At WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled visionOS 2. While it is advertised as the 2nd generation of visionOS, the new software seems like a smaller update, intended to make the experience of using Apple Vision Pro every day just a little better.

visionOS 2 now lets users turn their existing 2D photos into spatial photos using the power of AI. VisionOS 2 also features new controls to open the Home view and quick access to the Control Center.

Later this year Apple, will add higher display resolutions and sizes for its Mac external display feature, including Ultra wide, the equivalent of two 4K monitors side-by-side.

To update to visionOS 2, head into the Settings app on your device. Go to General and then Software Update. You'll see the option for visionOS 2 available, then press Update Now. Note that updates may take a while to install while the update is so new, as many users will be scrambling to download it.

We recommend making an iCloud backup of all your important content. From spatial videos to apps and backgrounds, it's always a good idea to prepare your Vision Pro before updating its software.

What else is new in visionOS 2?

Apple's Travel mode also now supports trains, as well as planes, a response perhaps to the well publicized videos of people trying to use the device on New York City subwways.

Developers are also getting some love, with new features and APIs to create new apps, including Volumetric APIs and a new TabletopKit that lets apps anchor to flat surfaces, perfect for creating board games and the like. 

Apple is also making it easier for users to create spatial content. One notable introduction is a new Spatial lens for the Canon EOS R7. Apple has also announced a new Vimeo app for Vision Pro and a new partnership with Blackmagic Design. VisionPro is getting new extreme sports experiences from Redbull, and new titles are also coming to the Apple TV app.

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At this September's Apple event, we're not going to see a second-gen Apple Vision Pro launch. But don't let that disappoint you! Throughout the month there's a bunch of new content coming to the headset, topped off with the visionOS 2.0 update.

Immersive content is available to Apple Vision Pro owners around the globe and offers a 3D experience the likes of which people simply cannot experience elsewhere. And in September, we're about to see a whole lot more of it.

Elevated, a series that was announced in July, will no debut on September 6 with a second episode arriving at a later date. The series will be a 3D experience that will give viewers a new way to enjoy some of the world's most impressive landscapes via cinematic aerial tours. Owners of the Apple Vision Pro headset can now check out a teaser for the show while they wait for the main event to become available.

Also, on the content front, the first episode of Boundless and the second episode of Wild Life will be dropping the same day. Prepare to be wowed by hot air balloons and elephants, respectively. Although a combination of the two certainly would be interesting.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, with a bunch of new games and apps also heading to the headset.

What else is coming to Apple Vision Pro in September?

First up is Castle Crumble, a physics-based puzzle game that’s all about bringing down castles with an arsenal of explosives, spells, and who-knows-what-else. Imagine Angry Birds but with more medieval destruction and fewer flightless birds. This one’s ready to download on the App Store.

Then there’s Puzzle Sculpt, launching on September 5. Developed by Schell Games, this game promises a zen-like experience. You’ll be manipulating 3D puzzles in an environment so immersive you might just forget you’re supposed to be relaxing.

For the golf enthusiasts out there, Immersion Golf is a bit of a hole-in-one (sorry, had to). With detailed 3D maps of nearly 40,000 courses worldwide, you can plan your next game down to the last blade of grass.

Then there's Sandblox: The Marble Game, where you get to play with marbles without the risk of losing them under the couch. It’s all about creating and sharing intricate puzzles and marble runs, which you can do solo or with friends.

And if that’s not enough nostalgia for you, Pinball Nation turns your living room into a retro arcade. Life-sized pinball tables and all the lights and sounds you can handle. Plus, Beat Slash - Mixed offers a rhythm game where you’re slicing beats with virtual swords – just like the popular Quest 3 game Beat Saber.

But Apple isn’t just stopping at games – if you’re already into Vision Pro apps, there are some nifty updates. The PGA TOUR app now lets you SharePlay your way through every hole, leaderboard, and shot in 3D. Meanwhile, Synth Riders on Apple Arcade has been pumped up with a new Adrenaline Pack, so you can flail around to some high-energy punk tunes.

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Apple Vision Pro owners haven't had an awful lot of immersive content to enjoy, but a new series is on the way. Elevated, a series that was announced in July, will no debut on September 6 with a second episode arriving at a later date.

Elevated will be a 3D experience that will give viewers a new way to enjoy some of the world's most impressive landscapes via cinematic aerial tours.

Owners of the Apple Vision Pro headset can now check out a teaser for the show while they wait for the main event to become available.

Immersive video

Immersive content is available to Apple Vision Pro owners around the globe and offers a 3D experience the likes of which people simply cannot experience elsewhere. However, the production of such experiences means that they aren't all that easy to create — perhaps explaining why content has not been plentiful since Apple's mixed reality headset debuted earlier this year.

Immersive experiences that are already available include Boundless, a series that focuses on a variety of activities including Arctic surfing and more. Sporting content and an impressive behind-the-scenes look at the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend.

The Apple Vision Pro launched in the United States initially with a starting price of $3,499 for the 256GB model. Options with 512GB and 1TB of storage are also available, while the headset is now also on sale in more countries. Apple is also thought to be working on a cheaper version of the headset for those who find the current price point too high.

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While Apple Vision Pro is now available internationally, its slow start has forced Meta to reconsider its plans to offer a similar high-end mixed-reality headset.

That's according to a new report from The Information, which says a product review that included CEO Mark Zuckerberg led to staff being told to abandon the project. The headset had been slated for a 2027 launch.

The company will continue to press on with a fourth iteration of the Quest line of headsets, but it appears the high-end headset, which Meta was hoping to sell for less than $1000, won't make it to market.

Meta still has plenty of headsets to launch

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Meta does have other headsets to reveal at its Connect event in September.

As per his Power On newsletter, the company will reportedly debut augmented reality glasses as part of a prototype dubbed Orion, while also offering new "AI-driven software features" for its Ray-Ban-partnered non-AR specs.

Finally, a cheaper version of the Quest 3 could arrive, dubbed the Quest 3S (although Gurman says multiple names have been discussed for the more affordable headset).

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Apple has been holding secret demos for new Apple Vision Pro features, that are currently not in the Developer Betas for the next version of visionOS. These additions would be part of visionOS 2.0, which is releasing in the fall.

Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote took place earlier this year, where the tech giant revealed all its latest software. Though it was a bit more of a footnote than a huge announcement, visionOS 2 will be launching later this year, and it comes with some cool new features. And it appears we'll be getting more than we bargained for, as Apple has some secret features up its sleeve.

According to analyst Avi Greengart on X, Apple has been holding secret demos of visionOS 2.0, including "some unannounced features not yet in the developer beta, and a couple of impressive enterprise AR demos." He doesn't go further to suggest what these features could be.

While we aren't sure what these secret visionOS 2.0 features could be, we can guess what might be coming to the Vision Pro headset in the fall. Here are 5 things we could see:

1. iPhone Unlock

At the moment, unlocking your iPhone while using the Vision Pro isn't the smoothest of tasks. Obviously, you can't use Face ID. So, you have to wait for the option to time out, and then punch in your passcode.

It would be much easier for your Vision Pro to automatically unlock your iPhone if you look at it while wearing the headset. The Apple Vision Pro is protected by Optic ID, so your iPhone would still be protected from anyone that isn't you.

2. Multiple Users

The social aspect of Vision Pro is one of its biggest criticisms. That is to say, there aren't really any. You can't even hand the headset over to someone to show them something, never mind having multiple users on the same headset. Instead, you can only set up one user. Everyone else has to use the guest mode.

Adding multiple user profiles would make the Vision Pro easier to use in homes or workplaces. It would even make sharing content easier, as you could send your friends Vision Pro content that they could view from their own user profile. I imagine this would work similarly to switching users on the best Macs.

3. Even Better Personas

While the once troubled Persona feature was upgraded in the visionOS 1.1 update, there's still room for improvement. In this revamped visionOS 2 update, we might see Apple add even better facial scanning to create a more realistic digital avatar. Future Personas could even show more movement, or you might see the option to have different appearances for different uses.

4. Spatialize Any Photo

Apple did mention a new feature that would let you turn any photo into a Spatial Photo at WWDC. But so far, it seems to not be included in the Developer Beta. So I expect this feature will make its debut later this fall.

5. New Environments

Since launch, visionOS has had more or less the same set of environments, and some have been marked as "Coming Soon" for a while. In visionOS 2.0, I'd expect to see some of these become available, or even some new environments get introduced. Tahiti could be a possible option.

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Apple announced that its spatial computing headset, Apple Vision Pro, now has over 2,500 apps available to download.

This marks an increase of 500 apps since June when Apple announced the availability of the headset’s launch in other countries outside of the U.S. It’s worth noting that this new figure represents dedicated Vision Pro apps currently available, which stand in addition to the almost two million iPhone and iPad apps that can run on the headset in compatibility mode.

If you’re a Vision Pro owner there are plenty of apps to look into. For example, VirtualFriend is a Nintendo Virtual Boy emulator, which mimics the company’s failed attempt into VR back in the mid-90s. In addition, one of the best productivity apps, Things 3, debuted on the headset the same day Vision Pro launched in the U.S. It features a redesigned user interface that allows you to move windows displaying to-do tasks with your hands, allowing them to stay in a certain place as you work away.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s available on the Vision Pro App Store. If you’re looking for some new apps to try out, we’ve compiled a guide of the best Apple Vision Pro apps to help you get started. With Apple’s spatial computing headset seemingly off to a good start and visionOS 2 set to debut later this year, the upcoming improvements may tempt you to look into one for yourself.

What’s available in visionOS 2?

visionOS 2 is the upcoming software update for Apple Vision Pro, which introduces some big improvements. One example is the enhanced Mac Virtual Display feature, which can now transform your Mac’s screen within visionOS into an ultrawide display, essentially giving you the equivalent of two 4K displays side-by-side. In addition, new gestures are being added, such as tapping your thumb and finger to bring up Control Center and flipping your hand over to check the battery status of your Vision Pro.

Apple says that visionOS 2 is set to arrive later this year as a free update for all Vision Pro users.

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Apple Vision Pro has been around for a few months now and recently went on sale in new countries for the first time. But the $3,499 spatial computer hasn't been a universal success thanks in part to that price as well as concerns over its long-term usefulness. But a lackluster response to the Apple Vision Pro seemingly hasn't been enough to dissuade a long-term rival from getting into the AR/VR headset market.

According to a new report, Apple has new competition on the way with Microsoft said to be working on its own spatial computer. Called mixed-reality headsets by everyone other than Apple, the devices offer a combination of augmented and virtual reality applications and Microsoft is thought to have designs on a headset of its own.

To bring the headset to market Microsoft has reportedly tapped Samsung Display to help out, a company that will provide the high-end Micro-LED displays required to produce the pin-sharp images required when placed so close to the headset wearer's eyes.

A new mixed-reality headset in the works

The Elec reports that Microsoft has signed a contract with Samsung Display to produce "hundreds of thousands" of Micro-LED displays for the unnamed, unconfirmed headset.

It's reported that the Microsoft headset will be designed with media consumption and gaming in mind, pitting it squarely against the Apple Vision Pro. However, with Apple thought to be working on a cheaper successor to its own headset, this mystery Microsoft device is unlikely to launch before that product arrives.

The report suggests that Microsoft and Samsung Display are aiming to announce the headset in around two years' time, meaning it'll be 2026 or 2027 before Microsoft's Apple Vision Pro competitor is ready for prime time.

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NVIDIA has revealed that mixed reality devices like Apple Vision Pro can be used to help developers accelerate the development of humanoid robots. 

NVIDIA unveiled project GR00T in March, “a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots, designed to further its work driving breakthroughs in robotics and embodied AI.” 

The “moonshot” initiative is an attempt to build a universal AI brain for humanoid robot platforms that definitely won’t rise up, take over the world, and kill us all. ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ aside, NVIDIA has revealed how devices like Apple Vision Pro can help power its new synthetic data generation pipeline to turn human movements simulated commands a robot can follow. 

iRobot 

In a video, the company has revealed how a new set of tools for developers in the humanoid robot ecosystem will help them build their AI models better and more efficiently, thanks to the aforementioned new synthetic data generation pipeline. 

NVIDIA says that the new platform can collect human demonstrations of movement using a device like Apple Vision Pro — making toast, for example. Once gathered, the data can be multiplied by “1000x or more” using NVIDIA’s simulation tools. 

Once the data is gathered, it can then be reapplied and used to train a humanoid robot that definitely won’t turn on you and your family. NVIDIA says it’s “one step closer to solving the AI brain for humanoid robots,” and Apple Vision Pro is part of the solution. 

It’s not the first time NVIDIA has leveraged Apple Vision Pro to give us a glimpse of the future. Earlier this year it unveiled its OpenUSD-based Omniverse enterprise digital twins for Apple Vision Pro. IT demoed a full-fidelity digital twin of a car streamed directly to Apple Vision Pro, letting a designer toggle paint, choose trim, and even sit inside the vehicle, using spatial computing to blend 3D photorealistic environments with the physical world. 

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A new report claims LG and Samsung are working on prototypes of tandem OLED displays, and that they could feature on the next generation of Apple Vision Pro.

The report from Sisa Journal, claims the tandem OLED technology found on the M4 iPad Pro is currently being tested by LG and Samsung. There are no indications of when the technology could go into mass production but the display tech would mean increased brightness and longer longevity with less risk of burn-in compared to a regular OLED panel.

While it would be exciting to see tandem OLED technology on the spatial computing headset, this doesn’t necessarily line up with rumors that Apple’s next generation will be a more affordable model.

