Yesterday it was merely a rumour, today it’s confirmed fact. Apple’s Vision Pro virtual reality headset will turn up in the real world on 2 February this year. Well, we say the real world but really it’s launching in America. Other locations around the world will have to wait longer to experience what Apple has cooked up.
If you’re a Yank, you’ll be able to pre-order Apple’s R65,000 VR hardware from 19 January, giving you ten days to decide if you’re comfortable throwing another $3,500 in the fruit company’s direction. By most accounts, the Vision Pro will change the way users think about virtual and augmented reality but that price tag is a serious barrier to entry.
Become a Vision Pro
One that Apple reckons it’ll easily surmount, it seems. Sure, the company is said to have scaled back production but there should be enough folks interested in Apple’s VR efforts to sell out the current run of stock. Others might be waiting for the upgraded version that’s already in development.
For the moment, glasses wearers in particular will have to contend with extras to get their ‘spatial computing’ on. Optical inserts or add-ons called ‘Readers’ from Zeiss can be purchased at an extra cost. But if you live in a family of near-sighted folks, separate prescription inserts costing between R2,000 and R3,000 could sting the wallet even more than the Vision Pro will.
That said, it is certainly worth experiencing, even if we’ll never afford one at this price point. There’s speculation that Apple’s device could finally make the metaverse happen. Probably not, but let’s see what happens.