₃ IMPULS: Apple Vision Pro – Institute of Design & Communication

This will be more of a free form reaction and thoughts written down, in response to Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset, as well as critical feedback of the community mixed with my own. As always, it goes without saying that in the Apple trailer itself, the product is presented as the next best thing, absolutely revolutionary. Seeing as I work with AR, VR and mixed reality headsets every day I was also reasonably excited to see the announcement.

Ultimately, we will have to wait and see how Apple will deliver on the promises they have made throughout this first reveal, but so far the public reception has of course been mixed. Many are sceptical, but most early reviews of influencers and writers that have gotten the opportunity to test a prototype out in person are actually pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality off the product. The main point of praise almost everybody found was the passthrough cameras. Passthrough modes have been a thing in mixed reality headsets for a while now, however most of them only use it as a way of orienting oneself in physical space, almost like a setup progress, before actually diving into VR. With their (apparently) extremely high quality cameras providing “crystal clear” passthrough footage, Apple intends to make it a key feature to seamlessly integrate being able to view your surroundings into workflows. According to testers, the passthrough quality even allowed the use of a phone while wearing the headset, which, according to personal experience, is something that no other headset on the market right now can remotely offer.

While these features are of course impressive and there are many more to dive into and analyse, we shall see what actually happens. In the meantime I would like to share my opinion on the general development this means for the whole industry. No matter what someones opinion is on Apple, their philosophy is repeatedly pushing boundaries in whatever area they operate. This is the reason why I am especially excited about the announcement of them dipping their toes into the mixed reality field. Not because of what they eventually bring to the table (that too, of course) but more so because of these new approaches that will start out expensive and gimmicky, but will eventually be made more accessible and cheaper through its next generations.