An Ignorant Take on Vision Pro
I haven't seen it. I’ve never touched it. Why do I want it?
Image Credit: Apple
Apple announced Apple Vision Pro, a $3,500 headset, at WWDC23 last June. Heralded as a technological marvel, Vision Pro is an incredibly ambitious first step into the world of what Apple is calling Spatial Computing.
Why Do I Want it? What Does It Do?
I wrote this article because my wife wanted to understand my excitement about this product. But when she asked why I wanted it, I struggled with an answer. I had seven months to ponder this simple question since the announcement of Vision Pro, and the best I could come up with was "It is incredibly tech" and "I can view content in a transformative way." Those answers gave me pause that I was being swept up in the fervour of this announcement more than I had a bonified reason to own one. I have been intrigued by the product and puzzled by it in many ways, so I thought it might be therapeutic to jot down my jostling thoughts about the Vision Pro.
FOMO
First, I have a lot of FOMO about the Vision Pro. You spend as much time in this Apple tech space as I do, and you're bound to develop a fear of missing out. Vision Pro is not launching in Canada initially (although there are rumours that it might roll out before Summer), so I won't be a launch day user. I can't articulate why I have this FOMO; it's not linked to any rational need; it's not like I'm dying to see dinosaurs in my room or that I'm desperate to make a Keynote presentation in what resembles the Steve Jobs Theater. Still, the envy of not being on the bleeding edge of tech sometimes sucks. I have difficulty knowing how much I want the Vision Pro and how much I want to feel included in the earliest wave of Apple users being awed by this pretty remarkable piece of tech.
One Point O
Releasing a new product category amidst a market of very mature products is challenging. Vision Pro is a Gen 1 product, with many of Apple's own apps, from Calendar to Maps to Reminders, not optimized for visionOS at launch. Like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, it may take years for VisionPro & visionOS to hit its stride. I wouldn't be surprised if some Wave 1 buyers feel a hard collision against many hardware and software limitations at launch. All we've had to date is the reflections of an exceptionally curated minority of people following an even more curated 30-minute demo. The euphoria of what people want Vision Pro to be may crash against the limitations of a 1.0 product. However, the 2.0 & 3.0 releases of visionOS (with 2.0 being unveiled as early as WWDC) should show significant leaps in the product's capabilities.
What It's For May Not Be What It's For
Is that Titlegore or what? Go rewatch the original iPhone keynote and hear the raucous hooting when Steve announced "a widescreen iPod with touch control." Hear the hollering intensify when he follows it up with "a revolutionary mobile phone," and pay attention to the near monastic silence when he finishes with a "breakthrough internet communicator." What the iPhone began as bears little resemblance to what the iPhone now is. It is the same with the Apple Watch, which was heavily marketed as jewelry emphasizing connection (like randomly sending heartbeats to people) at launch. What Vision Pro will become in 2-3 years will be the product of a dialogue between its current abilities and our collective aspirations for the device. Tim Cook's Apple has shown mastery at responding and refining product direction based on use trends, so we will see a Vision Pro experience that bears little resemblance to this current iteration before we know it.
Weight
At the moment, Vision Pro weighs nearly 1.5 pounds, so I'm also interested in how this product starts being used. Is Vision Pro designed for marathon use sessions, or something you dip in and out of in 20-30 minute increments? Forgive me for being cynical, but with how many complaints there are online about the iPhone's weight & battery life or the comfort of the AirPods Max, I can't see a world where this tension-headache-producing face computer gets a free pass from these criticisms.
Connection
Is it just me, or does wearing a headset around others feel weird? It even feels different from wearing sunglasses or headphones, which occlude our eyes and hearing. Maybe it's that with Vision Pro, I know I'm looking at you, but I don't know what else you are looking at while looking at me. And I know the same can be said about headphones to some degree, so maybe I'm just showing my age and getting flustered by this strange new world.
I am also disappointed that many of Vision Pros' marquee features are such individualistic experiences. Spatial videos and 3D movies are enjoyed in isolation from others, and part of the value of these for me is their shared experiences. Again, I could say the same thing about headphones, as I regularly enjoy music privately. So this may be me being an old coot again struggling to adjust. I guess I could always buy two for me and the missus?
