I think Apple views this as a "minimum viable hardware" feature set, and it's only just now barely becoming possible.
This is the clunkiest headset Apple will ever release. See the iPhone 1. Apple will probably also move down-market with a future "Apple Vision S" product, deleting the front screen and further slimming the size.
I don't understand why people make comments like this which imply a uniquely "Apple" trait of product improvement. You could make all the same commentary to literally any other manufacturer of similar category products. Of course the second generation is going to be slicker and probably cheaper than the first generation, especially in a new category, that's really not insightful.
Their end goal is both the same. Meta is approaching it building a broad-appeal consumer device using tech that is cheap now, iterating over time to build something more capable.
Apple's made something with some better technical specs, with the costs they bring, ditching broad appeal. In a very different way, it seems as if Apple is going to ride out this platform and continue to iterate.
Have you actually tried it? There’s already over 1,000 apps and Apple Arcade has a very good immersive beat Sabre-alike in the store. There’s quite a few options for a device that’s only out for a few weeks.
From “spatial computer” (Apple’s first new platform they’ve described as a “computer” since the Mac) to the productivity-focused feature set to the pricing (AVP is on par with a well-spec’d MBP), clear Apple sees this as primarily an evolution of the laptop.
iPhones have only gotten bigger over time. To make a product dramatically smaller and lighter without severe compromises on performance and fidelity is extremely difficult. Just compare ear buds with proper ear-enclosing headphones.
Vision is no different: it’s just very difficult to build tiny, low power, ultra-high resolution displays. Then actually driving these displays is very difficult to do in a tiny package, due to the computing power requirements.
The rationale for embiggening the iPhone (screen size and ergonomics) doesn't apply to headsets.
That's missing the point. My comment wasn't about rationales, it was about the difficulty of miniaturization. The fact that the iPhone got larger -- and that consumers demanded a larger phone -- took all the pressure off the miniaturization program. That will not be the case for the VP.
Yeah but people literally have to use phones for basic functioning at work and private life, that was true 20 years ago already. Uncomfortable ski googles with many cons and little content costing up to 4k?
We all know there is going to be next gen which will be marginally better and marginally pricier. It will still not be enough to 'be there'. At that point the market for wanna-shop-this will be fully saturated. Good luck with that.
The only way to solve all this mess would be to have killer apps. So far what we have seen that even 3 trillion company can't put together much in this space quickly enough, so I am not holding my breath. And literally same problems are with other headsets released even 5 years ago - there is simply not good-enough and enough of content to make people buy it and keep using it. Apple must have seen this from 10 miles too and pushed hard, but reviews politely say all the same thing. Almost all folks here with earlier VR headsets write how after initial wow faded it collects dust in cellar now.
Me, I prefer watching movies from 4m on huge screen, the social aspect with family and simple freedom of movement in more cinema experience is great. For gaming these days PC monitors offer much better visual experience than even these VR goggles, over 40" high refresh say oled with good ie Sennheiser headphones and you are as deep as you want to be, and for many games (that I like to play if I have some time), mouse is simply a superior controller to anything else.
This is the clunkiest headset Apple will ever release. See the iPhone 1. Apple will probably also move down-market with a future "Apple Vision S" product, deleting the front screen and further slimming the size.