Apple VR glasses. Apple Unveils Vision Pro Virtual Reality Headset, Its First…

Apple Unveils Vision Pro Virtual Reality Headset, Its First Major Device Launch In Nearly A Decade

Apple has entered the virtual and augmented reality arena, announcing a long-anticipated new headset and platform called Vision Pro.

CEO Tim Cook called VR and AR “profound technology” with “revolutionary” potential during the climactic minutes of the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (watch it above, with Vision Pro starting at the 1 hour 23 minute mark). Cook said the product followed in the illustrious lineage of the company’s Mac personal computer line and the iPhone. It is the first major new device launch by the company since the Apple Watch nine years ago.

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The company said its “spatial computing” system relies on a fluid interface picking up on signals and movements from a user’s eyes and hands as well as Siri voice recognition. Those inputs differ from those of many existing VR setups, which require the use of physical controllers along with headsets.

Innovation comes at a cost with all things Apple, of course. The Vision Pro will retail at 3,499 when it begins shipping in 2024, many times the 499 price tag of Meta’s Quest 3.

Apple’s entry is premised on a user experience in which real-life activity happening around the headset continues to be displayed to users wearing it, in combination with images pulled up from apps or games. Instead of the hermetic experience generally available on headsets today, the tech giant is positioning the Vision Pro as a best-of-all-worlds solution worthy of its eye-watering cost. “Blending digital content with the real world can unlock experiences like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Cook said.

Videos accompanying remarks by Cook and other execs showed use cases like an office worker receiving a note from a colleague, who is fully visible as the full frame width also displays spreadsheets and calendar notifications. In another scene, a videoconference shows video of the speakers alongside a shared presentation deck, with a real-life apartment in the background.

Punctuating the presentation, Disney CEO Bob Iger made a pre-recorded appearance, clad in a jeans and sneakers. He said the Vision Pro will allow his company to create “deeply personal experiences that bring our fans closer to the characters they love and more deeply immersed in our story.” Disney will be available on the Vision Pro on the first day it becomes available, Iger added. The companies’ partnership will also include certain “Hero experiences” and a sneak-peek video featured a sense of how Marvel, The Mandalorian, Disneyland, ESPN and Mickey Mouse would be integrated into headset-specific releases. Disney under Iger has had a relationship with Apple since 2005, when the companies set a game-changing teaming for film and TV titles to be made available for download via iTunes.

While Sony and a division of ByteDance have mounted serious efforts in VR hardware, Meta Platforms has made the highest-profile bet on the emerging sector. It renamed the entire company from to reflect its new strategic FOCUS and has pumped billions of dollars into its Reality Labs unit, acknowledging it would be a long-term initiative that loses money during its early phase.

Despite all of the investment, VR and the metaverse have not been unanimously determined to be the life-changing evolutionary stage depicted by boosters. Total sales of headsets in 2022 dropped 21% from 2021, totaling 8.8 million, and fell by more than half in the first quarter of 2023.

Part of the pitch for the Vision Pro at its super-premium price point, as the Disney segment demonstrated, is that it can even replace a mobile device or TV. Complete with 4K resolution, the idea is that can create a more engaging viewing experience than can be had in the non-augmented world, though to start its battery life is two hours. The scenario of strapping on a headset for movie and TV viewing will depend on the level of comfort users have with wearing one for an extended periods. Complaints about existing headsets have centered on their weight and the heat generated by their processors, along with dizziness and nausea setting in during longer sessions.

In anticipation of the events onstage, Apple stock hit an all-time high, gaining 2% to just shy of 185 before sinking into the red as investors digested the day’s news. Shares ended the day off 1% but they have risen almost 40% in 2023 thus far, several times the increase of the benchmark SP 500 and within sight of a 3 trillion valuation for the company.

While the headset stole the show, Apple revealed a wide range of offerings, from new laptops and Airpods to iOS and Watch updates. New iterations of Apple TV and iOS will enable users to FaceTime on a big screen and leave video voicemail messages.

Apple Vision Pro: The Future of Augmented and Virtual Reality

Apple has taken a groundbreaking step into the world of augmented and virtual reality with the introduction of its highly anticipated AR/VR headset, Vision Pro. This cutting-edge device seamlessly blends the real world with the digital world, providing users with a new kind of computer that goes beyond traditional displays. With Vision Pro, Apple aims to redefine spatial computing and unlock a whole new dimension of personal technology.

