I took some time to reflect on the Apple Vision Pro announcement at this year’s WWDC. I’m sure I will ruminate some more in the upcoming days about other announcements as well. This post is all over the place, but I like it that way. I just want to share some interesting photos, takes, designs, and more from the event, enjoy.
I’m an Apple fan, I love their products, design, aesthetics, and even their architecture (check out the new Apple Store in Mumbai). So naturally, I was super excited for the WWDC. I’m not a huge VR/AR guy, but Apple’s Vision Pro kind of changed my mind a bit.
A few observations about the Apple Vision Pro:
- Amazing hardware engineering.
- Looks a bit goofy, especially the ‘eyes’ thingy.
- The price might seem steep, but this thing is one hell of a computer with M2 and R1 chips inside, two amazing 4K displays, and a bunch of cameras and sensors.
- Nothing special on the software side.
- No photos of any Apple executives actually wearing the Vision Pro. It looks too goofy, and they know it.
- FaceTime/Conferencing seems worse for people who don’t have the headset. Eventually, when everyone is going to use the headset no one will see the real faces?
- We’re already facing a lot of social and relationship issues - this seems to deepen the problem of spending even more time alone.
The software’s design seems appealing but nothing revolutionary. For now, the overall OS experience feels quite bland. I wanted to see something more out of visionOS, but having backward-compatible apps (thanks to the M2 chip) is going to add some additional value to the product. The VR part seems especially bland, the only demonstration we got about it was screen-styled entertainment which was fine, but nothing special.
It’s true that the product isn’t solving any concrete problems and is in the lookout for a solution, but Apple might just pull it off. It got my attention, and it has grown on me in the hours following the event. Sometimes it’s quite hard to understand how a certain technology will fit into society, but in retrospect, it either makes a lot of sense, or no one ever uses it, and its discontinued eventually. When the Apple Watch was first introduced, it was presented as a special kind of luxury jewelry, not a sports tracker. However, today, most people use it as a companion to their iPhones, a cool gadget that can track your run, it’s much more than jewelry or a watch.
I think that Vision Pro isn’t perfect, but it has potential. I believe it will grow on people. It’s an amazing piece of technology, and it just might find its place in our lives.