At the start of this year’s WWDC, Apple spoke of the “beginning of a new era” – and should prove it with a new product. With the Vision Pro, mixed reality glasses, the company showed what could come after the smartphone.
It will be a “historic day” – that’s how full-bodied Tim Cook rang in the opening keynote of the Apple developer fair WWDC today. And indeed, the group had a lot on the slip. The most important innovation: the product that should finally replace the iPhone.
What has long been hidden from the world public was revealed for the first time today. The Vision Pro is a so-called mixed reality glasses, so it can expand the real world with virtual content. Unlike the Meta glasses, for example, the glasses connect the real world and superimpose an image. This not only allows you to play games or watch films, but also to work, make video calls or bring colleagues into the room. So that the wearers are not taken out of the room, Apple shows their faces on an external display. The Vision Pro is controlled with the eyes and hands, but texts can also be entered normally with a keyboard.
A computer interface like in the movies
Glasses are fundamentally changing the way you use a computer. Referring to the computer and mobile revolution, Apple speaks of “spatial computing”, i.e. computers that use space. Apple’s particular focus is on collaboration. If two people who wear glasses are in the room, they can simply place their digital documents on the table – and then work on theirs together. Meetings with video calls are also displayed in the glasses, the voices of the participants then come from the direction in which their faces are seen.
The glasses also support completely normal apps like Safari and display the windows directly in front of the eye. Only: You can arrange them in 3D in space, and show or hide the surroundings if you wish. The latter is of course particularly interesting for films if you want to concentrate on a single content. Streaming services such as Apple TV+ and Netflix are supported, and 3D films are even displayed in 3D. A collaboration with Disney should offer completely new experiences.
WWDC 2023
Vision Pro glasses, Macbooks, Super Mac and lots of software – the WWDC 2023 in pictures
With the included 3D cameras on the outside, the glasses are the first Apple product to allow recordings to be made in 3D and played back in the glasses. The sound is also recorded in 3D thanks to spatial audio. And then of course there are the games. Initially, 100 games will be supported by Apple Arcade. But the plan could go further. With new tools Apple wants to make it even easier to port games for Apple devices. The glasses should also be an extremely attractive platform.
Otherwise, Apple attaches great importance to the fact that the glasses do not remove the wearer from the room. You see your surroundings all the time. And if another person enters the room, the glasses also show the wearer’s eyes outward. Multiple cameras on the outside and infrared scanners inside measure the environment and eye movement.
“The most complex product we have ever created”
According to Apple, the glasses are technically “the most complex product we have ever created”. The three main parts – the technology, the headgear and the face cavity – are offered in different sizes. Inserts developed by Zeiss, which are inserted magnetically, are available for people who wear glasses. To save weight around the head, the battery pack is connected externally with a cable and simply slips into your pocket. Without a socket, the battery life should be around two hours.
The display is simply impressive. The two micro-LED screens are so sharp that they fit 64 pixels into the area of an iPhone pixel. The glasses have 23 million pixels. And offers true 4K and HDR. The well-known M2 chip works together with the specially developed R1 chip to guarantee a completely smooth display. The chips achieve extremely sharp edges of writing and only 12 milliseconds delay in order to avoid the problems with seasickness known from other glasses.
Apple is well aware of the scope of its innovation: The glasses are just the start of a completely new platform, it said confidently on stage. The glasses are the most personal device that the group has ever built. Tim Cook had repeatedly emphasized the full potential of augmented reality in the past. The technology could be as big as the iPhone, he emphasized in the past. If you consider what a premium the first model is, you can imagine that.
In the mainstream, however, the glasses will not land so quickly. The price of $3499 is a big hurdle – and the glasses won’t appear until “early next year”, initially only in the USA.
WWDC compulsory program: new Macbooks and farewell to Intel
But before it came to the freestyle, the compulsory program was on. Right from the start there was new hardware in the portfolio. The Macbook Air is now available as a 15-inch model for the first time. Despite this, it is only 11.5 millimeters thick, and at 1.5 kilograms it is also impressively light. The Retina display is exactly 15.3 inches in size and offers up to 500 nits of brightness. It is operated with the M2 chip introduced last year. Like the small Macbook Air, Apple completely dispenses with fans. The price is 1599 euros, it can be ordered now. The price has been reduced for some older models, the Macbook Air with M1 chip now starts at 1199 euros.
The Mac Studio desktop computer is also being refreshed. For the first time since it was introduced two years ago, it gets a new chip, the M2 Max. And for the first time there is the new M2 Ultra, which simply consists of two M2 Max chips. Depending on the application, this should be up to 50 percent faster than an M1 Ultra.
The new Mac Pro brings up the rear of the Mac launches – and the final departure from Intel. Apple has stayed true to the “cheese grater” design, but is now transitioning the pro Mac to M-chips as well. The computer is the only fully modular computer from Apple and is therefore primarily aimed at professionals who want to swap components from time to time. The computer is only available with the M2 Ultra, the price starts at 8299 euros. If you throw everything in, including an Apple M2 Ultra with a 24-core CPU, 76-core GPU and 32-core Neural Engine as well as 192 gigabytes of RAM, you end up with just over 14,000 euros.
iOS, iPadOS, watchOS: Software updates for almost all platforms
Because WWDC is a developer fair, all sorts of new operating systems were of course on the agenda. From iOS 17, watchOS 10, iPadOS 17, AppleTV to the new macOS Sonoma, the company has given its systems tons of new features. The biggest conversion is for the Apple Watch. Apple is fundamentally changing how people see information. If you scroll the clock wheel in any watch face, widgets with the most important information appear. Many of the apps have also been rebuilt. And of course there are new watchfaces, such as with Snoopy.
Additionally, there are many new features to expand the watch’s health capabilities even further. The Mental Health App, for example, is new, where you can track your mental health and get tips. The clock then automatically ensures, for example, that you get enough daylight.
On the iPhone and iPad, the changes are rather moderate. The biggest innovation is certainly the revision of the phone app. For the first time, you can customize how you appear to others when you call them. You can customize your “map” in numerous ways. Other telephone functions have also been revised: voice messages can be transcribed on request so that you no longer have to listen to them, Facetime will allow video messages in the future if you don’t answer the phone.
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You can soon share your business card with the iPhone via Airdrop by touching it, and there should be a significantly revised auto-correction for the keyboard.
There is also a new app. The journal app is designed to make memories even easier to relive. It works similarly to the Photos app’s reminders, but includes a lot more data, like music or sports – if users want it.
The new stand-by mode is also very interesting. This is a new view on the lock screen when the iPhone is placed on its side while charging. Much like an Amazon Echo Show, it cycles through images and displays information. When it gets dark, the display adapts and dims the light.
The macOS called Sonoma meanwhile impresses with widgets on the Finder, more functions for video conferences and a heavily revised Safari browser.
The Airpods are also getting an update
Even the Airpods got a little attention at WWDC 2023. With “Adaptive Audio”, i.e. an adapted transparency mode, you can hear a bicycle bell, for example, although you suppress the traffic noise. The volume learns how you like it over time and adjusts automatically. In addition, switching between devices should finally work better and faster in the future.