Tandem OLED Vision Pro

Tandem OLED tech is expensive and the current Vision Pro’s 4K micro-OLED displays supplied by Sony are likely to cost less to produce than this new evolution in display technology.

The Ultra Retina XDR display found on the best iPads uses tandem OLED technology. Apple says its “two OLED panels [...] combine the light from both to provide phenomenal full-screen brightness.” Compared to a regular OLED, this new advanced technology provides brighter pictures, better highlights, and more responsiveness — it’s truly a marvel to behold.

Apple Vision Pro was released in January in the US and has recently come to more countries around the world. The $3,499 VR/AR headset has yet to take the world by storm, however, with many feeling the huge cost doesn’t warrant the functionality of the product. An Apple Vision Pro 2 could cut costs and bring the price point down to fit a more mainstream market. This could be achieved by removing the external display used for EyeSight. That said, with new OLED technology on the horizon and the next generation of Vision Pro rumored for 2026, we’ll have to wait to see if Apple goes the cost-effective route or the high-end display one.

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Apple Vision Pro launched earlier this year and, though its main focus is on everyday productivity for working and lounging, one use case has just been discovered, that may revolutionize care for those with paralysis. 

In a press release, brain-computer interface company Synchron announced this week that a 64-year-old man with ALS has managed to control Apple Vision Pro with his brain, to do things like watch Apple TV and play solitaire. As he is unable to use his upper limbs, he has previously not been able to use the hand gestures necessary to control the device. 

He said “Using this type of enhanced reality is so impactful and I can imagine it would be for others in my position or others who have lost the ability to engage in their day-to-day life. It can transport you to places you never thought you’d see or experience again.”

Synchron, the company responsible for the innovation, has invented a “BCI integration” that is implanted on “the blood vessel on the surface of the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein.” It can then translate “motor intent” from the brain to control Apple Vision Pro. 

What else can Apple Vision Pro do?

It’s important to note that, while playing solitaire and watching the best shows on Apple TV Plus is a great use of the headset, you can also call friends on FaceTime, reply to emails, and do your grocery shopping. For someone with ALS, this could give a level of freedom to do some everyday chores. 

The founder and CEO of Synchron says “We are moving towards a new Bluetooth standard for Human Computer Interactions that don’t require touch or speech. This is a critical unmet need for millions of people with paralysis.”

This is only the start of the innovation and, if it is adopted en masse, it could give those with paralysis more control over their digital life. 

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Apple Arcade developers claim that working with the company to put their games on its subscription platform is akin to being in an “abusive relationship,” with developers suffering at the hands of poor tech support, bad communication, and late payments. 

The revelations come by way of a new report from Mobilegamer.biz’s Neil Long, who revealed this week that despite good money, “many” developers are unhappy with their treatment at the hands of Apple. 

Grievances listed by sources include studios waiting up to six months to get paid, with one indie dev nearly going out of business as a result. 

There were also woes reported when it comes to communication and support. 

“The Apple Arcade team do not respond to routine emails for weeks or even months if they respond at all,” the report states. One developer involved in a “semi-regular” meeting with Apple said, “half the Apple team won’t turn up and when they do they have no idea what’s going on and can’t answer our questions.” Another described Apple’s tech support as “miserable” and “the worst I have ever seen anywhere.” 

Apple Arcade agony 

Apple Vision Pro got a kicking too. Developers bemoaned that the spatial computing headset struggles with “complex games” and said developing for the platform is “like going back in time 10 years” because of a lack of tech support. 

“Apple engineers are ‘unable to offer any insights’ into how Vision Pro’s hardware or software works, or ‘how essential middleware is meant to work with it,’” the report states. 

Another developer claimed that the discoverability of games on Apple Arcade was “like their game “was in a morgue’.” Finally, one quoted developer likened working with Apple to being in an “abusive relationship.”

The experiences, while certainly eye-brow-raising, don’t seem to be universal. According to the report “most developers” thought Apple paid developers well “particularly in the first few years of Arcade,” especially early on in a title’s life cycle. One said that it was now a “very difficult and long process to sign a deal with Apple” and lamented the “the lack of vision and clear focus of the platform.” 

While one developer said the advances on their game were “fantastic” and “off the charts compared to what we’re used to being paid,” they noted that payments had gone from being prompt to “a five-month backlog.” 

The report contains expanded insight from some of these developers venting their frustrations, but was summed up by one developer who said it feels as though Apple “treat developers as a necessary evil.” 

Launched in 2019, Apple Arcade is the company’s gaming subscription service available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, as well as Apple Vision Pro. For a small monthly fee (or as part of the Apple One bundle) gamers can get access to a wealth of titles including popular games like Temple Run and Stardew Valley. It’s pretty excellent value for customers, but clearly some developers don’t feel like they’re getting much out of the platform.

Apple faces growing pressure from other burgeoning game subscription offerings, perhaps most notably Netflix, which offers games to subscribers at no extra cost. It recently added one of the best puzzle games of the year, and includes other great titles including the Grand Theft Auto series. 

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Two prolific fashion brands have launched immersive apps for Apple Vision Pro, enabling users to browse the latest products for the upcoming fashion season.

Rimowa, the German luggage brand, offers a free visionOS app that allows you to view its wide selection of suitcases within your current environment. You can look at these products up close, customizing them with different colors and more, which can change in real time to help you see which product suits you best.

Balenciaga is a high-end fashion brand known for accessories such as bags and purses, as well as jewelry, fragrances, and more. The company’s app is also free to download for Vision Pro, which initially looks like an iPad app, with a navigation bar at the top as well as featuring multiple windows to view Balenciaga’s fashion range. However, one aspect that makes it stand out from Rimowa’s app is the ability to “Revisit the Spring 25 show” augmented with “stereoscopic footage and an interactive lookbook feature [and] watch Balenciaga’s previous iconic shows in an entirely new dimension.” This allows you to get up close and personal with past fashion events held by the company, giving you the best seat in the house through your spatial computing headset. Balenciaga hints that this app is “the first phase of its spatial computing application for the Apple Vision Pro.” This may suggest that we’ll be seeing more updates soon that will further take advantage of Apple’s spatial headset.

If you’re a fan of these brands or you’re looking to change up your wardrobe for the coming seasons, these apps offer a great way to see what’s hot, whether you’re preparing for Autumn and Winter, or the Spring and Summer seasons if you live in countries like Australia.

Other apps that bring the shopping mall to your Vision Pro

Rimowa and Balenciaga aren’t the only fashion brands to launch immersive apps for Apple Vision Pro. Mytheresa specializes in clothing and accessories, such as bags, shoes, jewelry, and more. The company released its own app for Apple Vision Pro in March 2024, which allows users to travel to the top fashion destinations in the world, such as Paris and the island of Capri in Italy. You can also browse Mytheresa’s full range of products, as well as being able to purchase its products with Apple Pay.

SYKY offers another fashion-focused app available for Apple Vision Pro, enabling users to watch certain fashion pieces being made. The app also features an extra window where designers of certain dresses describe the process behind the product you’re viewing.

All of these apps are fantastic examples of the potential of Apple Vision Pro. Instead of viewing flat images of products on websites, Vision Pro users can now experience these products in immersive ways that weren’t possible before. Instead visualize how certain types of furniture and luggage can fit their own style, digitally rendered in their own homes.

Since its launch in February 2024, Apple Vision Pro availability has expanded to countries such as China and the United Kingdom, beyond an initial US launch. With the potential for a wider international user base, we’re hoping to see more fashion brands plan to develop apps for the spatial computing headset in the coming months.

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Apple and Meta are rivals in the space to capture customers in what was once seen as the "next big thing" in tech – virtual reality. But the past year has seen attention turn to AI as the next "next big thing." So what do you do if you're working on both of these things? Why you put them together, of course!

Meta is going to start rolling out its Meta AI feature to the Quest 3 headset. Naturally, this gives you access to the ChatGPT-rivalling voice assistant powered by Llama, which lets you ask any number of questions. Plus, this will let the VR headset see what you see so you can translate text, get fashion tips, and more, all completely hands-free.

For now, these features have only been shown off in a series of demos released by Meta on its blog, but the features are heading to the Quest 3 soon. At the moment, they're already available on the Meta x Ray-Ban glasses, but these lack any AR or VR elements. And after this announcement, I'm left with one question: why can't we get Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro?

Will we get Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro?

There is some good news. In a recent Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says unequivocally that "Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro". But it reportedly won't happen this year. So that's good news! Notification prioritization, the new Siri, and integration with ChatGPT are all particularly relevant for Apple's headset. With Vision Pro being pegged as a productivity device, the writing tools could also come in particularly handy. While vision-based translation features weren't shown off as part of Apple Intelligence, we're sure they're achievable further down the road.

As a multimodal set of AI features, Apple Intelligence should be able to match Meta's incoming AI features. If not, Apple could even beat the Quest 3 offering. All the Apple Intelligence features are tied into Apple's ecosystem. So not only will you be able to do more in the headset, you'll be able to bring it back to your other devices as well. Plus, let's not forget Apple Intelligence runs locally, while these Meta AI features run in the cloud. So AI on the Vision Pro would be faster and more secure.

It seems like Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro, thankfully. And when it does arrive, it could be a compelling addition to the mixed reality headset.

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The first scripted immersive video short film for Apple Vision Pro has finally been revealed and it looks terrifying. 

Set on a sinking World War II submarine, Submerged “showcases the unique storytelling capabilities that are only possible with Apple Immersive Video” according to Apple’s latest press release. It follows a group of sailors trying to survive a torpedo attack and it is set to premiere this fall.

That’s not all

In addition to this, the press release shows off a whole host of other immersive video experiences coming to Apple Vision Pro this year. This includes Boundless, an experience set on a hot air balloon above Cappadocia, Turkiye. It is out today if you are lucky enough to own Apple’s $3,499 spatial headset. 

Premiering in August, Wild Life, a nature documentary exploring Kenya’s Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, is also coming to the headset. This is all about the baby elephants there, from how they live, to how they are cared for. 

Much like Boundless, new experience Elevated is all about seeing the world from up high and the first episode focuses on Hawaii. You can watch this in September. 

If you’re more of a sports fan, 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend is a short film focused on the NBA All-Star Weekend that happened in Indianapolis this year. It is due to release in the fall. 

From one weekend to The Weeknd, an immersive experience from the popular pop artist is due to launch later this year but very little is known about it thus far. 

Finally, Red Bull: Big-Wave Surfing is also coming out later this year and focuses on high-level surfers, riding the “heaviest wave in the world off the remote coast of Teahupo’o, Tahiti”. With so many interesting experiences, they are sure to really show off the power of Apple’s headset. 

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Apple Vision Pro is Apple's first foray into the future of computing, spatial computing to be exact. It can be used for work and play, productivity and communication, and now for customers of the UK bank NatWest, it can be used to check in real-time just how much money you don't have now you've shelled out for Vision Pro. 

"From today NatWest’s retail banking app will be available on Apple’s new device, where customers will be able to access day-to-day banking needs through spatial technology," the company announced Thursday. 

NatWest is one of the first banks to have an app featured on Vision Pro, and says that "Through extensive testing for performance and usability, NatWest has enhanced the user experience, optimizing it for eye tracking in Apple’s VisionOS and made security changes, to keep customers safe and secure when banking on the new device." 

Apple is banking on Vision Pro, and now so are you

NatWest says that its spatial app is an opportunity "to build on the new technology and gather insights into how spatial computing could allow customers to visualize their finances in a more immersive and informative format." Insights from the app will power improvements to its product and service design.

NatWest, the subsidies of which include RBS and Ulster Bank, says that its banking app now has 10 million users in the UK. "It’s great to be a first-mover with such exciting new technology.  We’re very pleased to offer our excellent retail banking app through an immersive new experience," said Chief Digital Information Officer at NatWest Group Wendy Redshaw. "It will be interesting to take learnings, understanding how customers use the app in this new technology to deal with their finances, and to understand how we can create bespoke propositions to serve them even better. It’s just one insight into how the future of banking could look in the future – watch this space.”

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• The Vision Pro is the most underwhelming Apple product of my lifetime
• What I need from Apple to convince me to buy the Vision Pro
• Superstar DJs and globetrotting slam dunks: The Apple Vision Pro experiences that made me a spatial computing convert

Despite my best efforts to convince the world otherwise, I am, surprisingly, not a superstar DJ. These hands were made for scratchin’, but do you think I could find someone who’d let this novice loose on their vinyl collection? Nope.

But I went to bed last night with a new core memory unlocked — that I had dropped a banging mix at the decks, beat-matched and all, that the faders had been at my fingertips, and that I had brought a taste of Balearic sunshine to gloomy London for a short few minutes. 

How? Via an augmented reality DJ-ing session with Apple’s Vision Pro headset. It finally rolls out internationally today. I’m not sure where I’m going to find the £3,499 ($3,499) to buy one, but if I was ever in any doubt that I want one, that doubt has been quite literally scratched out of my mind.

As customers in the UK and other territories get ready to take home the Apple Vision Pro (or book a demo of their own, now open to all), here’s a rundown of the experiences that most convinced me Apple’s new headset is a must-have item.

• Apple Vision Pro international launch: what you need to know

Getting comfy with the set-up process

Let’s just step back a moment first and talk about the set-up and fit of the Vision Pro. Though it’s been several months now since Apple Vision Pro launched in the US, it’s only just reached me here in the UK, so this was the first time I’ve been able to give the spatial headset a whirl myself.