At the Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC 2023) which kicked off today, June 5th, the team unveiled the Vision Pro as a revolution in integrating digital content into our physical space. As Apple CEO Tim Cook says: ‘It’s the first Apple product you look through and not at.‘ Vision Pro is set to allow its users to see, hear, and interact with digital content as if it were part of their physical surroundings. The world becomes a ‘canvas for apps,’ which can be placed anywhere and scaled to any size, without the limitations of the screen — what’s more, you can fully immerse yourself in a selection of ‘Environments’ as the room around you disappears.

images via Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2023

controlled by your eyes, hands, and voice

Apple Vision Pro opens up your space with a fully three-dimensional interface controlled intuitively using your eyes, hands, and voice. The team explains that when you first put on the Vision Pro, you will see your space and everything in it, with the Home View floating in front of you. The interface is designed to have a sense of physicality, with elements that respond dynamically to light, cast shadows, and provide a clear understanding of scale and distance. Interacting with apps and content feels natural and effortless, as if you were moving real objects.

The input model for Vision Pro is incredibly intuitive, requiring no additional hardware or controllers. You browse the system simply by looking, with app icons coming to life when you direct your gaze towards them. Tapping your fingers together allows you to select and scroll, while voice commands are seamlessly integrated through Siri.

eyesight: revealing or concealing your eyes

One of the foundational design goals of Vision Pro is to ensure that users are never isolated from the people around them. A breakthrough innovation called ‘EyeSight’ allows Vision Pro to display your eyes when someone is nearby, giving the illusion of transparency so that people around you are cued into your FOCUS — this changes once you’re fully immersed in an Environment. This seamless integration of the digital and physical worlds creates an environment that is perfect for collaboration and shared experiences.

a tool for collaboration and remote work

From browsing the web with Safari to reliving precious memories through photos and videos, Vision Pro offers a wide range of applications. Web pages are large and videos are stunning, allowing you to enjoy content in a cinematic manner. The device seamlessly integrates with familiar accessories like Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard for longer emails or tasks. While on a FaceTime call, friends or colleagues appear in floating video tiles. Other apps can be viewed and shared simultaneously. Vision Pro can also connect wirelessly to a Mac, transforming it into a portable 4K display and changing your environment into an immersive workspace no matter where you are.

Vision Pro features Apple’s first 3D camera, allowing you to capture ‘spatial photos and videos’ that come to life with depth and Spatial Audio. Additionally, a spatial cinema environment turns any space into a personal movie theater, backdropped by a range of Environments, or by a theater-like space.

technical details: the structure

The structure of Vision Pro was designed to provide both performance and comfort. The front of the device features a singular piece of three-dimensionally formed and laminated glass that acts as a lens for EyeSight and various cameras and sensors. The lightweight frame, made from custom aluminum alloy, complements the glass and houses the necessary components while ensuring durability and protection.

The design also incorporates soft textile parts for a comfortable and customizable fit, with a modular system that accommodates a wide range of head shapes and sizes. The headband, made from a 3D-knitted rib structure, provides cushioning, breathability, and stretch, while a secure mechanism allows for easy adjustment and a precise fit. For those who wear glasses, custom optical inserts created in collaboration with Zeiss magnetically attach to the lenses, accommodating vision correction without compromising display performance or eye-tracking accuracy.

the technology

The technology behind Vision Pro is truly groundbreaking. The micro OLED Apple Silicon backplane enables the device to fit an incredible 23 million pixels across two panels, providing an immersive visual experience with true 4K resolution, wide color, and high dynamic range. The custom three-element lens solution magnifies the panels and delivers exceptional sharpness and clarity, ensuring that fine text remains sharp from any angle. Vision Pro’s spatial audio system creates an ambient sound experience that feels like it is coming from the space around you, blending seamlessly with the real world.

