OK so I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t everyone say the Apple Vision Pro was done?
That we’re moving on to smart glasses and this thing was a very expensive experiment that didn’t quite land?
And honestly that’s exactly why I wanted to write this — because I’ve been wearing the latest version with the M5 chip, pretty much every day for one month and I think everyone missed the point.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
Spoiler: I think it might be the best thing they’ve ever made.
Ping Pong
When I found out there was a ping pong game on the Vision Pro I jumped on it and honestly I was genuinely surprised at how good the experience was.
The eye tracking, the paddle in your hands, the placement, the opponent across the table. There are moments where I actually forget I’m standing on the balcony swinging a make believe paddle at nothing.
There is a computer on your head doing about a thousand things a second just to make your eyes believe what they’re seeing is real. And when it works, it really works.
Mac Virtual Display
I picked up the two screen habit at Channel 7. One for editing, one for writing.
With the Vision Pro you connect it to your MacBook and suddenly you’ve got an ultra wide screen floating in front of you. YouTube, emails, Adobe Premiere, all at once.
Mix and match, go full screen, whatever you need. I think it can genuinely replace a computer monitor. And with the new software update I’m currently testing, there’s a widget you just press to connect your MacBook instantly.
Immersive Experiences
The immersive stuff I knew I’d enjoy. But watching movies and TV shows is impressive. It feels like the cinema except you have it to yourself.
YouTube has spatial content made specifically for this, and Apple TV has experiences you literally cannot watch anywhere else. But the biggest point that stood out to me is how I lock in to what I am watching. I don’t think I’ve taken in every scene of a TV show or movie for years.
Then there’s environments, you can put yourself somewhere else entirely. The beach, space or maybe Iceland. And because I’ve got the new software early I’ve been dropping my own panorama photos in. And you can now record 4K directly from inside the headset.
The Stuff I’m Not Sure About
Persona, which puts your face on FaceTime calls, is technically incredible but the person on the other end always does a double take.
And then it gets a bit weird and they just want me to call back in full human form. The other issue I have is with battery life. You get a couple of hours then it’s done.
You can plug into the wall but then you’re tethered, battery pack, cable, suddenly this magical wireless experience has you attached to a power point.
It’s the most un-Apple thing about the whole device. And when you’re forking out thousands of dollars it makes you think, is this worth it?
The Bigger Picture
Here’s the bigger picture though. The Vision Pro is in a weird spot. The software just got its biggest ever update and I’m running it right now.
Curved app windows, notifications that respond to your gaze, a brand new Iceland environment with the northern lights, and Wi-Fi three times faster than before.
But there are reports the hardware team has been scaled back, there’s no new version coming for a while, and everyone’s talking about smart glasses being next.
With the price in crease you’re looking at $6299, and that is a lot for a niche device in that position, I get it.
But I think this thing did exactly what it was supposed to do. Apple proved the concept works and it laid the groundwork for whatever comes next.
And I’ve covered enough tech to know when something is genuinely different. Different enough that my neighbours have driven past and seen me standing in the backyard swinging a paddle at nothing. Whatever comes next is going to be built on this.
Not Ready to Spend $6299? Here’s Where to Start.
You could try buying a second hand Apple Vision Pro. But if you want something brand new, the Meta Quest 3S is the best entry point in VR right now, starts at $569 on Amazon Australia and gives you a genuinely impressive taste of mixed reality.
Worth noting Meta also raised their prices recently, so now is as good a time as any. Step up to the Meta Quest 3 and you’re getting sharper visuals, better passthrough and the best all round headset on the market at just under a grand.
And if you just want something you can actually wear out of the house, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 smart glasses are AU$689, AI assistant, camera, open ear audio, and they just look like sunglasses.
This is probably the closest thing we have right now to where Apple is heading next.
