Apple Vision Pro Defines A New Era of Spatial Computing
Apple released its first head-mounted display product, the Apple Vision Pro, at WWDC 2023. The product is priced at $3,499, exceeding the previous estimate of $3,000, and is expected to be sold in early 2024. Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Apple Vision Pro, and what its appearance means for the company and the industry.
Overall, the innovation in hardware is surprising, mainly focusing on display, interaction, chip and others.
(1) Chip: VisionPro uses Apple's self-developed chips, including M2 and R1 sensor processors.
The M2 uses a 5-nanometer process and integrates an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. It is a high-computing chip specially developed for Mac in the early stage. R1 is responsible for the real-time signal processing of about 20 sensors of various types, such as cameras and microphones. Powerful computing power lays the foundation for Vision Pro to develop into a computing platform.
(2) Interaction: no handle design, using gestures, voice, eyes to interact.
The head-mounted display integrates 12 cameras (8 external and 4 internal), 5 sensors, and 6 microphones. The head-mounted display supports eye tracking. When the user interacts with the head-mounted display, the cursor can be moved with the eyes, and the monitoring of gestures can realize selection, scrolling, zooming, and more.
The device has the function of Eyesight, which allows users to switch freely between virtual and real. When interacting with other people, the external screen of the headset can display the user's eyes in real time through the information captured by the built-in camera, which is equivalent to the effect of wearing transparent glasses.
At the same time, the headset also supports Optic ID (iris recognition) for unlocking.
(3) Screen: Built-in MicroOLED + external curved OLED configuration.
The built-in screen uses MicroOLED, reaching 23 million pixels, and the resolution per eye is higher than 4K, achieving extremely clear display; the external screen uses OLED screen, which can display the user's eyes and expressions in real time.
The exclusive 3-piece glass lens is expected to adopt the Pancake solution to achieve thinner and lighter products and a better immersive experience.
(4) Others
The headset can be equipped with optical inserts to support users with different levels of myopia.
The Digital Crown physical button on the upper right of the device allows the user to adjust the level of experience in the VR or AR environment, similar to controlling the volume on Airpods Max.
However, in order to give priority to retaining the powerful functions of Apple Vision Pro, Apple had to compromise on power and other aspects.
(1) Due to the high power consumption, the battery life of the device is still a problem. Vision Pro can be used around the clock when it is plugged in. If it is not plugged in, it needs to use an external power supply. After connecting it, it can achieve about 2 hours of battery life.
(2) The weight is unknown. It is expected that the weight of the product will be maintained at a relatively reasonable level after the power supply is externally installed.
In terms of software and applications, Apple released Vision OS for headsets, integrating existing Apple ecological applications. Judging from the demonstration video, Apple Vision Pro has rich application scenarios for both consumer and enterprise, and the content ecology is still being improved.
(1) Vision OS: An operating system specially designed for spatial computing, which is perfectly compatible with existing ecological applications.
VisionOS integrates the core operating system, real-time execution engine, foveated rendering pipeline, 3D engine, etc. At the same time, the system is perfectly compatible with existing ecological applications, including browsers, office software, social software, etc.
(2) Enterprise-level application: The effect exceeds expectations, and the application side is more inclined to AR scenarios.
The developer has developed an interactive 3D beating heart based on the head-mounted display, which can provide more detailed teaching explanations; the head-mounted display can also project a virtual production line for disassembly and inspection, and the head-mounted display can also simultaneously display corresponding 3D information.
(3) Consumer-level applications: film and television, games, videos, and social networking are still the main scenarios.
Apple Vision Pro supports AppleTV and other content, and the giant screen effect can be achieved through head-mounted display viewing; at the same time, Apple also cooperates with Unity to develop games, etc., but there is no further demonstration of the game. In addition, based on the powerful functions of Apple's 3D camera, users can build the digital image significantly improves the user experience in video and social scenes.
In order to expand the content ecosystem, Apple and Disney have cooperated to provide more content for Apple Vision Pro. Disney CEO Bob Iger said that users who buy Apple's Vision Pro headset can get Disney Plus for free, allowing them to watch TV series and movies in virtual scenes.
(4) Product ecological synergy
The head-mounted display can cooperate with Mac and other devices to seamlessly project the Mac screen to the head-mounted display, and the screen size can be adjusted arbitrarily, which is very suitable for office or remote office.
Although the market is now paying attention to generative AI, the importance of AR/VR as the entrance of virtual-real interaction cannot be ignored. But in terms of the difficulty of technology landing, the difficulty of implementing AR/VR is far higher than that of generative AI, which is why the market has not been optimistic about AR/VR.
Overall, the release of Apple Vision Pro is a surprise, showing Apple's unshakable strong position in the field of consumer electronics and its leading level in the field of interactive innovation.
Apple Vision Pro represents the highest level of the AR/VR industry under the existing technical conditions. This product is not satisfied with the entertainment positioning of traditional VR devices, but tends to be a new generation of spatial computing platform, showing more social, Just-needed properties such as office and industrial applications, compatible with entertainment functions such as games and movies. A purely entertainment AR/VR product is of little significance. It is expected that the release of Apple Vision Pro will be of great significance to the development of the entire AR/VR industry, whether it is inspiring hardware design or promoting software ecology.
But the price of Apple Vision Pro at $3,499 also means that this product will not be popularized on a large scale, and Apple itself has a very low forecast for shipments, about 200,000 to 300,000. Therefore, both the contribution to the performance of the company itself and the pull to the industrial chain are relatively small. As Apple's first MR product, Apple Vision Pro is more of an early product form to test market acceptance. It is expected that a more cost-effective product form will be launched in the future to meet the needs of ordinary consumers.
In addition, we still need to wait for the enrichment of product content ecology and the iteration of hardware technology.
When the Apple Vision Pro is officially released next year, real product testing will tell us whether the Apple Vision Pro is really worth the money.
Disclaimer: Community is offered by Moomoo Technologies Inc. and is for educational purposes only.
Read more
Comment
Sign in to post a comment