The advanced sensor array, including high-resolution cameras, precise eye tracking, and real-time 3D mapping, enables responsive and intuitive input, freeing users from the need for hardware controllers. The system’s computational power is provided by the Apple M2 chip and a specialized chip called R1, which work in parallel to deliver impressive performance, maintain a comfortable temperature, and eliminate lag.

a new OS built from the ground-up

Vision Pro’s operating system, visionOS, builds upon the engineering innovations of Mac OS, iOS, and iPadOS. It introduces new capabilities specifically designed for low-latency spatial computing, such as a real-time execution engine and a dynamically foveated rendering pipeline that maximizes image quality where the user’s eyes are focused. The multi-app 3D engine allows different apps to run simultaneously in the same simulation, opening up new possibilities for multitasking and collaboration. With native support for spatial experiences, visionOS provides a seamless and immersive operating environment for Vision Pro users.

Apple Vision Pro is a Revolutionary AR/VR Headset and 3D Camera

Apple has announced the Vision Pro, a groundbreaking mixed-reality headset that combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

It’s the company’s first major new product in almost 10 years and was officially announced today at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

“Vision Pro creates an infinite canvas for apps that scales beyond the boundaries of a traditional display and introduces a fully three-dimensional user interface controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice,” Apple says. “Featuring visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system, Vision Pro lets users interact with digital content in a way that feels like it is physically present in their space.”

It Doubles as a 3D Camera

The Vision Pro has a 3D camera onboard, allowing the wearer to capture 3D photos and 3D videos. The wearer can view the media back later in an immersive way that puts you back inside the captured memory.

Also, if you have captured a panoramic photo on your iPhone it can be viewed as an enormous, immersive image inside the headset.

Intuitive Control with the Eyes and Hands

The sleek new product is solely controlled by eyes, hands, and voice. Apple describes its “first-ever wearable spatial computer” as “magical.”

The device uses spatial computing and has a fully 3D interface, allowing the wearer to display the apps and software however they see fit.

As an augmented reality display, Vision Pro users can choose to see the world around them while having their content and user interface overlaid on their surroundings.

While the outside world is projected into the Vision Pro through the digital displays, a new feature called EyeSight allows the headset to “feel” transparent by projecting the wearer’s eyes onto the front of the display, showing people on the outside where the user is looking.

Apple’s First ‘Spatial Computer’

The device also works as a computer, it connects with the user’s keyboard and mouse and can also connect to Mac computers and laptops. The California company says the device is perfect for use in the office or for working remotely.

A Virtual Movie Theater in Your Home

Vision Pro also offers a “spatial cinema” experience, dimming the real world and giving the wearer a huge screen that looks like it’s up to 100 feet wide. The ultra-high-res display system boasts 23 million pixels across two postage stamp-sized displays, one for each eye. This provides the equivalent of a 4K TV on each side of the headset.

Apple even suggests using it on an airplane — the device will offer streaming services and can block out external sounds to give you a quiet, enjoyable viewing experience.

It doesn’t stop there, with the viewer being able to watch 3D movies. Apple boasts is “the only device in the world” that can offer quality 3D video.

Launch Video

Here’s a 9-minute launch video Apple made to announce the new Vision Pro:

Pricing and Availability

Apple’s Vision Pro will cost 3,499 and will be available in early 2024.

Apple Vision Pro price, release year and everything we know about the VR headset

The Apple Vision Pro is one of the biggest tech announcements of recent years – and with the dust is still settling on the tech giant’s first AR/VR headset, many questions remain. What’s the Vision Pro’s actual release date? What do we know about its specs? And how will you use it if you wear glasses?

We’ve rounded up the answers to those questions and more in this guide to everything we know (so far) about the Apple Vision Pro. You can also read our hands-on Apple Vision Pro review for a more experiential sense of what it’s like to wear the headset.

Now that visionOS, which is the headset’s operating system, is in the hands of developers, a bigger picture is forming of exactly how this spatial computer (as Apple calls its) will work and fit into our lives.

Still, actually using the Vision Pro as a next-gen Mac, TV, FaceTime companion and more is a long way off. It’ll cost 3,499 (around £2,800 / AU5,300) when it arrives early next year, and that’ll only be in the US initially.

Clearly, the Vision Pro is a first-generation, long-term platform that is going to take a long time to reach fruition. But the journey there is definitely going to be fun as more of its mysteries are uncovered – so here’s everything we know about Apple’s AR/VR headset so far.

