Despite its impressive technology, Apple’s all-singing, all-dancing Vision Pro didn’t capture the world’s attention. But it’s still early days, and the company will continue to put some effort into the headset, with reports that it plans to add artificial intelligence features to visionOS and has an updated approach ready for in-store demonstrations.
Gurman wrote that the company is adding a new “Go Deeper” option to its in-store demos. This reportedly includes testing office functions and watching videos, as well as defaulting to a double-loop strap that sends the straps to the top and back of the wearer’s head, rather than a single-loop strap that some people find uncomfortable.
Apple will also reportedly allow people to view their own videos and photos, including panoramas, in the headphones. Adding an emotional touch to the demo might work, especially once VisionOS 2 launches this fall, with its “spatialization” option that turns 2D photos into 3D photos — a feature that’s more impressive than it has any right to be. (Although still an impressive feature).
But I can imagine the opposite would be true if people ended up seeing the wrong image. You know how looking at iPhone photos on a computer monitor suddenly reveals all of their flaws? Try observing them when they are the size of a wall.
But it feels like all of this is just sorting before the company releases a cheaper pair of headphones, expected late next year. It’s unclear what this will look like, though, as there are currently conflicting rumors – such as that its successor will feature a lower-resolution display, or that it was actually intended to retain a high-resolution display but has been discontinued Developing Vision Pro 2 (or not).
The common thread throughout all of these stories, however, is that Apple found it difficult to make the headphones it wanted to make without incurring significant costs. Hogelion Dollar. It’s too early to declare the Vision Pro a dead end, but I can’t shake the feeling that without these cheaper headphones, Apple has no path forward unless it can make the Vision Pro serve a niche market. At the same time, pursue this market.
