend, so sales seem to have slowed down in the last week. Apple's new Vision Pro headsets for launch day home delivery were all snapped up within hours of pre-orders launching, with in-store pickups for the Vision Pro diminished the day after.

We don't have any reviews from the media with the Apple Vision Pro headset just yet, with that coming on Tuesday... we should expect sales to increase once they get a proper look at the headset from the usual big names that get Apple hardware. But what about after that?

Apple's Vision Pro spatial computing headset will finally go on sale at the end of this week with February 2 being the big day. Today saw a number of early reviews published after Apple's embargo dropped and that means that we're starting to learn more and more about a headset that was shrouded in mystery.

As it turns out, not all of the things that we are learning make for great news for those who have already splashed the $3,499+ required to get a Vision Pro on launch day. However, not all of it is disastrous although some of the tidbits make for strange reading.

At the top of the list of things that we learned is the fact that while the Vision Pro's battery can last up to three hours per charge depending on what you're doing, swapping it out is going to mean having to turn the headset off and then power it back on. That means that there is no hot-swapping available - those whose Vision Pro batteries are running dry will instead have to just plug it in and wait for it to charge before moving away from the AC outlet.

Apple's Vision Pro headset finally goes on sale on Friday, February 2 and we can expect big things based on the early reviews and hands-on experiences. The headset has been available for preorder for a couple of weeks now and we're told by some reports that Apple already sold up to 200,000 units. And as more early reviews start to appear online we're learning new things about what those buyers can expect when their headset arrives.

One of those reviews comes via Brian Tong on YouTube in which he takes us through a few of the apps and interactions that Vision Pro owners will be using. We learn that Siri is perhaps the best way to launch apps and that the on-screen keyboard isn't great, but the biggest news for some will be how the battery behaves in terms of how long it lasts per charge and how quickly it charges when required.

Apple says that the Vision Pro's battery lasts for up to two hours per charge and that watching video alone will extend that to 2.5 hours. But it's difficult to know how well that actually works in real life without testing, and that's what Tong did so that we don't have to.

Apple's Vision Pro is currently available for preorder and it will finally go on sale on February 2 after initially being unveiled in June of 2023. Expectations are high and while the headset will come with some apps preinstalled, it's the App Store and its apps that will likely make or break the Spatial Computing experience that Apple is trying to create. We now know that there will be one big-name app ready to go, and it could be huge for those who work from home.

That app is of course Zoom, the app that came to prominence in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when people were experiencing lockdowns around the world. Now, the company has announced that it will launch a Vision Pro app in the visionOS App Store when the headset goes on sale next month.

Zoom's announcement says that Vision Pro users can expect a native experience for meetings that will include "exceptional" audio and video quality. As part of that there will be support for Apple's Persona feature, allowing people's real-life movements and expressions to be represented by a recreation of themselves i calls. Zoom also says that the app will offer an experience that can be scaled to fit the space in which people are at the time, making it appear like they're in the same room as the other people on the call.

Apple has shared a new video showcasing its highly anticipated Vision Pro headset, which is scheduled to be launched in the United States on Friday, February 2.

The new video is latest promotional piece of material that Apple has released on the Vision Pro, and with pre-orders beginning earlier this month, and the response completely blowing all sale expectations out the water, Apple is gearing up for the full release of the mixed reality headset with a video that showcases all of its main features. The ad showcases people using the Vision Pro to interact with the visionOS operating system through eye movement and hand gestures, with a particular emphasis on the pinch technique.

The video also showcases the mixed reality capabilities of the headset with a dad using the Vision Pro in the kitchen and is still able to interact with his children in real-life by kicking back a soccer ball. There is also depictions of full virtual reality, with an individual sitting on a couch and watching the Napoleon, or Everything Everywhere All At Once on an airplane. Users will have the option of enlarging specific content for a more immersive experience.

Apple's Vision Pro headset is capable of both recording and viewing so-called Spatial Videos, or videos that have effectively been recorded in 3D. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are also capable of capturing the Spatial Videos, but the Vision Pro is the only device that can play them back in all of their 3D glory. But that could be about to change.

That's according to a new report which suggests that Meta Quest headsets could be about to benefit from the same Spatial Video technology without any need for clunky workarounds.

9to5Mac reports that strings of code found in the Meta Quest app for iPhone suggest that some form of Spatial Video playback is on the work. The information was shared by the M1Astra account on X. They say that there are four strings in Meta's iPhone app that mention Spatial Video concluding:

Apple's Vision Pro headset is going to finally go on sale on February 2 but there is one app that will be notable by its absence. The visionOS App Store is going to be full of apps for people to take for a spin when they receive their new headset, but there is one that you might go looking for and find that you can't download at all. That app is Netflix, with the streaming service having taken the decision not to work on a Vision Pro app to date.

