New product
Apple is releasing pre-orders for its computer glasses
The Apple Vision Pro computer glasses will initially only come onto the market in the USA. photo
© Christoph Dernbach/dpa
Apple finds out whether customers are already willing to spend around $3,500 on a pair of computer glasses. The Apple Vision Pro is said to be able to do more than the competition – but the whole business has so far been a niche market.
The Apple Vision Pro will primarily compete against the Quest glasses from the Facebook group Meta. Meta originally specialized in virtual reality (VR), in which users completely immerse themselves in digital worlds. But the current Quest 3 model in particular can also display the real environment. The Quest 3 is sold by Meta for $500. The group is investing billions in the business, but it has remained a niche market so far. Apple is betting on a better experience with its more expensive device. The Vision Pro costs $3,899 in the most expensive version with one gigabyte of memory.
Apple sees a future for its glasses in, among other things, surgery, aircraft repairs and education, reported the financial service Bloomberg, citing an internal video from the company.
What can the Vision Pro do?
The Vision Pro records the environment with cameras and displays it together with the additional content on displays in front of the eyes. Apple advertises the possibility of using the glasses to distribute virtual displays for working in the room, to watch films as if on a large screen or to refresh memories using 3D videos recorded with the iPhone. In the coming days, the group will get a first impression of how many customers find this vision attractive enough to spend $3,500.
Apple is initially only launching the Vision Pro in the USA. It is unclear when it might come to Europe. The company most recently moved into a new product category in 2015 with its computer watch Apple Watch.
A striking element of the Apple glasses is the display on the outside, which can show the user’s eye area. When ordering, you should have your face scanned with the FaceID sensors of an iPhone or iPad so that Apple can choose the appropriate form of sealing off external light.
Before the launch, Apple secured support from, among others, entertainment giant Disney, who wants to make films and videos available on the glasses in an optimized manner. In contrast, Netflix and Google’s video platform YouTube are foregoing a Vision Pro app at launch and point out that you can watch their video content on the glasses in the web browser.