First up, for a glasses wearer like myself, I needed to make sure my prescription would work with the Vision Pro. You can’t squeeze your specs inside the headset, and instead Apple encourages you to purchase Zeiss magnetic optical inserts for Vision Pro which are sold separately, ranging from £99 / $99 to £149 / $149 depending on your needs. I’d brought a copy of my prescription from my optician along with me for the fit setup, but that wasn’t necessary — Apple has created a bespoke machine that can scan your existing eyeglasses, and match them up to a pair of prescription inserts for the headset. 

Finding a 98% match for my prescription, it was on to the headset fit itself. For anyone who’s used Face ID before, the next step will feel very familiar — an iPhone camera captures your head scan from a few different angles, and you’re then paired with a light seal that will give the snuggliest fit and keep as much external light as possible from getting in under the headset.

Since launch, there have been lots of varying reports around whether or not the Vision Pro is comfortable to wear — depending on the light seal you’re using, and whether or not you opt for the over-head dual-loop band or the Solo Knit band that sits at the back of your head, you’re looking at between 600g and 650g balanced on your head. But the distribution of weight is really well considered, and I didn’t feel fatigued during my demo session of 45 minutes or so. Longer than that? I’m confident it would have remained comfortable for me, and certainly no less so than competing headsets like the Meta Quest 3. As for the battery, which sits in a separate pack, connected to the headset by a cable, it wasn’t a concern — it’s small enough to fit in a pocket when moving around with Vision Pro, and I’m glad the extra weight it adds is external rather than foolishly trying to fit it in the headset itself.

Calibration is snappy — with much of Vision Pro’s interface based on eye-tracking, there's a short sequence of dots to train your eyes on, and then the onboard cameras take a look at your hands in order to track them, too. And that’s it! With no external controls (aside from a Digital Crown on the top of the headset for pulling up the menu and dialing in immersive environments, and a shutter button for taking Spatial Photos) it’s over to you, your eyes and hands to navigate the OS. It’s almost too intuitive — it took me a moment to settle on the fact I didn’t have to turn my entire head to focus on an interface selection option, just my eyes, and my initial hand waves and taps were more exaggerated than needed to cycle through Vision Pro’s screens and windows.

Set-up complete, I was let loose. And the experiences that followed were mind-blowing.

The system-selling experiences

At this point, you’ll already know lots about Vision Pro via its US release. You’ll have heard about the roar-some dinosaurs, the Disney Plus Star Wars streaming environments, the FaceTime digital personas. So, after an expansive demo test that took in dozens of similar experiences, I’m instead going to focus down on the ones that hit me hardest.

The feeling that struck me most was how Vision Pro has the potential to bridge the gap between digital experiences and lived memories. Now, of course, using Vision Pro is a lived experience — you’re physically moving around 3D space, with the AR elements interacting with the real world through the visor’s screens. You’re not dreaming it, it’s happening. But the point I’m getting at is the sense of physicality and immersion that Vision Pro presents can give the impression that even its digital elements have a tangible presence.

Going back to the DJ experience, inside the DJay app from Algoriddim, I felt physically connected to the digital elements presented to me. The app puts a full-size digital DJ booth in your environment, which you can then stand up against and play with. Just like a real mixing deck, there are turntables to scratch on, faders to slide, and loop buttons to hit. They aren’t there in the real world, and you’re not going to get haptic feedback from tapping your hands against thin air — but my memory is that of using a real-world turntable setup.

A lot of that comes down to the quality of the Vision Pro’s screens. Each eye gets a 3,660 x 3,200 resolution display — that’s more pixels than if you were to dedicate a 4K screen to each eye. The clarity is incredible — text is pin-sharp, videos have stunning detail, color, and contrast. But pertinently, with experiences like DJay, that clarity helps to blur the line between the real world and the digital. It’s been attempted by headsets from the likes of Meta, Valve, and HTC in the past, but the giant leap in clarity here makes a huge difference.

This leads me to the second jaw-dropping element — Apple Immersive Video. Again, you’ll have heard lots from Vision Pro owners waxing lyrical about settling into an IMAX-like viewing experience in their living rooms. And indeed, a short clip of Avatar: The Way of Water in Vision Pro and stereoscopic 3D was more impressive than even a giant IMAX screen could create, such is the clarity on display. 

But I think not enough is being made of Vision Pro’s video potential from an events perspective via the 8K, 180-degree Apple Immersive Video presentations. Apple could in theory offer every owner of a Vision Pro the best seat in the house not only at a cinema, but at a Taylor Swift gig, the World Cup final, the Super Bowl, or from the heart of the Coachella mainstage crowd. As someone who’s only real sports interest is soccer, I was floored by Apple’s sporting sizzle reel that put me courtside for a Lebron James slam dunk in the NBA, and a worm’s eye view of a PGA tour golf putting green. That’s before getting an intimate performance from Alicia Keys or bringing a safari into your living room. 

Apple is the only company in the world with the scale to not only make hardware of the quality of Vision Pro, but with the money, connections, and media clout to get high-quality 3D cameras where the action is, too. If Apple can consistently get an events and performance schedule together for sports, music, and the arts with Vision Pro, it could bring a world of entertainment to your home, with a money-can’t-buy view.

The interesting thing here is that neither of these sorts of experiences are the productivity-focussed workflows that Apple primarily launched the Vision Pro’s marketing around. (Well, a working DJ might be able to argue a virtual deck space could be useful professionally!). While an international launch will expand the user base of Vision Pro significantly, reports around first-year sales tallies paint a worrying picture. I can’t help but think that Apple may have misunderstood what makes Vision Pro so exciting in the first place — it’s not about blowing up a spreadsheet to the size of a house in your office, but putting the Foo Fighters stadium show in your living room.

Heck, go one better — how about letting you join the Foo Fighters onstage? I’d settle for the DJ decks, but Apple is the only company in the world that can make that headline slot happen for the masses, and Vision Pro is the only headset I’d want to experience that with.

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CEO Tim Cook has been doing press rounds this week to mark the availability of Apple Vision Pro in the UK, and he’s mainly been talking about what he uses the spatial computing headset for.

In a chat with The Sun, Cook spoke about how he’s been using Vision Pro to watch a bunch of Apple TV shows, something he has said previously. “I began to use it to screen entertainment. I watched the third season of Ted Lasso on the Vision Pro,” Cook explained. “I just screened a new show – that's coming out this week – last night on Vision Pro. So the ability for me to get in the position that I want to get in – including lying flat and putting the screen on the ceiling – is an incredible kind of experience. And of course, it's a 100ft screen. I mean, it's amazing the level of entertainment that it delivers.”

He’s not wrong. In our hands-on with Vision Pro back in January, Britta O’Boyle spoke about how watching a clip of Avatar 2 impressed her. “During my demo of the Vision Pro, I watched a short clip of Avatar 2 in 3D and it was exceptional. Whatever you might expect that experience to look like, multiply that by at least 10 and you might get a fraction of the experience of watching movies on Vision Pro.”

When it comes to doing work on the headset, Cook also highlighted its productivity benefits. “So I use it in that way. In terms of productivity, when you're working on multiple screens, like so many of us do, the multitasking is so much more efficient on Vision Pro. Because you can take various windows and put them around your physical space.”

If you’re keen on buying an Apple Vision Pro now that it’s launching in Europe today (July 12), we’ve created a guide to lay out how you can buy the headset, and find some great accessories for it so far.

What’s coming in visionOS 2?

The interview was conducted before WWDC 2024, so there was no mention of visionOS 2, the upcoming software update for the headset. This will bring a big improvement to the Mac Virtual Display feature. You can make your screen look like an ultrawide display once you’ve connected your Mac to the headset, making the equivalent of two 4K displays side-by-side in visionOS.

More gestures are coming to visionOS 2 too, such as the ability to show the headset’s battery status by flipping your hand over, as well as tapping your thumb and finger to open Control Center.

Apple says that visionOS 2 is set to arrive later this year as a free update for all Vision Pro users.

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As Apple Vision Pro launches in Europe, one industry tracker claims that Apple’s spatial headset will struggle to hit half a million sales this year, suggesting Apple has a more drastic plan for spatial computing. 

According to the IDC, a marketing and research firm, and reported by Bloomberg, Apple Vision Pro is yet to sell 100,000 units. The headset originally launched exclusively in the U.S. in February and the international launch is expected to help sales somewhat. According to Bloomberg, “The unimpressive start has spurred a rethink among Apple’s management” and a budget version of the headset is said to be in the works for a launch next year. According to IDC, this budget headset is not the only hurdle Apple needs to cross for better sales. 

A content problem

The vice president of IDC, Francisco Jeronimo said “The Vision Pro’s success, regardless of its price, will ultimately depend on the available content.” Continuing, he claims, “As Apple expands the product to international markets, it’s crucial that local content is also made available.”

This follows on from a problem that was spotted back in February. Many major App publishers, like Netflix and Spotify, refused to make their apps available on Apple Vision Pro, claiming that it doesn’t have a big enough install base to justify the extra effort to get an app working. As a workaround, users could open those apps on their best Macs and project them to the headset. However, this slow start has negatively affected the headset and, even now, some app creators are slow to adopt it. The launch of a more budget headset could help sales but users need a reason to stick around after the initial awe of seeing its rather impressive screen and processing power.

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For a device that Apple is hoping will become the next big thing in computing, the Vision Pro is one of the most difficult-to-acquire gadgets on the market right now.

Though it’s now on the cusp of an international rollout, it’s spent the first five months of its shelf life as a US exclusive. The AR / VR hybrid wearable is also one of the priciest bits of consumer tech gear a person can purchase at the moment, with an eye-watering price tag of $3,499 / £3,499, putting it out of reach of many would-be buyers.

• Where to buy Apple Vision Pro

Those two factors combine for a difficult scenario for the device’s app development scene — Vision Pro needs apps in order for it to be successful… but how can you make a great app without access to the device it’s going to be launching on?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I sat down with Dudley Denman-Rees, the solo developer behind D Digital Creative, and the company’s debut app offering, There Is No Spoon. A quick-fire AR experience exclusive to the Vision Pro, it takes inspiration from the mind-bending, spoon-warping scene from The Matrix film. Even more mind-bending? Denman-Rees built the app without access to a Vision Pro, without ever having built an app before, and all within just a few short months.

Here’s how he did it — and some top tips for those who would similarly like to try their hand at Vision Pro app development.

An idea, intensive study, and a growing community

An early admission here — though Denman-Rees had never put out an app before, his background was in development, skilled in Javascript, HTML, CSS, and the React library.

“I was working as a front end developer, building websites and apps. That's my expertise,” he explains over a coffee. Denman-Rees is animated and confident in conversation — unsurprising, given the sort of career leap he’s made that many would find daunting. 

“Like with many technology companies, redundancies came to our office. This is back in February, and I'd only been there nine months. And so I just felt a little bit like, well, maybe I'd like to be doing something else.”

That something else was app development for the newly launched Vision Pro. With a five-month-old baby at home, Denman-Rees took the redundancy and embarked on an “intensive” period of study to get up to speed with the requirements of Vision Pro development. Most notably, learning Apple’s own Swift development language, something Denman-Rees had previously “put on a pedestal”.

“It's been an interesting experience, because I think to go in and properly learn Swift will take a really long time,” says Denman-Rees.

“I've had to be a bit more ruthless than that. I've had to go, 'I want results in my app'. So I need to learn the specific bits to make my app. There are definitely times where I've been looking at my code and I'm like, I know that this could be a lot better, but I just need to be practical here.”

With the free XCode developer tool downloaded, and its built-in ‘Simulator’ simulation environment letting him visualize how a Vision Pro app might actually work on real hardware, Denman-Rees got to work. There Is No Spoon was designed to tap into the “cinematic” and “emotional” potential Deman-Rees saw in Vision Pro, looking to tap the “wow factor” of the hardware with some trippy visuals, but on a scale achievable by a solo dev.

Denman-Rees took advantage of the opportunity to take part in a developer lab session at Apple’s Battersea HQ in London, UK (the only time he’s even had an opportunity to fleetingly touch the Vision Pro headset), but that support aside, he’s been more or less on his own. The virtual exception? The growing number of Redditors and Discord server users dedicated to sharing tips and educating each other around the complexities of Vision Pro development.

“Discord was really good. On the server I’m active on there are people who own Vision Pro in the UK — I think they own them for their companies. So that was really nice — going from working in a company and obviously being on Slack every day to being freelance can leave you feeling a little bit adrift. And so to suddenly be in a kind of Slack-like environment where people are posting memes to each other and chatting was a great way to connect and learn.”

That connection to the wider community proved vital for getting around the simulator’s limitations — without a Vision Pro, the simulator couldn’t account for the hand-tracking moments required for Denman-Rees’s app, and also wasn’t useful for testing against the upcoming VisionOS 2 launch that was breaking There Is No Spoon. Those overseas owners and UK early adopters become Denman-Rees’s TestFlight guinea pigs, with TestFlight allowing the developer to distribute early versions of his app among the few with access to the hardware.

Just a few short months after taking the plunge, There Is No Spoon is up for purchase on the Vision Pro app store. But in a wild twist… Denman-Rees still hasn’t been able to try his completed app on a Vision Pro headset. Based out of the UK, he’s had to wait for this week’s international rollout for the chance to try out the completed app. But the accomplishment has been worth the hard work.

“I feel an immense sense of pride, an immense sense of pride,” says Denman-Rees. “It's great, it's delightful for it to be there as the first app I've launched. And it feels like I'm getting in on Vision Pro development early. And that's really exciting.”

6 top tips for first-time Vision Pro app developers

Looking to get started? Here’s what Dudley Denman-Rees says you’ll need to consider to get off to a great start with your Vision Pro development journey.