The streamer has also taken the unusual decision not to allow people to download and install the company's iPad app either, something that few others have also chosen to do including Spotify and YouTube. In all three cases, this means that users of those services will have to access them via their websites in Safari or a similar browser instead.

Netflix's stance came via co-CEO Greg Peters who was speaking in an interview with Stratechery when he confirmed that the company had thought about launching a Vision Pro app but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth its time. Peters said that it was a case of the company needing to use its resources in the right places, adding that the rarity of the Vision Pro headset means that it simply isn't worth the company's time to build an app. Peters even went so far as to say that Apple's Vision Pro is "subscale," meaning that it just isn't worth building an app for.

Apple's Vision Pro is currently available for preorder but it won't go on sale until February 2. That hasn't stopped Apple from continuing to work on getting visionOS into an even better state ahead of time though, and visionOS 10.0.1 will be ready and waiting once the headset goes on sale.

The new software isn't expected to be a big update and it's believed that the release is a delta over-the-air update rather than a full one, suggesting yet further that we shouldn't expect any big changes. However, any new software update is a good thing because it means that Apple has improved some facet of the Vision Pro experience to the point of wanting to ensure that it is available for early adopters.

The Vision Pro headset is Apple's first foray into the world of mixed reality, or spatial computing, and it's clear that it wants to make as big of a splash as possible. The headset comes with a high $3,499 price point which also means that it will be scrutinized more than any other headset of its ilk, and Apple is right to try and make sure its visionOS software is as stable and functional as possible.

Apple's Vision Pro first went up for preorder on Friday, January 19 after it was first announced way back in June of 2023, but it won't go on sale until February 2. The headset is set to be a huge deal for Apple as it marks the company's first entry into a new market since the Apple Watch back in 2014. And now it appears that people who were able to get their preorders in quickly are already starting to see their headsets ship from Apple's factories.

That's according to a new report by 9to5Mac which notes that people who check their Apple Store order status will continue to see that it is preparing to ship. But as is the case with iPhone buyers around launch time people can instead head over to the UPS website and check their tracking there. Entering the orderer's phone number, sans the last two digits, as the reference number is often enough to find their order's delivery status. However, the 9to5Mac report does note that using the USPS My Choice platform is instead the better way to go thanks to unspecified changes to the normal tracking system.

In the case of the order checked by 9to5Mac, the Vision Pro order departed an Apple facility in Shanghai and weighed more than 10 pounds. However, this doesn't mean that anyone should expect the headset to start to arrive any time sooner than the February 2 release date. Apple often ships its preordered products out early like this before having couriers hold them locally to their delivery destination to ensure that they are available in good time.

Last week Apple made pre-orders available for its highly anticipated Vision Pro mixed reality headset, and while the price is certainly high-end that didn't stop hundreds of thousands of people pre-ordering the device.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has estimated that Apple sold between 160,000 and 180,000 Vision Pro units over the weekend, a truly astonishing number considering the headset is priced at $3,499, and $4,000 with extras. While Apple is undoubtedly very happy with the number of pre-orders for its first-generation device, the company reportedly only has between 60,000 and 80,000 units in stock at launch on February 2.

The demand for the Vision Pro has resulted in delayed shipping times, with customers now being informed they will have to wait between five and seven weeks to receive their order, while in-store pick-up will also be unavailable. Notably, analysts believe that Apple will be able to reach 500,000 units in 2024, but after those orders are filled Vision Pro demand will begin to taper off.

Apple's Vision Pro headset is now available for preorder and that means that people can finally put their name down to get one of Apple's fancy new spatial computing headsets. But there is no denying that, starting at $3,499, the headset isn't a cheap thing to buy. In fact, it's quite a costly one but amazingly it's easy to turn that figure into a rather astounding one if you start adding the upgrades.

That $3,499 asking price gets you the base 256GB configuration, but if you upgrade that to the fully maxed-out 1TB configuration you'll pay an extra $400. Add AppleCare+ and some ZEISS lenses and the figures soon start to get into silly figures. In fact, by the time you're done adding the essentials you can expect to pay a brain-breaking $4,795.95.

Those are the figures put together by MacRumors and they're quite staggering. Alongside the 1TB upgrade, insurance, and optical lenses, the setup the outlet put together includes the Apple Vision Pro Travel Case which costs an additional $199. There's a battery holder as well, although that's a snip at just $49.95 considering the figures we're talking about here.

Apple's Vision Pro is now available for preorder in the United States but there is no indication of when the spatial computing headset will be made available for purchase internationally. That has led some people to import a headset from the United States rather than wait, and it seems that those people should expect problems when it arrives.

That's after MacRumors reported that Apple's Vision Pro preorder web page says that there are a number of things that people need to keep in mind including the fact that they will need to have a US-based Apple ID in order for the device to work. What's more, AppleCare will not be offered internationally, although that will likely change once the Vision Pro officially drives in more countries.

According to MacRumors, the following caveats need to be considered.

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.