The Apple Vision Pro is a Look at the Future Direction of Virtual and Augmented Reality

This morning I was given a demo of the Apple Vision Pro (AVP).  I have a Meta Quest 3 at home, and I wanted to compare the user experience of each of these devices.  The demo took around 30 minutes, including prep time.  To be honest, it was not really a fair fight. Apple has pumped a lot of money into their product, and it shows.  

Before the actual demo, there were some calibration steps that needed to be done first.  The Apple guru scanned my prescription glasses with a little gadget situated in their demo area of the store.  Then there were some facial calibrations with the guru's iPhone to measure my facial dimensions and pinpoint my eye movements.  Then, we waited a bit until a custom device was brought to us that mimicked my eyeglasses prescription.  I did not need to wear my glasses for the demo!  

I won't go into much detail on the actual demo because I don't want to spoil it for you.  Suffice it to say that the visuals were truly stunning.  I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised by what Apple has done with this device.  I look at this iteration as a beta in the sense that I don't think Apple expects to sell a lot of these at over $3000 a pop.  But it does give one an idea of what to expect when future, cheaper iterations of this product eventually hit the market.  

Right before I went to the demo I tried out my Meta Quest 3 in order to refresh my memory.  One obvious difference between the Quest and the AVP that I noticed was that the visuals are much brighter and crisper. Another one is that the AVP does not require external handheld controllers.  You use hand gestures to manipulate your environment and select which apps you want to use.  I have to struggle with the Quest to wear eyeglasses under the headset, while with AVP my glasses are built in.

At this point both the Meta Quest and the Apple Vision Pro are too heavy to wear for over a half hour at a time.  Also, more content needs to be made available.  And of course there is the cost.  But over time I think we will see a product emerge that will overcome these obstacles.

As some of you may know, I volunteer at a non-profit that assists senior citizens with many aspects of their daily life, including their use of technology.  I think that VR/AR devices such as the Quest and the AVP will evolve into something that seniors will want to try, and perhaps purchase.  It will depend on a number of factors, most important of which is compelling content.  Stay tuned - this tech will only get more interesting over time.