Have a great idea:

​​My angle is to think of what you would like to do in spatial computing specifically. Why 3D? Why immersive? I think that for me is the first thing — and people would disagree with me about that. I was speaking to somebody on Reddit who said, “What is the point? Why spoon bending?” I think in spatial computing, it's got to be about immersion. And so I think you should ask yourself, what would I like to do in 3D space?

No Vision Pro? Xcode simulator and YouTube are your friends:

100% the first thing you should do is download Xcode for free and run the simulator. Because when I started, I had no idea what anything even looked like in Vision OS, beyond a few screenshots of the icons. But like, how do you go into an app? How do you come out of an app? You've got no idea. So definitely get Xcode with the simulator — it's free! 

Beyond that, try and watch walkthroughs of people using Vision Pro apps on YouTube. For instance, if you've got an app that conveys three pieces of information, you’ll have no idea how somebody might go from one piece of information to another, just some really basic UI interface stuff. You can learn a lot just by watching walkthroughs and then experimenting with your findings.

Understand state management:

Getting a little bit technical, there's a thing known as “state management”  that I had from running web apps that was really relevant. It's quite a simple idea — it's just changing the state of something basically. So for example, “the spoon is in the distance” would be state one, and then “the spoon is in front of you” is state two. I was really grateful that it was part of the process when coming into Swift and Vision Pro development — so, “the person's head is upright” is state one, “the person's head is tilted his state two”. 

TL:DR? Make sure you’re able to define and understand the different steps and interactions a user may make with your app, and the journey and parameters needed to go from one stage to the next.

ChatGPT and Stack Overflow might be just as useful as Apple’s developer tutorials:

During the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple runs a lot of little lessons and workshops. You can watch the videos and you can download code snippets as you go along, and paste those into your own app to test it. That's really helpful, because you can go through them in your own time carefully and go, “Well, what does that do? What does that do?” 

And then there’s also Stack Overflow. There's a small number of Apple Vision Pro developers there who are putting up answers that are really helpful and offering code blocks. And again, you can take those, put them into your app, go through them really carefully.

But ChatGPT these days is my number one colleague. Maybe people will hate that, but honestly, it's so useful, even if just for talking dev theory with it. I haven't found it as knowledgeable in Swift as I have in other languages, so it often gives you errors. And it won't write the code for you. But you can talk theory with it. But you can ask basic questions like, where do I put my files? What do I call the folders, the directories? ChatGPT is really helpful for that sort of thing.

Recruit some Vision Pro-owning testers:

Go back to Reddit, go back to Discord, be nice about it and try to recruit some testers. Ask somebody to be kind to you and to give their time up to test your thing. And I think because people are excited about their device, they want to help something that’s new, so that's cool. People are excited to see what developers are working on. And I think with the international launch, there will be many more people interested in testing. There'll be more devices, particularly in the UK. So you, this time next week, we may know somebody who owns one or a company that owns one, so go speak to people!

Be prepared for plenty of paperwork:

Getting your app on the App Store is hard work, whether you're building an iOS app or a Vision Pro app. If you're registering a developer account as a company for the first time, you have to have a company website, which I didn't have. You have to have a page for your app. You have to have a privacy policy for your app. So suddenly, you go from just developing an app to having to roll out a website too — and you don't want it to look like complete crap! Then you have to do some fairly intimidating paperwork, about selling the app in America, and a treaty that we have here in the UK with America about tax. YouTube comes to the rescue, where you’ll find some helpful, but not particularly charismatic, accountants who walk through the process.

Apple's Vision Pro headset has been out for a while now, and has even made it to other countries after a US-only launch. The highly acclaimed mixed reality headset is expensive and not without flaws. But that's because this is a first-generation product. And it's common knowledge that Apple is trying to shrink the tech down in to smart glasses.

We've been hearing rumors of Apple Glass since around the time the Apple Vision Pro leaks first started, but it was always known that there was a long way to go before anyone could walk around wearing a pair. That remains the case, and with Apple likely focusing on making its spatial computer cheaper first, we can't imagine its smart glasses are just around the corner. That doesn't mean that plans aren't afoot, however, and a new patent shows that Apple's smart glasses would keep one impressive Vision Pro feature.

A recent patent from Apple filed with the USPTO details a dual gaze tracking system that is pretty similar to the Vision Pro's eye tracking. Think of it as the smart glasses' ability to follow your gaze, ensuring that images are perfectly aligned with your real-world view.

Gaze tracking vs eye tracking

The gist of Apple’s patent application is this: gaze tracking systems can collect data on where you’re looking. The setup might look like your typical pair of glasses, complete with a frame and temples. The lenses will support display systems on either side, merging computer-generated imagery with your actual surroundings. It includes image-sensor-based systems like eye-glint-based tracking. This system uses light-emitting devices to create glints on your eyes, which are then analyzed to determine your gaze direction. There’s also a low-power gaze tracking system that measures light reflections from your eyes, using the data to gauge where you’re looking. These systems can work in tandem or switch modes to conserve power or enhance tracking precision.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset already features eye-tracking technology. The Vision Pro uses a combination of infrared cameras and LED lights to follow your eye movements, allowing for intuitive control and interaction within virtual and augmented reality environments. This technology tracks where you’re looking, enabling foveated rendering – a technique that sharpens the graphics where your eyes are focused while reducing detail in your peripheral vision, thus saving processing power.

The Vision Pro’s eye-tracking prowess is a hint at what we might expect from Apple’s future smart glasses. Gaze tracking sounds like it'll be slightly less precise, although still accurate. This will be due to cost and size constraints involved with making the smaller and cheaper smart glasses. But Apple’s ambitions don’t stop at just tracking your gaze – the patent also mentions a slew of other sensors. We’re talking 3D sensors, various cameras (including infrared), touch sensors, proximity sensors, force sensors, and more.

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Last year with Apple Vision Pro still very much unknown, I postulated about some of the things Apple could learn from its metaverse-cavorting rival Meta. While I had the Quest 2 plastered to my face, I thought about some of the things that could inspire Apple and some of the things Apple should try and avoid. Now, we have Apple Vision Pro live in the flesh, and a newer Meta Quest to have fun with. 

Apple Vision Pro has been out for several months now, and after a few weeks of intense hype, it has slowly faded into relative obscurity. This was to be expected, given the Vision Pro’s immense price tag, but the market remains exciting, ripe with potential. So how can Apple bring its spatial computing erm… vision… to the masses? What does it have to learn from mainstream rivals like the Quest 3? I’ve been spending time with the latter ahead of Apple’s UK Vision Pro release. With rumors of a cheaper Vision Pro taking precedence over a second generation, what changes can Apple make to give its headset more appeal and buoy interest? Here are five things I think it could learn, with one eye on making the headset cheaper overall.

 Hand controls are fun 

I get it, controlling visionOS by waving your arms around like Stephen Strange is cool I really do. But hand controls are fun. There’s something fantastic about gripping a physical tool as you battle the notes in Beatsaber or even just navigate a simple menu. 

Apple Vision Pro boasts a plethora of cameras and sensors, which in part power its futuristic hand and eye-tracking gestures. There are four cameras for the latter alone and a further six world-facing tracking cameras. You have to imagine that jamming all of those cameras is pretty expensive, and I wonder if a cheaper Apple Vision Pro of the future could adopt actual, physical controllers rather than gestures to keep costs down. Apple has plenty of patents to that effect, including a set you can wear as gloves and finger controllers, too. 

Beyond cost, there’s something very satisfying about holding controllers and waving them around in VR, particularly while gaming. It evokes shades of the Nintendo Wii or an old arcade shooter — think Duck Hunt, but it's 2024, and the screen doesn’t flicker when you press the trigger. Hand controllers are tactile and accessible, and I’d love to believe Apple hasn’t closed the door on them just yet.

Gaming is fun, too 

Apple Vision Pro is an incredibly serious bit of kit. By that, I mean it’s stern-faced and corporate. Vision Pro marketing is all about desks, working, and conference calls. There’s not a lot of fun or whimsy, and while Apple does have a burgeoning list of great spatial games for Vision Pro, gaming remains something of an afterthought whenever it talks about the headset. 

Apple has been wrong about products before in this manner. The first Apple Watch was all about communication, yet in its ten iterations the Watch has evolved into a primarily fitness-focused device. Could it be that Apple has missed the mark and that there’s more untapped gaming potential here? I’d say yes, as while using the Meta Quest 3, I’ve absolutely loved playing games like Beatsaber, Assassin’s Creed: Nexus, and Asgard’s Wrath 2. Apple does have some cool spatial games, as I mentioned, but there aren’t many knockout VR titles available on the platform (although Job Simulator is a notable exception). 

I would love a cheaper “Arcade” version of the Apple Vision Pro to focus on spatial and fully immersive VR titles, perhaps even to the detriment of some other features. Perhaps the solution isn’t a totally different headset (I’ll get to that in a moment), but I think Apple might have missed at least some of the point of Vision Pro’s gaming potential. The Meta Quest 3 might be a bit too unserious for some, but I bet there’s a balance to be found in between. 

Let me plug this thing in 

From where I’m sitting, the Meta Quest 3 boasts one major advantage over the Apple Vision Pro, USB connectivity. You can plug your Meta Quest into any compatible PC with a USB 3.2 cable and enjoy AAA PC VR gaming. I would love to see a future Apple Vision Pro model that supports tethering with some of Apple’s other products. 

Of course, the Mac is an obvious candidate and would let users leverage Apple silicon in Apple’s best MacBooks and desktop Macs for gaming or productivity. I can see that Apple Vision Pro has a big advantage when it comes to wireless connection, its Mac Virtual Display feature now provides users with a wraparound ultra-wide display equivalent to two 4K monitors. However, this is still limited by the Vision Pro’s battery life, and I can’t help but think there’s a gap in the market for wired connectivity here too. Heck, if Apple really wanted to blow the market wide open, it could try to incorporate support for other platforms, such as Windows PC. This is, of course, a pipe dream, but wired, tethered connectivity could be a big boon to Vision Pro.

Multiple models for the win 

Apple Vision Pro is barely six months old, so this isn’t a criticism. However, the company currently only offers one Vision Pro model, compared to Meta’s three. In fact, Meta has taken a leaf out of the Apple Watch playbook here, offering a very cheap option (the old Meta Quest 2), the mainstream Quest 3, and the premium Meta Quest Pro. That’s three different headsets with different budgets and capabilities that vastly increase the lineup’s appeal. Indeed, the Quest Pro is arguably a much more serious offering more akin to the thrust of Vision Pro, showing a multi-model lineup could offer something for everyone. I’m heartened by rumors that Apple has put Vision Pro 2 on hold in favor of a cheaper option, but even a vastly reduced option could still cost as much as $2,000. Here’s hoping one day we’ll get a more comprehensive Vision Pro lineup and favorable pricing to match. 

Apple needs a franchise VR title 

As I’ve hinted at a lot so far, I think Apple needs to do a lot more to emphasize just how cool gaming on a spatial headset is. To that end, hours of Beatsaber have convinced me that Apple needs a franchise VR hit. Most people probably haven’t heard of the Meta Quest, or wouldn’t know its exact name or features, but I guarantee that most people have seen a viral video of someone playing Beatsaber. It’s an iconic title that has really catapulted VR gaming into the mainstream, and I think Apple needs to pull off something similar. I don’t know which title is the answer, but Meta has seen success with unique VR spinoffs like the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed: Nexus. As such, it doesn’t need to be an all-singing, all-dancing AAA port to be a success, but Apple needs to find a developer that can deliver a hit title with viral potential and mass appeal. This last one is much subtler and won’t really matter if Apple can’t figure out how to make Vision Pro cheaper and more appealing, but right now Vision Pro doesn’t have an iconic title, and I think it needs one. 

Conclusion

There’s plenty to like about both the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, but that doesn’t mean Apple can’t learn a thing or two from a more popular, mainstream device. At the very least, all signs point to Apple’s plans to bring the price of Vision Pro down. Who knows, maybe one of these ideas will make the cut! 

While the Vision Pro literally just started to expand to more countries outside of the United States and, for most of the world, the mixed-reality headset is brand new in their home, it's time to start talking about the next generation of Apple's headset.

When Apple announced the Vision Pro back at WWDC 2023, it blew the Meta Quest out of the water with its more impressive hardware. In addition to faster processors and more (and more powerful) sensors, the headset also sported a much higher resolution display.

The Vision Pro comes packed with micro‑OLED displays that feature a size of 1.42 inches with a pixel density of 3391 pixels per inch. If you don't want to do the math, that's basically a 4K TV — for each one of your eyes.

Things are getting worse for the cheaper Vision Pro

However, as reported earlier today, Apple is taking away those dual 4K televisions for its next headset.

Instead of rocking that extremely high resolution of 3391 pixels per inch on 1.42-inch displays, the cheaper Vision Pro headset that is currently being designed by the company is expected to sport 2.1-inch OLED displays with a pixel density of 1700 pixels per inch. Instead of working with Sony, Apple is looking for displays with these specifications from other manufacturers like LG and Samsung.

The math isn't hard here, but that's basically half the resolution that the Vision Pro is currently packing — on displays that are actually even bigger. So, the sharpness is taking a hit on both sides of the coin.

Despite this, I have no problem with Apple making this move. Worse than something else doesn't always mean bad for most of us!

Most people don't need the resolution to be that high

I personally picked up the Meta Quest 3 in the fall of 2023 after watching the unveiling of the Vision Pro and realizing that, as nice as it was, I was not about to drop $3,500 on a mixed-reality headset. The Quest 3, in comparison, came in at $500 — a much more palatable price.

