Apple Unveils Apple Vision Pro, the Future of Spatial Computing
Cupertino, California – Apple has officially announced the launch of Apple Vision Pro. This groundbreaking spatial computer seamlessly merges digital content with the real world while keeping users connected and engaged.
Vision Pro introduces an infinite canvas for apps, surpassing the limitations of traditional displays, and features a fully three-dimensional user interface controlled by natural inputs like the user’s eyes, hands, and voice. This remarkable device comes with visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system, which enables users to interact with digital content as if it were physically present in their surroundings.
Apple Vision Pro has an ultra-high-resolution display system, boasting 23 million pixels spread across two displays. It incorporates custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design to deliver real-time experiences right before the user’s eyes.
A New Era for Computing
Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his excitement about the release of Apple Vision Pro, stating, “Today marks the beginning of a new era for computing. Just as the Mac brought personal computing to the masses and the iPhone revolutionized mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduced us to the world of spatial computing.
With its revolutionary input system and countless groundbreaking innovations, Vision Pro offers incredible experiences for our users and opens up exciting opportunities for developers.”
Mike Rockwell, Apple’s Vice President of the Technology Development Group, emphasized the extensive effort put into creating Apple’s first spatial computer, stating, “Designing our first spatial computer required innovation across every aspect of the system.
Through the tight integration of hardware and software, we have developed a standalone spatial computer in a compact wearable form factor that is the most advanced personal electronics device ever created.”
Extraordinary Experiences Await
Apple Vision Pro redefines personal computing by transforming how users interact with their favorite apps, capture and relive memories, enjoy multimedia content, and connect with others through FaceTime.
With visionOS, users can access a three-dimensional interface that liberates apps from the confines of a traditional screen, allowing them to appear side by side at any scale. This enables users to enhance their productivity with limitless screen real estate, easy access to their preferred apps, and novel multitasking capabilities.
By supporting Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, Vision Pro seamlessly integrates with Mac devices, creating a massive, private, and portable 4K display with incredibly sharp text.
Entertainment experiences are taken to new heights with Apple Vision Pro’s dual ultra-high-resolution displays, offering users a personal movie theater experience with a screen that appears 100 feet wide. The advanced Spatial Audio system provides immersive sound, while Apple Immersive Video delivers high-resolution 180-degree recordings with Spatial Audio.
Also, users can explore a diverse collection of immersive videos that transport them to captivating virtual worlds. Gaming is also revolutionized, with spatial computing allowing for new types of games that immerse players in entirely new realms.
Apple Arcade enthusiasts can enjoy over 100 games on a screen of any desired size, accompanied by immersive audio and support for popular game controllers.
Immersive Environments and Captivating Memories
Vision Pro introduces the concept of Environments, allowing users to expand their world beyond the physical boundaries of a room with dynamic and stunning landscapes. Environments create an immersive space, promoting focus and reducing visual clutter in busy surroundings.
Users can effortlessly adjust their level of immersion using the Digital Crown, granting them control over their presence in a given environment.
The innovative three-dimensional camera featured in Apple Vision Pro brings memories to life, enabling users to capture, relive, and immerse themselves in their favorite moments using Spatial Audio.
Spatial photos and videos transport users back in time, evoking the emotions of special occasions and cherished gatherings. The device seamlessly integrates with iCloud, providing users access to their entire photo library displayed at a life-size scale, boasting vibrant colors and remarkable detail. Panorama shots taken with an iPhone expand and envelop the user, creating a sense of being present at the original location where the photo was captured.
FaceTime in a Spatial Realm
Apple Vision Pro revolutionizes the FaceTime experience, leveraging the device’s spatial capabilities to create an immersive communication platform. During a FaceTime call, participants are reflected in life-size tiles, accompanied by Spatial Audio that creates the illusion of participants’ voices originating from their specific positions.
Users wearing Vision Pro become digital representations of themselves, known as Personas, generated using advanced machine learning techniques. These Personas mirror users’ facial and hand movements in real-time, enabling shared activities like watching movies, browsing photos, or collaborating on presentations.
Expanding the App Ecosystem
Apple Vision Pro introduces an all-new App Store, offering users a vast selection of apps and content tailored for the device. Users can discover new apps, as well as access a vast library of familiar iPhone and iPad apps, all optimized to integrate with the new input system of Vision Pro seamlessly.
Developers are encouraged to explore the powerful and unique capabilities of Vision Pro and visionOS to create innovative app experiences and reimagine existing ones within the spatial computing landscape.