Apple Vision Pro latest news

A new report claims that the Apple Vision Pro may be lacking some features at launch, including the ability to show multiple Mac desktop screens.

• July 7, 2023: you might struggle to get your hands on the Apple Vision Pro as Apple may only be able to manufacture 150,000 of them in 2024.
• June 22, 2023: the Apple visionOS beta is now out in the wild with developers, and it’s taught us six things about the AR/VR headset.
• June 22, 2023: a new report from The Information suggests Apple had planned to include more features in its Vision Pro unveiling, but left five key ones out as they weren’t yet ready for primetime.
• June 19, 2023: the iPhone 15 is tipped to have a UWB (Ultra Wideband) chip, which could help unlock the Apple Vision Pro’s potential.
• June 12, 2023: according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman Apple is already working on two Vision Pro successors, including a cheaper one. Though the latter isn’t slated to arrive until the end of 2025.
• June 8, 2023: some new speculation has hinted at how expensive the Vision Pro’s ‘vision correction accessories’ could be for glasses-wearers. The short answer: you’re looking at 300-600 a pair for the Zeiss prescription lenses. Ouch.
• June 7, 2023: all of the early verdicts on the Apple Vision Pro are in from those lucky enough to try it out at Apple Park (including TechRadar). Our Vision Pro review roundup gives you an early temperature check of everyone’s early thoughts.

Apple Vision Pro: what you need to know

Vision Pro release date: Sometime early next year according to Apple.

Vision Pro headset price: Starts at 3,499 (around £2,800 / AU5,300).

Vision Pro headset specs: Apple’s headset uses two chipsets, an M2 and a new R1 to handle regular software and its XR capabilities respectively. It also has dual 4K displays.

Vision Pro headset design: The Vision Pro has a similar design to other VR headsets, with a front panel that covers your eyes, and an elastic strap. One change from the norm is that it has an outer display to show the wearer’s eyes.

Vision Pro headset battery life: It lasts for up to two hours on a full charge using the official external battery pack.

Vision Pro headset controllers: There are no controllers – instead you’ll use your eyes, hands, and voice to control its visionOS software.

Apple Vision Pro: price and release date

Apple says the Vision Pro will start at 3,499 (that’s around £2,800 / AU5,300). That wording suggests that more expensive options will be available, but right now we don’t know what those higher-priced headsets might offer over the standard model.

As for release date for the Vision Pro, Apple has only given a vague “early next year.” That’s later than we’d been expecting, with leaks suggesting it would launch in the next few months – perhaps around the same time as the iPhone 15 – but that isn’t the case. As 2024 gets closer we expect Apple will give us an update on when we’ll be able to strap a Vision Pro onto our heads.

Interestingly, Apple’s website only mentions a US release. Apple has yet to confirm if the Vision Pro will launch in regions outside of the US, and when that’ll happen. Even if it does launch outside of the US you might struggle to get your hands on one; Apple is reportedly going to make less than 400,000 Vision Pros and maybe even as few as 150,000.

Apple Vision Pro: design

The Apple Vision shares a lot of similarities with the current crop of best VR headsets. It has a large face panel that covers your eyes, and is secured to your head with a strap made from elasticated fabric, plastic and padding.

But rather than the similarities, let’s FOCUS on the Vision Pro’s unique design features.

The biggest difference VR veterans will notice is that the Vision Pro doesn’t have a battery; instead, it relies on an external battery pack. This is a sort of evolution of the HTC Vive XR Elite’s design, which allowed the headset to go from being a headset with a battery in its strap to a battery-less pair of glasses that relies on external power.

This battery pack will provide roughly two hours of use on a full charge according to Apple, and is small enough to fit in the wearer’s It’ll connect to the headset via a cable, which is a tad unseemly by Apple’s usual design standards, but what this choice lacks in style it should make up for in comfort.

We found the Meta Quest Pro to be really comfy, but wearing it for extended periods of time can put a strain on your neck – just ask our writer who wore the Quest Pro for work for a whole week.