While I eventually sold it, I certainly don't remember being disappointed with the resolution of the displays. So, after seeing these new numbers for the upcoming cheaper Vision Pro, I got curious and checked the resolution of the displays on the Quest 3. To my surprise, Meta's latest headset is currently rocking displays that pack 1,218 pixels per inch.

The reason I was surprised was because, after having first-hand experience with the Quest 3, I thought the displays were great. So, while this cheaper version of the Vision Pro (probably called the Apple Vision if I had to guess) may have half the pixels per inch as the first headset, 1,700 pixels per inch is nothing to get bummed about. I did not notice an issue with this at all when using the Quest 3, so it's going to be great on Apple's cheaper headset as well.

This is really the point of the cheaper headset, anyway. It's not supposed to have the same specs. That's why the Vision Pro is as expensive as it is. What most of us want is a headset that is capable enough and one that we can actually justify the cost of. For most of us, a bump above the Quest 3 is just fine if it means shaving a couple of grand off the price of that headset.

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Apple is looking into a more affordable Apple Vision Pro that could feature lower-resolution displays.

According to The Elec, Apple has requested information from Samsung and LG about 2.1-inch OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon) displays with 1700 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). This is a significantly lower standard than the Micro‑OLED displays in the current Apple Vision Pro headset supplied by Sony, which are 1.42 inches with a pixel density of 3391 PPI.

OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon) is a relatively new display technology that combines Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) with silicon wafers. Ultimately, this can result in fantastic image quality, such as an ultra-high contrast ratio of 100,000:1, as well as a higher refresh rate than the current Apple Vision Pro’s 100Hz.

The leak of a cheaper Apple Vision Pro is not new, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reporting in his ‘Power On’ newsletter recently that he expects this headset to sell between $1,500 to $2,000 However, we’re not expecting this lower-cost version to launch until at least 2025.

The spatial computing headset was recently launched in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. A July 12 launch is also set for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK after pre-orders opened up in the countries on June 28.

Following a different path

In the past, Apple has announced new products and brought down the price of previous-generation models. Apple's best iPhone in 2024, the iPhone 15 Pro, ushered in a price drop for the iPhone 14, for example.

However, Apple seems to be planning a different approach with Vision Pro. Instead of waiting for certain components to come down in price, Apple is planning to release an entirely new cheaper model within the next 18 months. This could suggest that the company wants to make the spatial headset as accessible as possible to more users.

This new strategy could position the Vision Pro to go against Meta Quest Pro and other headsets priced around $1,500. That price point could make the spatial headset an alluring purchase, especially with the features that visionOS offers, such as Mac Virtual Display and Immersive Environments.

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WWDC 2024 confirmed that the Apple Vision Pro would ship internationally come July, and preorders are open now.

Thankfully, it appears it'll be easier than ever to decide if you want to splash the cash on the $3,499 headset since Apple has reportedly revamped its demoing options when testing the Vision Pro.

That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, where he dubs it a "key moment for the product" having opened up to international audiences.

With that in mind, Gurman says "The biggest change is a new feature that lets customers beam their own photos, videos and panoramas over to a Vision Pro during a demonstration."

"Then they can see their own media in mixed reality. If you’ve already done this on a Vision Pro, you know that it could help sway some shoppers. The new approach is rolling out now, but the official launch is scheduled for July 9."

Apple is changing Vision Pro demos

Gurman also says there's a new "Go Deeper" option within the demo to help focus on specific areas of the device's usage, including "office-work features" or "watching videos".

Interestingly, it's not just software changes, either, with Apple now offering the Dual Loop headset band instead of the Solo Loop as of Friday.

"It seems that the Solo Loop, which only wraps around the back of a person’s head, hasn’t been comfortable enough for potential customers," Gurman says.

So, does the prospect of a revamped demo have you tempted to check out the Vision Pro? Or are you waiting for more news on the cheaper version of the headset?

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Apple's WWDC keynote promised the upcoming release of visionOS 2.0, but Apple Intelligence was conspicuously absent for owners of the $3,499 headset.

Thankfully a new report suggests the Vision Pro won't be left out in the cold after all. In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says unequivocally that "Apple Intelligence is coming to the Vision Pro".

"I’m told that Apple is actively working on bringing the features to the device, but it won’t happen this year," Gurman explains.

"From a technology standpoint, the headset has more than enough memory (16 gigabytes) to run the technology.

"And the features, including notification prioritization, writing tools, an OpenAI chatbot and the new Siri, make sense for the headset — especially if Apple continues to position the Vision Pro as a device for getting work done and handling computer tasks."

Don't expect the HomePod to get Apple Intelligence

Gurman also notes the similarities between visionOS and the iPadOS platform it's based on, and notes that the move "could tax Apple’s still-expanding cloud-computing infrastructure."

"Fears of overburdening the servers are one reason the company has limited the AI features to more recent devices. But given that the Vision Pro hasn’t sold in large quantities, that may not be a big concern," he says.

Still, don't expect your HomePod to get smarter through Apple Intelligence. In the same newsletter, Gurman points to Apple's work on a new robotic device as evidence the HomePod is unlikely to get Apple Intelligence features.

He also notes the HomePod is a "low-volume" device, and that Apple Intelligence requires too much RAM than the HomePod and HomePod Mini can offer.

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The Vision Pro is an absolute breakthrough in the world of mixed-reality headsets...but it's still a mixed-reality headset. That's what's been going through my mind as I watch the product launch in a ton of new countries today.

The Vision Pro has been on sale in the United States (where I live) since February. Just weeks after Apple hosted WWDC 2024 and announced visionOS 2, the company today launched the headset in four more countries in Asia.

Customers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore can now get their hands on the Vision Pro, and Apple — in usual product launch fashion — covered the event by sharing tons of photos of customers trying on the headset for the first time at the company's Apple Stores.

It's definitely the most capable mixed-reality headset 

While I'm certainly excited for anyone who bought their Vision Pro headset today and is having a blast, I'm reminded each time that I hear about the headset that it's not for me yet.

I remember when Apple unveiled the Vision Pro at WWDC 2023. Even though it's over a year later since we first saw it, the product is by far the most technically advanced mixed-reality headset on the market. From the resolution to the power and capabilities, there isn't another consumer or prosumer-focused headset that comes close to what this thing can do.

I've watched videos of people cutting everyone else out on a plane and watching a movie on a 100-foot screen, playing games from Apple Arcade on a huge virtual screen, and the immersive videos that make you feel like you're in the action.

It's technically unmatched in technical achievements. With all of that in mind, however, I'm still holding out.

It's still a mixed-reality headset

While the Vision Pro is undeniably the most technically impressive mixed-reality headset on the market right now, it's still a mixed-reality headset — and that means you still experience all of the problems that a mixed-reality headset has.

I owned the Meta Quest 3 for a while and, while you can hang out in there for some amount of time, I certainly can't hang out in there for long for the simple fact that it's eventually uncomfortable to wear a headset for a while. I just don't want to use it for that long until I'm tired of wearing it, and that's still a problem with every headset out there.

There's also the battery life which, as everyone pokes at, still comes in at up to 2 hours, making this a headset that you're better off wearing on the couch than walking around with. And, if I'm going to sit down on the couch anyway, I might as well watch my TV.

Of course, there's also the price. The Vision Pro costs a whopping $3,500, and that's for the base price. That doesn't count the travel case, extra batteries, or any accessories. You can quickly surpass $4,000 easily when buying this thing, and for something that isn't an integral part of our lives yet, that's a hefty price to pay.

Then there's something that I've experienced when wearing these headsets that's harder to tabulate: the feeling of loneliness. While companies like Meta and Apple are working to utilize this technology to make things feel more real when you're far away from each other, I can't help but feel lonely when the experience is over. 

I'll talk with someone as if they are there and then, when I take the headset off, I remember that I'm sitting in my apartment, alone. It's just weird. It's like movies where someone comes back from the dead and then dissipates. I don't know how to shake that feeling, so I hope Apple figures it out. 

I'm waiting for the Apple Vision (non pro)

While all of the above are reasons I'm holding off on buying an Apple Vision Pro right now, these are all things that Apple has a chance to address. They can make the battery life better, make the device lighter and more comfortable over time (like Meta did with the Quest), and most importantly, make it more affordable.

There are rumors running around right now that Apple is shelving the Vision Pro 2 for now to focus on a more affordable model which would likely be the Apple Vision — the Vision Pro for the rest of us. If that product comes out and comes in at a much more compelling price, I could get interested fast.

We'll have to wait and see and the future of this space is so interesting but, at least for now, the Vision Pro will have to spread across the globe without me buying one. I'm sure Apple will do just fine without me.

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If you own Apple Vision Pro or you're thinking of buying one, Amazon has a bunch of accessories you can score for the headset right now.

Perfect timing too, as Apple Vision Pro has finally been made available in countries outside of the U.S., such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. Pre-orders have also gone live for users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK with a July 12 launch.

Currently, Apple’s spatial computing headset can only be bought directly from its website or at Apple Stores in certain countries. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t find great accessories on other vendors like Amazon. While some are best avoided, there are plenty to choose from that will enhance how you use Vision Pro.

With this in mind, we’ve gone through the accessories currently available on Amazon and compiled the best ones to help complement your future Apple Vision Pro purchase. With the Prime Day Apple deals already kicking off, here are some savings we've found so far.

Best Apple Vision Pro accessories

The Apple Vision Pro has been on sale in the United States since February and has today gone on sale in new countries for the first time. But the global expansion of Apple's spatial computing vision won't stop there, with the headset now also available for preorder in a host of additional countries.

Apple announced the international availability of the Apple Vision Pro during the WWDC event on June 10, putting an end to months of speculation about when people outside the United States would be able to buy the headset. As of today, Apple Stores in China mainland, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore are now selling the device.

Starting today, that same headset can also be preordered in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Coming soon

Those who place an Apple Vision Pro preorder today can expect to receive their new headset on July 12, assuming they get that order in quickly enough. It remains to be seen just how popular the headset will be and how quickly the expected delivery window will extend beyond that initial launch date.

“The enthusiasm for Apple Vision Pro has been extraordinary, and we are thrilled to introduce the magic of spatial computing to more customers around the world,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release earlier this month. “We can’t wait for more people to see the impossible become possible, whether working and collaborating with an infinite canvas for apps, reliving treasured memories in three dimensions, watching TV shows and movies in a one-of-a-kind personal cinema, or enjoying brand-new spatial experiences that defy imagination.”

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Juno, an unofficial YouTube app for Apple Vision Pro, has been updated to 2.0 with some huge improvements.

Developer Christian Selig announced on his blog that Juno 2.0 can be downloaded on the Vision Pro App Store for $4.99 for new users while existing users can update for free. Some major updates include a revamped user interface with a tab bar, making it easier to switch between Subscriptions, Playlists, and more. Users can now watch any 360- and 180-degree videos with Juno through YouTube, similar to the Environments feature that Apple Vision Pro offers, which ‘transports’ users to different places. A ‘back’ button has been added throughout Juno 2.0, simplifying browsing between different videos and menus. In addition, improved resizing allows users to pinch in and out to adjust the size of their videos as they wish.

Although Selig has made great strides with Juno in the four months that Apple Vision Pro has been available in the U.S., YouTube has yet to release its own app for the spatial computing headset, despite confirming in February that it plans to.

As of today (June 28), Apple Vision Pro has launched in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. A July 12 launch is also set for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. With all of these countries receiving Apple’s newest product, the release of Juno 2.0 is perfect timing for those who want to watch YouTube in the best possible way.

What else is there to look forward to with Apple Vision Pro?

Although Juno is a great way to watch YouTube on Apple Vision Pro, it’s not the only reason to consider buying one. visionOS 2, announced at WWDC 2024, improves Vision Pro’s navigation, such as showing the battery status by flipping your hand over so your palm is facing the ground or tapping your thumb and finger to open Control Center. You can also make your Mac’s screen an ultrawide display that almost looks like it’s being wrapped around your body.

These features, along with many others, only enhance what you can do with Vision Pro. With the spatial headset becoming available in many more countries by the end of July, it only means that more developers will gain access to visionOS. This will likely lead to even more innovative apps being available for Apple Vision Pro, much like Juno.

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Since launching earlier this year, Apple’s visionary new headset, Apple Vision Pro, has only been available for purchase in the U.S. During WWDC 2024, however, we were finally given dates for when we can expect the mixed reality headset in other parts of the world — and today, it just launched in four new countries.

Exclusively Asian countries: Buyers in the China mainland, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore are now able to get their mitts on a Vision Pro headset without having to worry about lengthy import and export fees and paperwork, and potential incompatibilities. 

Potential customers can now head over to the Apple Store online to book a demo at their local brick-and-mortar (or glass and metal as they tend to be now) store so that they can get a better picture of how the headset works.

The event was so important to Apple that it sent retail chief Deidre O'Brien along to engage with buyers during the incredibly busy launch. Images from Apple show bustling stores as buyers tried on headsets and bought them — while it’s still early days, it seems users are looking forward to trying out the device. 

An attempt to drum up support

While it doesn’t seem to have been unsuccessful, Vision Pro doesn’t seem to have made the impact that Apple had hoped. For a brief, glorious window of time, it was everywhere, of course, covering For You pages on almost every single social media platform whether you wanted to see it or not.

Since then, however, it seems that interest in the headset has petered out — and part of that could be that not only is it prohibitively expensive, but it’s only available in one (admittedly very large) locale. Apple looks to change the last point now, with the headset coming to the aforementioned four countries.

With more people able to purchase one, it could be that Vision Pro finally sees the market that Apple wanted for it. The headset will also be coming to the European market in just a few weeks, as Apple has set a July 12 release date in the calendar for French, German, and UK buyers.

