New Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset will cost $3,500 early next year in the USA

Apple will early next year start selling its first mixed-reality product, the Vision Pro. But it will only be available in the USA to begin with and cost $3,499.

The device resembles a ski mask and uses passthrough video to blend digital content with the real world to produce a floating a 3D image of applications and content that can be manipulated using eye movements. The tech is so advanced that Apple has filed 5,000 patents to cover its intellectual property.

Vision Pro incorporates a computerised system of cameras, projection lenses and real-time sensors that lets users experience immersive environments that can be manipulated by finger and eye movements. A micro OLED mask combines 23 million pixels across two postage-stamp size panels.

Spectacles wearers will be able to purchase glass inserts to fit their prescription,

Vision Pro is described as the most ambitious product Apple has ever produced, Control of the device and images is achieved through a combination of eye movements, hand gestures, and voice commands. Eye tracking enables navigation, while finger tapping and flicking does scrolling and selection.

An Apple M2 chip and new R1 chip processes input from 12 cameras eight times faster than the blink of an eye. Machine learning uses a neural network to produce a digital avatar of the wearer so they can appear to others in video calls as though they are not wearing the device.

Apple says developers can now produce entirely new immersive versions of their apps using existing iOS development tools. Vision Pro will have an app store of its own.

Leo Gebbie, Principal Analyst, Connected Devices, CCS Insight said the Vision Pro headset is Apple’s boldest new product in years,

 It sees the company enter a brand new market, where other companies have struggled to transform futuristic concepts into reality, and offer an exciting and innovative product. Apple has already claimed that the Vision Pro is “the most advanced personal electronics device ever’ and will now have to work hard to back up the statement.

“Apple’s headset challenges the established status quo in terms of both hardware and software and sets out a radical new agenda for the segment. We expect that the Vision Pro will transform the spatial computing segment, thanks to some of Apple’s design decisions and its innovative visionOS. Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) have been through a period of intense scrutiny and scepticism in recent times but if one company has the star power to revive the segment, it’s Apple.

“The Vision Pro has a luxurious build, and its 3D-formed laminated glass and aluminium chassis is certainly eye-catching. Apple has brought its traditional strengths in optimisation across both hardware and software to build a device and an ecosystem which appears to deliver a transformative user experience.

“The real question is what comes next. The Vision Pro is some way away from being a mass market offering given its price tag, clearing the way for some rivals for now. However, Apple stepping into spatial computing is an exciting vote of confidence for the category, and we expect to see more from the company in coming years.

“Apple’s advantage over rivals is that the operating system on the new headset will be immediately familiar to existing users, and much of their favourite content, services and apps are all instantly available. It’s a logical extension to everything Apple has built over the last decade. So far it looks like the Vision Pro is able to offer an impressive experience that will put Apple in a position to shape the future direction of spatial computing”