A Revolutionary Operating System and User Interface
Built on the strong foundations of macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, visionOS has been meticulously designed to support the low-latency requirements of spatial computing. The result is a groundbreaking operating system that delivers powerful spatial experiences, taking full advantage of the user’s surrounding space and unlocking new opportunities in professional and personal settings. visionOS boasts a brand-new three-dimensional interface that seamlessly blends digital content into the user’s physical environment.
By dynamically responding to natural lighting conditions and casting shadows, visionOS enhances the user’s perception of scale and distance. Apple Vision Pro introduces an entirely new input system, empowering users to navigate and interact with spatial content using their eyes, hands, and voice.
Users can effortlessly browse apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to make selections, flicking their wrists to scroll, or using voice commands to dictate actions.
Apple Vision Pro’s EyeSight feature is an extraordinary innovation that fosters user connections. When approaching someone wearing Vision Pro, the device becomes transparent, enabling users to see the wearer’s face while still displaying their eyes.
When users are fully immersed in an environment or using an app, EyeSight provides visual cues to others, indicating the user’s current focus of attention.
A Breakthrough in Design
Apple Vision Pro showcases the culmination of Apple’s expertise in designing high-performance products, combining elements from Mac, iPhone, and wearables such as the Apple Watch. The result is an unparalleled personal electronics device. In order to achieve exceptional performance, mobility, and wearability, Apple incorporated the most advanced materials available.
The design of Apple Vision Pro revolves around a singular piece of three-dimensional formed and laminated glass that acts as an optical surface, serving as a lens for a wide array of cameras and sensors responsible for blending the physical world with digital content. This glass elegantly flows into a custom aluminum alloy frame, gently curving around the user’s face. The modular system allows for a tailored fit, accommodating many users.
The Light Seal, made from a soft textile, flexes to conform to the user’s face, ensuring a precise fit. Flexible straps keep the audio close to the user’s ears, while the Head Band, knitted as a single piece, provides cushioning, breathability, and stretch. The Head Band is available in multiple sizes and can be easily interchanged to suit the user’s preferences.
Unrivaled Hardware Innovations
Apple Vision Pro offers phenomenal computing performance in a compact wearable form
factor. The device’s ultra-high-resolution display system, built on top of an Apple silicon chip, utilizes micro-OLED technology to pack an astonishing 23 million pixels across two displays, each roughly the size of a postage stamp.
The result is jaw-dropping visual clarity and sharpness, complemented by a wide color gamut and high dynamic range capabilities. To ensure visual fidelity and eye-tracking accuracy for users with vision correction needs, ZEISS Optical Inserts are available.
Spatial Audio is a core component of the Apple Vision Pro experience, creating a surround sound sensation that matches sounds to the user’s spatial environment. Personalized Spatial Audio is delivered through two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod, adapting the audio output based on the user’s unique head and ear geometry.
Apple Vision Pro incorporates a high-performance eye-tracking system using high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user’s eyes, enabling responsive and intuitive input.
These groundbreaking hardware innovations are made possible by Apple silicon in a distinctive dual-chip design. The M2 chip provides unparalleled standalone performance, while the brand-new R1 chip processes input from 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones, ensuring that content appears seamlessly in front of the user’s eyes in real time.
The R1 chip streams new images to the displays within an astonishing 12 milliseconds, eight times faster than the blink of an eye. Apple Vision Pro is designed for all-day use when connected to a power source and offers up to two hours of usage with its external, high-performance battery.
Industry-Leading Privacy and Security
Apple Vision Pro prioritizes user privacy and security at its core. Optic ID, a secure authentication system, uses invisible LED light exposures to analyze a user’s iris. This analysis is compared with encrypted Optic ID data stored in the Secure Enclave, ensuring instant unlocking of Apple Vision Pro.
The user’s Optic ID data is fully encrypted, inaccessible to apps, and never transmitted to Apple servers.
Apple Vision Pro respects user privacy by keeping eye-tracking information confidential and not sharing it with Apple, third-party apps, or websites. Camera and sensor data are processed at the system level, eliminating the need for individual apps to access users’ surroundings for spatial experiences. EyeSight also features a visual indicator to inform others when a user captures a spatial photo or video.
Pricing and Availability
Starting at $3,499 (U.S.), Apple Vision Pro will be available for purchase early next year on apple.com and in Apple Store locations across the United States. Availability in additional countries will follow later in the year.
Customers can visit Apple Store locations to explore, experience, and customize their fit for Vision Pro. For more information about Apple Vision Pro, please visit apple.com/apple-vision-pro.