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Apple's WWDC keynote revealed that the Vision Pro will ship internationally at long last, as well as unveiling visionOS 2.0, but the cost of the headset remains too prohibitive for many to try it.

While we've long expected Apple to attempt to develop a cheaper alternative to its VR/AR headset, a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has confirmed the challenges it's currently facing in doing so.

Speaking in his Power On newsletter, Gurman says the company is "aiming to sell something for $1,500 to $2,000", a steep decrease from the $3,499 Apple charges for the current version.

The challenges of a cheaper Vision headset

Gurman says the headset, a potential 'Apple Vision' without the Pro moniker, is codenamed N107 and Apple is hoping to bring it to market as early as the end of 2024.

Still, it's struggling to do so because it would involve removing features. Gurman specifically points to the EyeSight display, as well as the internal VR screens as features that could be removed or downgraded respectively, as well as a less powerful chip and lower-quality augmented reality passthrough cameras.

Gurman also points out that even at this price range, it'd be significantly more expensive than anything offered by Meta, but prototypes have been built which offer a narrower field of view than the existing Vision Pro.

Apple is also working on a second-generation Vision Pro, codenamed N109, with a "faster processor and improvements to external cameras", according to Gurman. Apple also wants to make the next generation lighter and more comfortable than the existing model, but it's expected in 2026 at the earliest, while the rumored AR glasses are aiming for 2027 - but Gurman's sources feel that could be optimistic.

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Apple Vision Pro is getting not one but two new spatial games courtesy of Apple Arcade, including a city builder that might be the best game on the headset yet. 

Announced Thursday, Apple has confirmed that Warped Kart Racers and Cityscapes: Sim Builder are both coming to Apple Arcade as spatial games for Apple Vision Pro. Warped Kart Racers, launching today, is a "raucous racing game" that lets you play as 20th Television animated characters from hit shows including Family Guy and American Dad! Tear around race tracks as Peter Griffin, Quagmire, and more all while you enjoy spatially-fixed content such as scoreboards. 

The perfect Apple Vision Pro game?

If you want something a little more laid back and a lot more spatial, Cityscapes: Sim Builder might be your cup of tea. As the name suggests, Cityscapes is a city builder that gives players a birds-eye view of their city. Thanks to the magic of Apple Vision Pro you can law roads, build neighborhoods, and grow your city with nothing but your hands. Cityscapes is an Apple Arcade Game of the Year winner and an Apple Design Award finalist. The new title will be available for Apple Vision Pro on July 3. 

While Apple Vision Pro enjoyed some early time in the limelight, it's been a muted launch since its January rollout. At WWDC 2024, Apple announced the spatial headset was coming to more countries and regions including China, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the U.K.

Apple says visionOS, soon to be visionOS 2, now has more than 2,000 dedicated apps in its library. 

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The Apple Vision Pro might not be getting a sequel, at least not one with similar high-end features and a huge price tag to match. That's according to a new report claiming that Apple decided to cancel plans for a next-gen Apple Vision Pro spatial computer.

That doesn't mean that there won't be any new Apple Vision Pro releases, however. According to that report, Apple does indeed plan to release a new headset next year, but it won't be the all-singing, all-dancing replacement for the current model that people had been expecting. Instead, this model will be a cheaper alternative for people who would rather not spend the $3,499 required to put the current model on their heads.

That might be a controversial decision for those who are already looking forward to seeing what Apple can do when it pushes the envelope yet further after a reach-for-the-stars launch of the original headset. But for most people, and likely for Apple itself, the decision to ditch plans for a new high-end model is absolutely the way to go. Whether or not mixed reality headsets are the future of computing remains to be seen. But just as was the case when possession of a personal computer became the norm in the 1990s, it will only happen once more people can afford to actually buy one.

A change of plan

The revelation comes via a report by The Information's Wayne Ma Qianer Liu which details Apple's plans based on information that at least one supply chain partner has been told.

Supply chain analysts and industry watchers have long suggested that demand is starting to wane for a headset that was always seen as a luxury product for early adopters. The $3,499 starting price was always going to be a sticking point for the general public though, and many saw the Apple Vision Pro as something of a tech demo crossed with a developer kit — a device designed to show what can be down and to get people (and developers) excited about the future of spatial computing.

But that future of spatial computing still has to happen one way or another, and it appears that Apple has decided that finding a way to produce a cheaper headset is the only way to rekindle interest in the company's AR plans.

"The company is still working on releasing a more affordable Vision product with fewer features before the end of 2025," a supply chain source reportedly told The Information. "Apple originally planned to divide its Vision line into two models, similar to the standard and Pro versions of the iPhone, according to people involved in its supply chain and former Apple employees who worked on the devices."

This news comes as Apple is getting ready to launch the Apple Vision Pro outside the United States for the first time, complete with its high asking price. It will be very interesting to see what kind of demand the headset garners in international markets, especially now that the initial excitement of a new product category has died down following the February US launch.

No matter how the global launch is received by customers around the world, it's increasingly clear that a cheaper price point is needed if sales are to increase. The only real question is how cheap Apple can really make such a device and which features will be removed in order to make it happen.

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The Apple Vision Pro is almost certainly the best mixed reality headset kicking about, but one area where Meta clearly pushes ahead is gaming. Virtual reality headsets have been primarily used for gaming and fitness so far, and no headset does a better job of that than the Meta Quest. But that might be about to change.

According to a newly published patent with the USPTO, Apple is developing a deformable controller to enhance user interaction with 3D games and other content on devices like the iPad, Mac, and the Vision Pro. A deformable controller is just like it sounds – something you can move entirely. Imagine squishing, twisting, and bending this control to move through virtual worlds.

This deformable controller isn’t just a static piece of plastic; it’s designed to move virtual objects, adjust audio settings, draw in 3D, and even play immersive 3D video games. The controller’s nub-shaped housing, complete with an elongated dome, can be squished and twisted to provide input, detected through a series of sophisticated sensors embedded within the flexible structure.

What else can this deformable controller do?

The deformable controller is versatile. It can work with a head-mounted display like the Vision Pro, or function as a standalone remote for your iPad or Mac. Sensors in the controller can detect everything from multitouch gestures and force inputs to more complex deformation inputs. This means you can pinch, twist, and press to your heart's content, and the controller will translate these movements into precise actions on screen.

According to the patent, Apple’s vision for this controller includes integration with various sensors – 3D sensors, cameras, gaze tracking systems, and even microphones for voice commands. This level of interaction opens up a whole new world of possibilities, from adjusting audio settings with a squeeze to navigating complex 3D menus with a twist.

The patent describes a range of potential uses. Imagine using this deformable controller to draw in a 3D program, play intricate video games, or move virtual objects with unprecedented precision. The flexibility (quite literally) of this controller could make it a game-changer, with its uses unlimited. You can already connect controllers, keyboards, and mic to the Vision Pro to control apps without eye and hand control, but this would be a step further.

In classic Apple style, the patent doesn’t give away too much about when we might see this new controller hit the shelves. It may never even surface. But if it does, it could make the Vision Pro the top headset for immersive 3D content.

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Apple Vision Pro sales have been struggling a little since its release, but an international launch is not the only thing that might help turn those sales around — as two important camera makers have both announced special products for spatial video. 

Announced at WWDC 2024, Canon is creating a spatial lens for its popular EOS R7 digital camera line, meaning creators can film videos entirely for Apple Vision Pro. This can shoot in higher quality than the iPhone 15 Pro, which can also record spatial video, meaning professional studios can more easily create films, music videos, and more for the headset. A price for this has not yet been confirmed but the lens will be available for purchase at some point between September 21 and December 20, this year. 

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That’s not all

Blackmagic Design, the company behind Davinci Resolve, professional recorders, and a whole host of studio cameras, is creating a spatial camera specifically for spatial videos. It is capable of capturing content at 8140 x 7200 resolution per eye at 90 fps. No price has yet been announced but the niche use case and super high specs suggest this will be quite a pricey piece of equipment. 

To go with these new cameras, Apple Vision Pro is adopting a more “professional workflow”, which allows you to edit spatial video in Final Cut Pro, and then export it for viewing in the Apple Vision Pro Vimeo app. This means that not only can professional studios make spatial videos but student projects and short films can be exported directly to the spatial headset too. 

Like Tangerine, the indie film shot entirely on iPhone, we can’t wait to start seeing independent movies shot entirely for Apple Vision Pro. More people just need to get their hands on the headset first. 

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Can you believe it has been a year already since Apple Vision Pro was revealed? Today at WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled the next generation of visionOS: visionOS 2. The first major software update for Vision Pro brings new features that make Apple's spatial computing headset even more exciting.

visionOS 2: The headlines

visionOS 2 will now let users turn their existing 2D photos into spatial photos using the power of AI. VisionOS 2 also features new controls to open the Home view and quick access to the Control Center.

Later this year Apple, will add higher display resolutions and sizes for its Mac external display feature, including Ultra wide, the equivalent of two 4K monitors side-by-side.

Apple's Travel mode also now supports trains, as well as planes, a response perhaps to the well publicized videos of people trying to use the device on New York City subwways.

Developers are also getting some love, with new features and APIs to create new apps, including Volumetric APIs and a new TabletopKit that lets apps anchor to flat surfaces, perfect for creating board games and the like. 

Apple is also making it easier for users to create spatial content. One notable introduction is a new Spatial lens for the Canon EOS R7. Apple has also announced a new Vimeo app for Vision Pro and a new partnership with Blackmagic Design. VisionPro is getting new extreme sports experiences from Redbull, and new titles are also coming to the Apple TV app. 

We're covering the WWDC 2024 event as it happens. Follow WWDC 2024 LIVE here. Or check out our roundups for all the latest on the newly announced iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and Apple Intelligence.

Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote is just a few weeks away, and alongside a big push for AI features, Apple is widely expected to showcase where the Vision Pro is going to launch next. And a new report from Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo shows that the international launch is getting closer as the headset gets ready for shipments.

According to Kuo, the international rollout is set to kick off before mid-June, with shipments getting ready to arrive in the middle of the month. We expect that the grand reveal might just happen at the WWDC keynote on Monday, with availability later that month.

The company's first mixed reality headset remains a US-only product at the time of writing, although reports have suggested that Apple employees have received specialized training for when it launches internationally. 

Vision Pro goes international

The current lineup for the next phase of Vision Pro currently looks as follows:

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• Japan
• Singapore
• South Korea
• UK

Kuo expects the UK, France, Germany, China, Japan, and Singapore will be first in line, with shipments currently being prepared for those locations.

China was one country mentioned as a potential second-wave country, and now it's been confirmed that the country's Quality Certification Center has approved the Apple Vision Pro to go on sale locally. So we can be certain that the headset is coming here. As for the other locations, they're not too surprising given that they're all pretty much in the first wave for any Apple product launch.

At WWDC, Apple is also expected to reveal the next iteration of visionOS, likely visionOS 2. What better way to entice those in other markets to pick up the headset than with a slate of improvements, fixes, and quality-of-life tweaks?

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In February, Apple released arguably its most revolutionary product of all time, Apple Vision Pro. Since its release, the silence around Apple’s new spatial computing headset has been deafening, with consumer and media interest waning faster than for almost any product in living memory. Seriously, can you think of a product that was unveiled with so much hype, and launched with so much intense media coverage, only to fall away in such a short space of time? 

Apple VR, which became Apple Vision Pro, was a product rumored for years. When Apple finally unveiled the headset at WWDC 2023, it felt like the dawn of a new era, as though Apple had introduced a product potentially even more important than its iPhone. Fast-forward to launch, and we spent days watching viral clips of influencers and stooges wearing their headsets on the subway, flying, piloting aircraft, driving (illegally), and more. For a few brief moments, we all basked in the glorious sunshine of a computing revolution. Then, overnight, it was gone. 

You rarely, if ever, see Apple Vision Pro on the front pages these days, which feels like a hilarious thing to say given it was only released a few months ago. We’ve had the occasional launch of a new spatial game, such as Marvel’s What If…? and Job Simulator. That aside, Vision Pro is making almost no waves. WWDC 2024 is just days away, as might be visionOS 2, yet so bereft are we of rumors and leaks that there’s simply nothing exciting to report about its upcoming features. WWDC might well herald visionOS 2, but I can’t think of a single software upgrade that could resurrect Apple Vision Pro and awaken the headset from its slumber. 

So what could Apple do to give Apple Vision Pro a much-needed shot in the arm? Here’s what Apple’s spatial computing headset needs to actually take off.

International launch 

This is an obvious play and an easy win. Apple Vision Pro is only available in the U.S. right now, drastically limiting its appeal. A global release of the headset, or at least a rollout beyond U.S. shores, would help revive some of the interest in Apple Vision Pro. Who knows? Maybe a developer in Sweden or an enterprise in Japan has a killer use for Vision Pro, a transformative app or business application that could catapult Vision Pro back onto the world stage, but they’ve simply not had a chance to try the headset yet. 

Developer relations 

Apple Vision Pro apps are few and far between. The price of the headset and its niche appeal might well be part of the issue, but there’s also a more pressing problem going on. Apple’s developer relations seem to be at an all-time low. Its fervent resistance to antitrust legislation that could make developing apps for iPhone more financially sustainable and flexible, as well as its kicking-and-screaming approach to complying with the DMA has chewed up a lot of good faith Apple had with its developers. When it comes to iPhone and iPad apps, the balance of power is very much in Apple’s hands, so mobile developers need Apple to be successful. However, in its infancy, Apple Vision Pro is crying out for an influx of apps and developers who seem reluctant to develop apps for Vision Pro, despite the clear and obvious technological merits of the platform. A bit of developer goodwill would go a long way to spurring at least some creative minds to develop apps for Apple Vision Pro.  

