For all its impressive technical chops, Apple’s all-singing, all-dancing Vision Pro hasn’t set the world on fire. But it’s still early days and the company is continuing to put some weight behind the headset, reportedly having plans to add ai features to visionOS and is preparing an updated approach to in-store demos.
The company is adding a new “Go Deeper” option to its in-store demos, Gurman writes. That reportedly includes testing office functions and watching videos, as well as defaulting to the Dual Loop band that sends straps over the top and around the back of users’ heads instead of the single-strap Solo Loop band, which some find uncomfortable.
Apple will also reportedly allow people to view their own videos and photos, including panoramas, on the headphones. Adding the sentimental touch to the demos could work, especially once visionOS 2 comes out this fall, with its “spatialize” option for turning 2D photos into 3D, a feature that's more impressive than it should be (although it's still a bit quirky with hair and glasses, like Apple's Portrait Mode feature).
But I imagine the opposite will happen if people end up looking at the wrong images. You know how looking at your iPhone photos on your computer monitor suddenly exposes all of its flaws? Try looking at them when they are the size of a wall.
But it really seems like this is all just a matter of selection until the company releases a cheaper headset, which it is expected to do late next year. However, it's unclear what that will look like, given conflicting rumors at the moment, such as that it will use lower resolution screens for an upcoming release or that it actually intends to keep high-resolution screens but has stopped working on the Vision Pro 2 (Or not).
The common thread in all these stories, however, is that Apple finds it very difficult to make the headphones it wants without breaking the bank. hojillon dollars. It’s too early to declare the Vision Pro a dead end, but I can’t shake the feeling that without that cheaper headset, Apple has no path forward unless it’s okay with letting the Vision Pro serve a niche market while it pursues that dream of lightweight augmented reality glasses.
