Some of these stores are accessed using the device itself, while others – the VR section of the Steam digital games store, for example – can be browsed on your computer. VR devices have their own app stores, similar to smartphone app stores, where you can browse and download games and apps. Hand controllers translate your real-world gestures into whatever game or application you’re using, although standard gaming joypads can also be used. The more expensive, higher quality headsets need to be connected to a computer to run apps and games, while some cheaper ones use a cellphone clipped to the front of the headset.Īll headsets need to be used alongside a good quality pair of headphones, and there are other optional accessories from hand controllers to treadmills that are all designed to enhance your simulated experience of being in another world. Some of the gadgets deploying the technology have even been derisively mocked, with the most notable example being Google’s internet-connected glasses released more than a decade ago.The most important piece of a virtual reality kit is the headset, a device like a thick pair of goggles that goes over your eyes. The response to virtual, augmented and mixed reality has been decidedly ho-hum so far. Cook and other Apple executives avoided referring to the metaverse in their presentations, describing the Vision Pro as the company’s first leap into “spatial computing” instead. If the Vision Pro turns out to be a niche product, it would leave Apple in the same bind as other major tech companies and startups that have tried selling headsets or glasses equipped with technology that either thrusts people into artificial worlds or projects digital images onto scenery and things that are actually in front of them - a format known as “augmented reality.”įacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been describing these alternate three-dimensional realities as the “metaverse.” It’s a geeky concept that he tried to push into the mainstream by changing the name of his social networking company to Meta Platforms in 2021 and then pouring billions of dollars into improving the virtual technology.īut the metaverse largely remains a digital ghost town, although Meta’s virtual reality headset, the Quest, remains the top-selling device in a category that so far has mostly appealed to video game players looking for even more immersive experiences. That’s largely because of the hefty price, but also because most people still can’t see a compelling reason to wear something wrapped around their face for an extended period of time. “They’ve worked hard to make this headset as integrated into the real world as current technology allows, but it’s still a headset,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Yory Wurmser, who nevertheless described the unveiling as a “fairly mind-blowing presentation.”Įven so, analysts are not expecting the Vision Pro to be a big hit right away. The company also developed a technology to create three-dimensional digital version of each user to display during video conferencing.Īlthough Vision Pro won’t require physical controllers that can be clunky to use, the goggles will have to either be plugged into a power outlet or a portable battery tethered to the headset - a factor that could make it less attractive for some users. Apple said the experience won’t cause the recurring nausea and headaches that similar devices have in the past. The headset will be equipped with 12 cameras, six microphones and variety of sensors that will allow users to control it and various apps with just their eyes and hand gestures. The company emphasized that it drew upon its past decades of product design during the years it spent working on the Vision Pro, which Apple said involved more than 5,000 different patents. Apple’s lineage of breakthroughs date back to a bow-tied Jobs peddling the first Mac in 1984 -a tradition that continued with the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, the Apple Watch in 2014 and its AirPods in 2016.
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