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Journalism of Courage
Apple’s Vision Pro headset could be a replacement for an iPad, and it is at least four generations away from being perfect, suggests a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Gurman says the team who have worked on the Vision Pro believes the mixed-reality headset requires more refinement to be considered a device for daily use, and it is yet to achieve its “ideal form,” owing to both hardware and software-related issues.
With Apple pitching the iPad as a MacBook alternative, the Vision Pro might help the brand fill that void and cater to those who need a device with a large screen for some light work and content consumption.
The primary issue with the Vision Pro is said to be its weight, especially when used with the fancy-looking Solo Knit Band, which focuses primarily on looks for product marketing rather than the user’s comfort. Similarly, battery life is also said to be another hurdle that Apple needs to solve. Despite having an external battery pack, it only offers around two hours of battery life, which isn’t even enough to stream a full-length feature film.
VisionOS, the operating system that powers the headset, also requires certain refinement with additional gesture support, especially the passthrough, which is better than Meta Quest 3, but that device costs less than a quarter of Vision Pro. In both cases, the headsets fail to convince that one is looking at the real world. Similarly, Vision Pro also needs more custom apps, specifically designed for the hardware and capabilities. On top of that, the eye and hand tracking, along with Personas or the digital avatars are still a work in progress and lack finesse.
While the compatibility with the MacBook is an excellent move, it is hard to see the mouse and keyboard, especially when inside an environment (digital backgrounds that mimic the surface of the moon, nature, beach, and more), and the virtual keyboard isn’t intuitive for any serious work, maybe except for a short text on iMessage.
The report further highlights that the Vision Pro is at least “four generations “away from being perfect and it is currently said to be in a prototype stage, where users are paying Apple just to test the early prototype of an upcoming Apple product, which requires a lot of hardware and software refinements.
The Vision Pro went on sale starting at $3500 earlier this month. Apple is yet to announce its plans to expand the retail availability of the headset beyond the US.