If you buy a Vision Pro you’ll find that your box lacks something needed for other VR headsets: controllers. That’s because the Vision Pro relies solely on tracking your hand and eye movements, as well as voice inputs, to control its apps and experiences. It’ll pick up these inputs using its array of 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones.

The last design detail of note is the Vision Pro’s Eyesight display. It looks pretty odd, maybe even a bit creepy, but we’re reserving judgment until we’ve had a chance to try it out.

When a Vision Pro wearer is using AR features and can see the real world, nearby people will see their eyes ‘through’ the headset’s front panel (it’s actually a screen showing a camera view of the eyes, but based on Apple’s images you might be convinced it’s a simple plane of glass). If they’re fully immersed in an experience, onlookers will instead see a Cloud of color to signify that they’re exploring another world.

Apple Vision Pro: specs and features

As the rumors had suggested, the Apple Vision Pro headset will come with some impressive specs to justify its sky-high price.

First, the Vision Pro will use two chipsets to power its experiences. One is an M2 chip, the same one you’ll find in the Apple iPad Pro (2022), and some of the best MacBooks and Macs.

This powerful processor will handle the apps and software you’re running on the Vision Pro. Meanwhile, the R1 chipset will deal with the mixed reality side of things, processing the immersive elements of the Vision Pro that turn it from a glorified wearable Mac display to an immersive spatial computer.

On top of these chips, the Vision Pro has crisp 4K micro-OLED displays – one per eye – that offer roughly 23 million pixels each. According to Apple the Vision Pro’s display fits 64 pixels into the same space that the iPhone’s screen fits one single pixel, and this could eliminate the annoying screen-door effect that affects other VR headsets.

This effect occurs when you’re up close to a screen and you can start to see the gaps between the pixels in the array; the higher the pixel density, the closer you can get before the screen door effect becomes noticeable.

These components will allow you to run an array of Apple software through Apple’s new visionOS platform (not xrOS as was rumored). This includes immersive photos and videos, custom-made Disney Plus experiences, and productivity apps like Keynote.

You’ll also be able to play over 100 Apple Arcade titles on a virtual screen that’s like your own private movie theatre.

You’ll be able to connect your Vision Pro headset to a Mac via Bluetooth. When using this feature you’ll be able to access your Mac apps and see your screen on a large immersive display, and it’ll sit alongside other Vision Pro apps you’re using. Apple says this setup will help you be more productive than you’ve ever been.

With the power of the M2 chip, Apple’s headset should be able to run most Mac apps natively – Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro recently arrived on M2 iPads. For now, however, Apple hasn’t revealed if these and other apps will be available natively on the Vision Pro, or if you’ll need a Mac to unlock the headset’s full potential. We expect these details will be revealed nearer to the headset’s 2024 launch.

Apple Vision Pro: your questions answered

We’ve answered all of the basic questions about the Apple Vision Pro’s release date, price, specs and more above, but you may understandably still have some more specific or broader ones.

To help, we’ve taken all of the most popular Vision Pro questions from Google and social media and answered them in a nutshell below.

What is the point of Apple Vision Pro?

Apple says that the point of the Vision Pro is to introduce a new era of spatial computing. It’s a standalone, wearable computer that aims to deliver new experiences for watching TV, working, reliving digital memories, and remotely collaborating with people in apps like FaceTime.

But it’s still early days. And there arguably isn’t yet a single ‘point’ to the Vision Pro. At launch, it’ll be able to do things like give you a huge, portable monitor for your Apple laptop, or create a home cinematic experience in apps like Disney Plus. However, like the first Apple Watch, it’ll be up to developers and users to define the big new use cases for the Vision Pro.

How much does an Apple Vision Pro cost?

The Apple Vision Pro will cost 3,499 when it goes on sale in the US early next year. It won’t be available in other countries until later next year, but that price converts to around £2,815 / AU5,290.

This makes the Vision Pro a lot more expensive than rival headsets. The Meta Quest Pro was recently given a price drop to 999 / £999 / AU1,729. Cheaper and less capable VR-only headsets, like the incoming Meta Quest 3, are also available for 499 / £499 / AU829. But there is also no direct comparison to the kind of technology offered by the Vision Pro.

Does Apple Vision Pro work with glasses?