•  VR headset deals: Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg | Meta | Walmart 

Drop the price 

There’s no hope of this happening, but it seems worth mentioning anyway — Apple Vision Pro is far too expensive to generate any kind of mass appeal. Even a marginally cheaper price tag would probably bring some more customers on side, but $3,499 is almost enough to buy Apple’s best MacBook, the M3 Max MacBook Pro, and certainly enough to buy an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and a MacBook Air with money to spare. 

Woo some big guns 

One bright spot in the early days of Apple Vision Pro has been its burgeoning partnership with Disney. Not only is there a fully-fledged Disney+ app for Vision Pro, Disney has also invested in Apple’s environments, and recently rolled out the aforementioned What If…? Immersive story for the headset. Apple needs to build some partnerships with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and more to bring more mass entertainment appeal to Vision Pro. Netflix has already said the headset is “not really particularly relevant” to its customers. Sounds like someone needs to have a sit down with Tim Cook. 

VisionOS 2 

I’m mildly curious to see what visionOS 2 brings to Apple Vision Pro if it's unveiled at WWDC 2024 next week, but I think there are some really deep-seated concerns about the headset that need taken care of if the headset is going to end up anywhere. These solutions are really just the tip of the iceberg, and it could take years for Apple to turn Vision Pro into a mainstream device with mass market appeal and a price tag to match. 

While Apple's Vision Pro headset hasn't gone international yet (we could see an announcement to that effect at WWDC 2024), it's felt a lot like it's focused on productivity and experiences since it launched earlier this year.

That's no bad thing and has helped it stand out from the pack of other VR headsets, but as we opined only today, we can't help but wonder if it needs more games to play on it.

Perhaps Apple had a similar thought, as Where Cards Fall, the highly-regarded puzzle game from developer The Game Band, has made an appearance on Apple Vision Pro, launching today for Apple Arcade subscribers.

Apple Vision Pro gains award-winning game

Hardly a new release, When Cards Fall has already been around for a while and as such is available on multiple platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Steam. It also won an Apple Design Award back in 2020.

Naturally, the shift to a headset means that the game plays quite differently from using a touchscreen, and the game being a spatial puzzle game, now played via Spatial Computing, feels quite apt.

Players use cards to construct scenes and piece together memories, and it now supports 3D depth with new custom Vision Pro controls, too, and there are more than 50 puzzles for you to work your way through.

As things stand, the game is an Apple Arcade exclusive, so you'll need to subscribe to the service, or Apple One, to be able to play.

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Following its recent announcement, Marvel's What If…? – An Immersive Story is now available on Apple Vision Pro. Described as the "first-ever interactive Disney+ Original story," the new experience is available as a free app from the App Store on visionOS. 

In What If...?, players "step into the leading role" of a one-hour story, meeting variants from across Marvel's Multiverse, playing with Infinity Stones, and making choices. As you might have guessed, it's all connected to Disney's Marvel series of the same name, a series of shows set in alternative timelines around the MCU. 

• VR headset deals: Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg | Meta | Walmart

Vision Pro gets another exciting game

Marvel says the game will utilize "the revolutionary spatial computing capabilities of Apple Vision Pro" to deliver a "technologically advanced and engaging experience to fans that completely transforms the space around them." As you might expect with Vision Pro, players will use their hands and eyes to interact with the story, delivered in spatial audio and a combination of mixed and virtual reality. 

What If...? is one of the biggest entertainment titles to drop for Apple Vision Pro since its release in January. Disney has been a staunch partner to Apple's spatial computing foray, appearing in early product demos. Disney+ is also one of the few mainstream entertainment apps available on Apple Vision Pro natively, with giants like Netflix not choosing to invest in Apple's niche, and incredibly expensive, mixed reality platform. 

The success of a title like What If...? could provide a small boost to Apple's fortunes, but while the headset remains tremendously expensive, it doesn't stand much chance of mainstream success. 

WWDC 2024 is just around the corner, and Apple is expected to unveil visionOS 2. Rumors are scarce on changes coming to the headset, but more broadly Apple's annual developer conference should have a heavy focus on Apple AI, with big changes coming to the iPhone in iOS 18. 

If you’ve been waiting for more traditional VR games to come to Apple Vision Pro, two of the most highly regarded in the immersive format have just launched — and they come with some improved features. 

Owlchemy Labs has taken to X to announce the launch of Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator on Apple Vision Pro. Not only do they have fully immersive environments, surrounding the player rather than the passthrough play you can find in What the Golf?, but they have eye and hand tracking for improved controls. Both are available to purchase right now, with Job Simulator costing $19.99 and Vacation Simulator being $29.99. 

• VR headset deals: Best Buy | Amazon | Newegg | Meta | Walmart

What are Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator?

Job Simulator places you in the eyes of a worker in a world filled with robots, doing menial tasks like filing paperwork, drinking coffee, and messing with your coworkers. Very tongue-in-cheek, it’s a humorous game filled with tiny secrets, minigames, and more. Standing in one spot, you have to grab things with your hands, move your body around, and look in the right spot to find out a little more about the world you have found yourself in. 

Job Simulator is very popular on Steam not only because it arrived around the same time modern consumer VR headsets started growing in popularity, but also because discovering all the little gags and jokes is still fun nearly a decade after its initial release. 

Vacation Simulator is the follow-up to Job Simulator, with a much bigger area to play around in and a higher price to go with it. After clocking out from your job, it’s time for you to go on a holiday, and all your robot coworkers are coming with you. You can customize your character, go to an assortment of different vacation spots, and explore a tropical island. Like the first game, it’s fun, humorous, and surprisingly replayable. 

These are some of the first dedicated VR games launching on Apple’s mixed reality headset and they come right after the company’s CEO praised Apple Vision Pro for how important it is for VR gaming.

As of the end of April, Apple Vision Pro sales were stagnating and Apple even cut some of its intended shipments to align with expected sales targets. Though you can play Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator on pretty much every modern VR device, Apple Vision Pro is set up to have the best experiences thanks to its incredible tracking functions, great screen, and super powerful chip. More VR games launching on the headset could help cement the headset as a solid gaming headset and further pull those sales around. As it comes to the rest of the world, we hope that more developers continue to invest in Apple’s headset. 

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There are quite a few ways that Apple Vision Pro crushes any Meta Quest headset, but one area where Meta clearly pushes ahead is gaming. Virtual reality headsets have been primarily used for gaming and fitness — or a little bit of both — so far, and no headset does a better job of that than the Meta Quest. 

By comparison, Vision Pro is neither designed for gaming and fitness nor does it have an expansive catalog of games on its App Store. The heavy build and tethered battery pack aren’t conducive to gaming, and there are virtually zero AAA gaming titles on the visionOS App Store.

If you want to get around these limitations, you can use cloud gaming services to play high-quality PC games on Apple Vision Pro. Since all the processing is done on cloud servers, app compatibility isn’t an issue. Furthermore, because cloud gaming services either use a controller or mouse and keyboard for input, you won’t have to fiddle with eye and hand control. Interested in cloud gaming with Vision Pro? Here’s everything you need to know, and how to do it. 

Why cloud gaming isn’t easy on Vision Pro

Unfortunately, using cloud gaming services on Apple Vision Pro isn’t as easy as it is on other platforms. The visionOS version of Safari doesn’t support progressive web apps (PWAs), and that rules out compatibility with cloud gaming services. The workaround is to download a third-party web browser on the visionOS App Store that supports PWAs. Our pick is Nexus+, as it’s specifically designed for cloud gaming, supports PWAs, and has a frameless UI for a more immersive experience. 

To get started, download Nexus+ by searching for it in the visionOS App Store or by following the App Store link here. It’s a free download, so pressing Get is all it takes to download it on your Vision Pro headset. 

Which cloud gaming service is best?

If you want to play cloud games on Vision Pro, there are two main options: Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. Both services have their pros and cons, but Xbox Cloud Gaming is preferred simply because of its value and accessibility. If you are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Cloud Gaming is included free of charge. The service costs $17 monthly and well over 30 million people are subscribed to Ultimate already. As such, Xbox Cloud Gaming is ideal for those who already pay for Game Pass Ultimate.

The problem is that Xbox Cloud Gaming is limited to a 1080p resolution. If you plan to play cloud gaming in a giant visionOS window, Xbox Cloud Gaming will look blown out and grainy. By comparison, the “ultimate” tier of GeForce Now unlocks 4K resolution, which will look a lot better on Apple Vision Pro. It costs $20 per month, so it’s more expensive than Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can use either service with the Nexus+ browser on Vision Pro, so you can choose for yourself which cloud gaming provider is best.

How to play cloud games on Vision Pro

After you’ve downloaded the Nexus+ app and have chosen your preferred cloud gaming service, all that’s left is to start playing. For this, you need to pair a Bluetooth controller with your Vision Pro headset. All kinds of controllers are compatible, including those from Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo, so you should have one around that is compatible with visionOS. Here’s how to pair it with your headset:

1. Open the visionOS Settings app and navigate to the Bluetooth page
2. Put your controller into pairing mode. The process for this will depend on what controller you have. It‘s a good idea to turn off other devices that may be paired with the controller already to prevent accidental connections
3. When the controller appears in Vision Pro’s list of available Bluetooth devices, tap the name of your controller to pair it with Vision Pro
4. After that, you should see your controller move into Vision Pro’s list of paired and connected Bluetooth devices when it successfully pairs

Keep in mind that visionOS isn’t designed for controller use, so you may need to manually tell the operating system where you want to use the controller. For example, if the Bluetooth controller isn’t working in your desired game or cloud service, tap the center of the window while looking at it. This will shift your controller‘s input to that window. 

After connecting your controller, it’s time to load up the Nexus+ app. Here’s how it works:

1. Open the Nexus+ app on Apple Vision Pro
2. Tap the pill-shaped button above the Nexus+ window to open a bookmarks menu

3. Open a bookmarked site. Since the app is designed for cloud gaming, Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now are both already there. You can add your own bookmarks, too
4. Log into your cloud gaming service with your username and password
5. Once you’ve logged in, pick a game and start playing it using visionOS eye and hand controls. When you’re placed into the game, use your Bluetooth controller

That’s it. Aside from needing a third-party browser and a controller, the process of using cloud gaming services on Vision Pro is quite simple. 

Is Vision Pro good for gaming?

The experience of cloud gaming on Vision Pro is a great one, and it’s something that every Apple Vision Pro owner should try. Still, it’s hard to call Vision Pro “good” for gaming. While services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now are great for enjoying PC games on the (virtual) biggest screen you own, they won’t replace true VR games. People shouldn’t go out and buy a Vision Pro headset just for playing cloud games, but it does add to the overall usefulness of the device.

Apple's Vision Pro is intended to be a paradigm shift for 'Spatial Computing', but it's still US-only - at least until WWDC 2024, where we're expecting a reveal of additional regions the headset will be available.

We were impressed when we went hands-on, though, and it appears we weren't the only ones. Despite not being launched in the UK yet, the Apple Vision Pro has won the Black Pencil Award from the UK's Design and Art Direction awards, as well as the Graphite Pencil for Use of XR.

Apple designer Alan Dye attended the event, and told Dezeen magazine "We are honored that visionOS has been awarded the prestigious D&AD Black Pencil for Digital Design."

"This new era of computing will redefine how we connect and create, and this award is a testament to the tight integration and care the design studio and engineering teams at Apple have invested into crafting a truly magical experience," he continued.

"At Apple, design plays such a central role in defining not only how our products look, but most critically, how they work."

"Our goal has always been to create intuitive user experiences that blur the lines between hardware and software and reimagine how users interact with technology."

"VisionOS is a powerful example of these principles in action" Dye explained. "Designed from the ground up, it features an entirely new interface, driven by your eyes, hands and voice, all designed to deliver spatial experiences that seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world."

"This new era of computing will redefine how we connect and create, and this award is a testament to the tight integration and care the design studio and engineering teams at Apple have invested into crafting a truly magical experience."

Apple's history with the Black Pencil award

Apple is no stranger to the award, which was awarded because "Vision Pro and visionOS unlock new ways to interact with technology and the world through spatial computing," according to the announcement.

"Years in the making, the platform is full of technological breakthroughs made possible by the tight integration between design and engineering teams across hardware and software."

Previous winners have included the original iPhone, the iMac, Apple's website, and even Apple's design team in its entirety in 2012 (thanks, AppleInsider).

Apple's win follows less than two weeks after criticism of its iPad-crushing ad for the new iPad Pro, which many took to be in opposition to creativity.

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Apple Vision Pro enthusiasts may have been disappointed to learn that the headset's best productivity feature, Mac Virtual Display, would only work with one visionOS window. The idea of using Vision Pro to get a triple or quadruple-monitor setup in mixed reality wasn't possible, at least at launch. Luckily, third-party app developers quickly rushed to fill in that gap with alternative solutions. One of them is Splitscreen, a visionOS app that works in tandem with Mac Virtual Display to offer two macOS displays on Vision Pro. 

I was one of the first to try Splitscreen when it was offered as a TestFlight app, but it's now publicly available through the visionOS App Store. After it is set up, the Splitscreen app is easy to use and is sure to be a productivity booster. Here's how you can get around Apple's limitations and use multiple Mac Virtual Displays with your Vision Pro headset. 