Price
Wow! Vision Pro is very expensive, costing as much as Apple's highest retailly available 16-inch MacBook Pro and nearly as much as an M2 Ultra Mac Studio. I'm not saying it's overpriced; it's just that its price puts it at the tippy top of Apple's lineup of products, creating a unique degree of exclusivity. You need a significant chunk of cash and have a compelling need to own one - whether that's a compelling use case or a burning desire - to fork over that much cash.
How much? Well, Vision Pro starts at $3,499, but with that, you may want to increase the storage (an additional +200-400), add AppleCare+ ($499), protective case ($199), additional battery ($199), and potentially prescription lenses ($99-149). If it were me, I would do 512GB storage, AppleCare+, case, and an additional battery, bringing my prospective total to $4,596 (before tax). As a Canadian, factoring in the exchange rate and a 12% taxation means this configuration would cost me over $7,200 - 11% of the average Canadian's salary before tax.
If I'm to spend a double-digit percentage of my salary on something, that cost to entry means I need to be crystal clear about my priorities and utilization of the Vision Pro - it can't simply be a fascinating way to watch movies or browse the web. That segues nicely to my next point.
Utility
The question of what and how I will use Vision Pro remains my most significant unanswered area regarding this product.
When I look at the available apps, I struggle to distinguish why someone would go to Vision Pro over a Mac, iPad, or iPhone. I consider factors like comfort, speed, features, enjoyment, and convenience when deciding what product to use for what purpose. For example, If I am working on an article, I turn to the Mac because the speed, comfort, and features (i.e., physical keyboard, battery life, ease and speed of use) make it the best tool for that scope of work. I turn to the iPad for reading, browsing, and streaming; for timers & Siri, the Apple Watch. What will be the rationale for wearing a noticeably heavy spatial computer to accomplish these tasks? And what tasks and workflows will uniquely benefit from the large canvas available through Vision Pro? Of course, it will likely be the coolest thing ever to initially use Notes, AirPlay from a Mac, watch a show, or meditate with this device, but how long will that excitement last? Hopefully, it will last a long time, but eventually, it will become just another way to respond to work emails, and when that happens, will it continue being the best or preferred device for that purpose? Will I run to the Vision Pro to do my writing, messaging, or creative work, or will my existing devices continue to outperform the utility of this platform in the long term? Like Steve said about the iPad: "If there's going to be a third category of device, it's going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone; otherwise, it has no reason for being." What will be the Vision Pros reason for being to merit its place in Apple's lineup? What use cases will make it the most compelling product to reach for, and will I forgo my other devices and enthusiastically migrate my workflow into a spatial computing landscape?
MISC
I don't know about you, but I'm terrified of bringing Vision Pro on an aircraft. I see how airport screeners handle my belongings, so I can't see myself ever having the courage to trust the safety of my face computer to their reckless abandon.
There's about a 1000% chance I will snag the Vision Pro cable on a door handle if/when I ever get my hands on one. Thank god for MagSafe.
How will Vision Pro work with pets? I know it has a features called Breakthrough feature for people, but my dog has been known to ambush me with kisses or requirements for attention without warning. She also likes to swipe at stuff, so I'm nervous.
In Sum
I don't know if Vision Pro is for me, but I want it to be for me (does that make sense?). I love the concept of spatial computing and being able to handle my work in a dynamic and beautiful 3D space. The hand gestures and eye tracking, as demoed and commented on by people, seem utterly revolutionary. And visionOS looks drop-dead gorgeous - I could admire that frosted glass UI all day. Still, I remain ambivalent about its utility as a daily driver for most. I don't doubt that refinements in software and hardware over the coming months and years will evolve Vision Pro into a compelling and successful category of devices. A decade from now, people growing up with Spatial Computing may make a face at the concept of just using one fixed rectangular monitor to view content, just like people make faces hearing that somebody had to rewind videos or defrag a computer. For now, Vision Pro remains a very exclusive playground for developers and enthusiasts, clay waiting to be moulded into something quite incredible for the future.
