On Vision Pro

Alan Cai

December 22, 2023

Apple announced the launch of the Apple Vision Pro earlier this year at the Worldwide Developers Conference (Apple’s annual product updates and announcements meeting held at Apple Park) and advertised it as the next iPhone of the Big Tech industry. The Vision Pro is a virtual reality and augmented reality headset device meant to be a screen worn over the face.

On the surface, the technology Apple boasts is very impressive. The Vision Pro will employ Optic ID, which scans irises to unlock the device. To compensate for a lack of keyboards or other manual input mechanisms, the Vision Pro will use voice typing and hand movement sensing using an assorted array of microphones and cameras, respectively. One of the highlights announced at the WWDC was the external display system called “EyeSight.” The display uses a scanned image of the wearer’s face to display on the headset’s exterior when the device detects other people approaching. The internal cameras and sensors generate a real-time feed of the wearer’s expressions, while the external sensors feed the outside world into the user’s interface. Thus, a real-life interaction can occur without the user having to take off the headset. On launch, over 100 Apple Arcade games, Disney+, and several other prominent apps will be available for users.

Despite the prominent advertising and media coverage the Vision Pro has received, its future as a major Apple product is uncertain. The reason why Apple has achieved success so consistently throughout its storied history is because it has cemented its status as a class symbol. Using tech products back in the early 2000s was a result of its diversity of function. Through its reputation of delivering quality products and achieving phenomenal results, customers are now buying Apple watches, Airpods, and iPhones as an indicator of their status, taste, or affluence. In other words, Apple has engineered a customer base that thinks rocking Apple gear is “cool,” growing the company further away from similar tech competitors such as Microsoft and closer to brand-name conglomerates such as Louis Vuitton.

The issue with the Vision Pro is that Apple must surmount the arduous public relations task of painting the Vision Pro as socially acceptable. The reason why the Apple Watch was so successful was that people were already accustomed to wearing watches, and wearing a comfortable watch with a screen looked like a desirable upgrade. Similarly, Airpods found success because earbuds were already commonplace in society, and removing wires seemed like a reasonable improvement. The Vision Pro, on the other hand, has almost no social precedent other than perhaps the yet-to-succeed Meta Quest, and wearing a face covering everywhere will pass off as incredibly strange and perhaps even creepy and dystopian. It is unlikely that Vision Pro will live up to the hype it has generated, and it is conceivable that VR and AR will not actually be the products of the future.