How to use a single Mac Virtual Display

Since the Splitscreen app compliments the standalone Mac Virtual Display feature, we’ll need to learn how to use that first. This tool works with an Apple Vision Pro headset and any Mac running macOS Sonoma. To use Mac Virtual Display, there are a few iCloud settings that must be enabled or adjusted for everything to work properly:

1. Both your Mac and your Vision Pro headset need to be signed into the same Apple ID. The account you’re using must have two-factor authentication enabled
2. Make sure iCloud Keychain is enabled on both your Mac and your Vision Pro headset. To do this, open the settings app on each device, navigate to [your name] > iCloud > Passwords & Keychain, and tap Sync this Mac or Sync this Vision Pro. The two devices need to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled to use Mac Virtual Display  

When the above conditions are met, using a Mac Virtual Display with Apple Vision Pro is quick and easy. On a MacBook, all you need to do is put on Vision Pro and start using your laptop. A Connect button will appear above your MacBook's display, and you can tap it to enter Mac Virtual Display mode. At this point, your laptop's built-in display will turn off and macOS will appear in a visionOS window. 

The process isn't as quick for Mac desktops, but it's still fairly simple. You can start using Mac Virtual Display by opening the Control Center on either your Mac or your Vision Pro headset. The visionOS Control Center has an icon for Mac Virtual Display, so you can tap it and select your Mac from the list to start using it. To initiate Mac Virtual Display from your Mac, open the Control Center, tap Screen Mirroring, and select Vision Pro.

How to add a second one with Splitscreen

Now, onto adding a second Mac Virtual Display using the Splitscreen app. This third-party app works similarly to other methods for virtualizing display output in macOS, like DisplayLink. On the hardware side, DisplayLink software overcomes the display output limitations of base-model Apple Silicon Macs. It does this by tricking macOS into sharing its screen with an app, just like you might share your screen with Zoom or Google Meet. The app then takes that screen-sharing output and sends it to an external monitor, or in the case of Splitscreen on Vision Pro, a visionOS window. 

As you might suspect, this means you'll need to install the Splitscreen app on both your Vision Pro and your Mac to utilize a second Mac Virtual Display. You can download the macOS app here and the visionOS app here. After you've downloaded both apps, you can get started using a second Mac Virtual Display by following these steps:

1. Start a Mac Virtual Display using the native method on your Mac or your Apple Vision Pro (see steps above). Do not try to use Splitscreen until you've started a Mac Virtual Display in visionOS, or it won't work
2. On your Mac, make sure Splitscreen is running in the background. You can open it through the Launchpad or via Spotlight search
3. Open the Splitscreen app on Vision Pro

4. Click the Splitscreen icon in your Mac's menu bar
5. Select Apple Vision Pro from the list
6. A second Mac Virtual Display will now appear

By this point, you should be able to use two Mac Virtual Displays in visionOS. There's the main one that is officially supported by macOS and visionOS, as well as the third-party one enabled by the Splitscreen app. Both will work just like any monitor you might use with your Mac, except they're virtualized in visionOS. As such, they can be scaled to impressive sizes and can be moved around in your real-world environment. 

Tips, tricks, and known issues

To make the most out of Mac Virtual Display and the Splitscreen app, you'll need to know some of its strengths and weaknesses. For starters, the Splitscreen app's display appears in the macOS display settings menu like any other monitor. You can adjust the display's position, scaling, resolution, and more from this page. It can be accessed by navigating through System Settings > Displays > [Your MacBook's Name]. To spot it, look for the display that says Splitscreen #1 under it. 

The limitation is that Splitscreen's virtual display window only supports a 1920x1080 resolution. That's less than the native Mac Virtual Display, which runs at 4K on Apple Silicon Macs and 3K on Intel Macs. Especially when the Splitscreen app windows are blown up to massive sizes, this low resolution is noticeable. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that using the Splitscreen app's virtual display will feel more laggy than the official Mac Virtual Display. It works best for static content that is interacted with less frequently, like notes or web pages. Typing on the Splitscreen app's virtual display shows how much additional latency there is compared to Mac Virtual Display, and it isn't recommended. 

Due to the way Universal Control works between Mac and Vision Pro, there may be an "Input temporarily not working" error message displayed on the Mac Virtual Display window when Splitscreen is in use.

Lastly, it's worth emphasizing that Mac Virtual Display won't launch properly if the Splitscreen app is already open. You need to start the regular Mac Virtual Display first, and then start Splitscreen. If this doesn't work, try closing out both the macOS and visionOS Splitscreen apps and try again. 

The future of Mac Virtual Display

Ideally, Apple will one day support multiple Mac Virtual Displays right out of the box. Until then, the Splitscreen app is the best way to use two Mac Virtual Displays at once on Apple Vision Pro. It's a game-changer for productivity and really showcases the future of spatial computing in visionOS. If you aren't convinced that Apple Vision Pro is a great productivity device yet, trying Splitscreen and Mac Virtual Display together might be enough to change your mind.

If you live in Europe and you want Apple Vision Pro, the company’s revolutionary spatial headset, you can finally pick one up — but only in one airport and for a huge price. 

Seen in an airport in Istanbul, Apple Vision Pro is selling for €4,699, down €160 from the €4,859 it was originally selling for. The original sale price works out to just under $5,300, which can get you an Apple Vision Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and one of the best iPhone 15 Pro Max cases in the United States pre-tax.

Curiously, the store in question, R&D, appears to be an official Apple Authorized Seller, and can even be found as such on the Apple website. However, it seems unlikely this is early stock being let out into the world. It seems far more likely that this was imported during flights from the U.S. to Turkey and then resold for a huge profit at the store. 

Why you should wait for Apple Vision Pro to come to Europe

Not only are you severely overpaying for the headset by ordering it early in Europe, but it won’t even work properly. You need a US Apple ID to download new apps, watch content, and activate subscriptions. You can technically turn it on without a US Apple ID but not much more. You could create an Apple ID to use it, by accessing a friend's address and creating a new one. However, you won’t have your Apple Pay, progress made in any games, or any saved passwords linked to your account. 

By using a new Apple ID on your Apple Vision Pro, you will lose access to all of your subscriptions, which means you can’t play the best Apple Arcade games or watch the best Apple TV Plus shows. Not only is this the case but apps for Apple Vision Pro won’t be localized for you, meaning some phrasing may seem unfamiliar and some languages won’t be supported. We don’t yet have an official release date on the Apple Vision Pro in Europe but we’re hoping to hear more about it at WWDC 2024 next month. 

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Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote is just a few weeks away, and alongside a big push for AI features, Apple is widely expected to showcase where the Vision Pro is going to launch next.

The company's big bet on "Spatial Computing" remains a US-only product at the time of writing, although reports have suggested that Apple employees have received specialized training for when it launches internationally. 

As we covered last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported on China being included in the next wave of Vision Pro markets, and he's since followed that up by noting that training has begun in "Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China".

Now, he's posted on X (formerly Twitter) to suggest three additional regions "are in" for the first Vision Pro expansion.

All expected Vision Pro international launch markets

The current lineup for the next phase of Vision Pro currently looks as follows.

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• Japan
• Singapore
• South Korea
• UK

These markets could join the current place it's available, the US, as soon as WWDC, but we'll find out for certain on June 10. They're also not too surprising given that they're all pretty much in the first wave for any Apple product launch.

Apple is also expected to reveal the next iteration of visionOS, likely visionOS 2. What better way to entice those in other markets to pick up the headset than with a slate of improvements, fixes, and quality-of-life tweaks?

Gurman's latest Power On newsletter also suggests Apple is banking on the Asia market to help make Vision Pro a success.

"Consumers in Japan and other Asian countries could have a higher comfort level with the mixed-reality headset, which melds VR and augmented reality", Gurman said.

"In preparation for the expansion, the company just got approval to sell the device in China from the local equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission."

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The Apple Vision Pro might be the most expensive mainstream mixed reality headset that money can buy right now, but it could also be the most important. That's according to one game developer, at least.

Despite costing at least $3,499 and currently only being available to buy in a single country, Job Simulator developer Owlchemy Labs CEO Andrew Eiche believes that it's key to getting people interested in headsets.

Apple is expected to take the Apple Vision Pro global sooner rather than later and that could well help prove Eiche's point that the spatial computer is "as one of the biggest steps towards mainstream adoption" of such devices.

A big step forward

Eiche was speaking with GamesIndustry.biz when attention turned to Apple's costly first foray into the world of AR and VR devices, and the CEO believes that the Apple Vision Pro has one key thing going for it — the lack of friction.

"I think there's still a lot of things that we have to figure out to get there," Eiche said when discussing the VR gaming industry and the Apple Vision Pro. "But as far as friction [goes], which is one of the biggest things that we fight in XR... It's one of the lowest friction devices," he explained. "You put it on, there's no room setup, it's not yelling at you to draw circles or whatever, it just runs the apps. There's no caveats to it." The CEO also noted that the headset handles its own setup automatically, down to the adjustment of its lenses.

While Eiche is obviously right about the barrier to entry in terms of using the Apple Vision Pro, there is one caveat that is difficult to look past — its price. Thankfully, Apple is thought to be working on a new, cheaper version of the headset but a launch isn't expected to happen any time soon.

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Ever since the Apple Vision Pro first went on sale in the United States this past February there have been plenty of questions about when we can expect the headset to go on sale internationally. Apple has so far only confirmed that a global launch will take place in 2024, but now there are signs that things are finally moving along.

A global Apple Vision Pro launch has been in the cards for some time and a recent report suggested that we should expect more countries to see the launch of the so-called spatial computer after WWDC on June 10. China was one country mentioned as a potential second-wave country, and now it's been confirmed that the country's Quality Certification Center has approved the Apple Vision Pro to go on sale locally.

This step is required for such a headset to be offered for sale and is a sure-fire indication that Apple intends to launch the headset in China sooner rather than later.

China first?

With China now seemingly nailed on for a launch within weeks, all eyes will be on Apple to see what comes next. It's thought that Apple has been training workers to get them ready for the launch with workers from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and of course, China involved.

Two notable absences from that list are Canada and the UK, countries that would normally be involved in either day-one or second-wave launches for big products. We might not have to wait long to find out what's going on there, thankfully, with WWDC now hopefully less than a month away from clearing things up.

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When Apple announced its Apple Vision Pro spatial computer back at WWDC 2023, almost a full year ago, we always knew that the launch wouldn't happen for a good long while. Availability finally came in February of 2024, just a few short months ago. But the mixed reality headset only went on sale in the United States and that's the way things remain to this day. A global launch is in the cards, though, and we might finally be about to get some clarity on the whole thing.

Apple has long said that it intends to take the Apple Vision Pro global in 2024, but so far we haven't been given any firm release window for the headset, nor which countries will be involved. And with 2024 rapidly moving towards its halfway mark, it's time for some answers. Thankfully, they could be just around the corner with WWDC 2024 set to take place from June 10.

According to a new report, Apple will use WWDC as the springboard for a global Apple Vision Pro launch a full year after the headset was first unveiled. And we might even finally get some more information on which countries are on board, too. There might be some surprises, too.

Coming soon?

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple is set to announce cold, hard plans for the Apple Vision Pro's international release at WWDC, putting an end to months of guesses and assumptions. He also believes that he might know which countries will be part of the second tranche of Apple Vision Pro countries, too. But while his list includes some of the heavy hitters that we would expect, there are also a couple of notable countries that are missing as well.

Gurman believes that Apple has been using the last few weeks and months to train people on the new product ahead of a launch in their region, although the company has kept even its own employees in the dark in terms of specifics.

"Apple has maintained its usual secrecy and hasn’t told employees in the training sessions where exactly the Vision Pro will be available," Gurman's Bloomberg report explains. "But the company is training workers from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China, indicating that those areas will be some of the first international markets for the device." Certification of the Apple Vision Pro has already taken place in China.

China is an obvious addition to this list given its importance to Apple and its bottom line, and Germany, France, and the rest are often part of first-wave launches for most new Apple products so it makes sense that they would be involved sooner rather than later. But there are two countries that are notable for their absence — Canada and the United Kingdom.

Both countries are important ones for Apple, and it's possible that they are still set to be part of Apple's WWDC unveiling. Certainly, people in those countries will hope that's the case.

The Apple Vision Pro launch has already proven to be unusual in a few ways, not least the huge lead time between announcement and availability. It isn't unheard of, especially for a new product category launch, but it's jarring given Apple's slick supply chain and usually precise timings. You only have to look at the number of countries the iPhone 16 will be available in, day one, this September to get a feel for that.

The global launch and the lack of information have also left people in the dark, perhaps more than usual, and I can only hope everyone gets the news they want on June 10.

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Apple's WWDC 2024 event is less than a month away at the time of writing, and while we could see iOS 18's AI features and iPadOS upgrades to take advantage of the M4 chip in the latest iPad Pro, we could also see the first full new OS revision of visionOS.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports in his Power On newsletter that while the "Let Loose" event mentioned the Vision Pro headset, WWDC is likely to be more likely to reveal substantive platform updates.

"The Worldwide Developers Conference in early June will bring visionOS 2.0, the second version of the headset’s operating system," Gurman says.

"Before that software goes online, the company is due to release visionOS 1.2. But that update doesn’t bring much new to the table," he adds, noting he wants it to fix the two inactive Environments.

You can check out what we want from visionOS 2.0 here.

When will Vision Pro go international?

We're still waiting for news on when the Vision Pro will be available outside of the US, but we may be getting a little closer to finding out.

A recent update added support for several new languages, and Gurman suggests it'll be sold in China soon.

"Apple will probably expand sales to China next," he says, adding "other countries [will be] coming later".

That means we should only need to wait another few weeks to find out when those of us outside of the US can get our hands on a Vision Pro.

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