The Apple Vision Pro does work for those who wear glasses, although there are some things to be aware of. If you wear glasses you won’t wear them with the headset. Instead, you’ll need to buy some separate optical inserts that attach magnetically to the Vision Pro’s lenses. Apple hasn’t yet announced the pricing for these, currently only stating that vision correction accessories are sold separately.

Apple says it’ll offer a range of vision correction strengths that won’t compromise the display quality or the headset’s eye-tracking performance. But it also warns that not all prescriptions are supported and that a valid prescription is required. So while the Vision Pro does work well for glasses wearers, there are some potential downsides.

Is Apple Vision Pro a standalone device?

The Apple Vision Pro is a standalone device with its own visionOS operating system and doesn’t need an iPhone or MacBook to run. This is why Apple calls the headset a spatial computer.

That said, having an iPhone or MacBook alongside a Vision Pro will bring some benefits. For example, to create a personalized spatial audio profile for the headset’s audio pods, you’ll need an iPhone with a TrueDepth camera.

The Vision Pro will also give MacBook owners a large virtual display that hovers above their real screen, an experience that won’t be available on other laptops. So while you don’t need any other Apple devices to use the Vision Pro, owning other Apple-made tech will help maximize the experience.

Is Apple Vision Pro VR or AR?

The Apple Vision Pro offers both VR and AR experiences, even if Apple doesn’t use those terms to describe them. Instead, Apple says it creates spatial experiences that blend the digital and physical worlds. You can control how much you see of both using its Digital Crown on the side.

Turning the Digital Crown lets you control how immersed you are in a particular app. This reveals the real world behind an app’s digital overlays, or extends what Apple calls ‘environments’. These spread across and beyond your physical room, for example giving you a view over a virtual lake.

While some of the examples shown by Apple look like traditional VR, the majority err towards augmented reality, combining your real-world environment (captured by the Vision Pro’s full-color passthrough system) with its digital overlays.

Is Apple Vision Pro see through?

The front of the Apple Vision Pro isn’t see-through or fully transparent, even though a feature called EyeSight creates that impression. The front of the headset is made from laminated glass, but behind that lens is an outward-facing OLED screen.

It’s this screen that will show a real-time view of your eyes (captured by the cameras inside the headset) to the outside world if you’re in augmented reality mode. If you’re enjoying a fully immersive, VR-like experience like watching a movie, this screen will instead show a Siri-like graphic.

To help you look out through the headset, the Apple Vision Pro has a passthrough system that uses cameras on the outside of the goggles to give you a real-time, color feed of your environment. So while the headset feels like it’s see-through, your view of the real world is digital.

How does Vision Pro work?

The Apple Vision Pro uses a combination of cameras, sensors, and microphones to create a controller-free computing experience that you control using your hands, eyes, and voice.

The headset’s forward-facing cameras capture the real world in front of you, so this can be displayed on its two internal lenses (Apple says these give you more pixels than a 4K TV for each eye). The Vision Pro’s side and downward-facing cameras also track your hand movements, so you can control it with your hands – for example, touching your thumb and forefinger together to click.

But the really unique thing about the Vision Pro is its eye-tracking, which is powered by a group of infrared cameras and LED illuminators on the inside of the headset. This mean you can simply look at app icons or even smaller details to highlight them, then use your fingers or voice to type.

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Will Apple’s sleek new VR goggles be the ones to capture users?

Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumoured headset that will place its users between the virtual and real worlds, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularise new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.

After years of speculation, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the arrival of the sleek goggles — dubbed “Vision Pro” — at the US company’s annual developers’ conference held on a park-like campus in Cupertino, California, that Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs helped design.

“This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology,” Cook told the crowd. Apple didn’t immediately reveal the goggles’ price, although they are expected to cost in the 3,000 range, likely limiting their appeal to a fairly narrow Band of video-game enthusiasts and affluent technophiles.

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The headset could become another milestone in Apple’s lore of releasing game-changing technology, even though the company hasn’t always been the first to try its hand at making a particular device.

Apple’s lineage of breakthroughs dates back to a bow-tied Jobs peddling the first Mac in 1984 —a tradition that continued with the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, the Apple Watch in 2014 and its Airpods in 2016.

If the new device turns out to be a niche product, it would leave Apple in the same bind as other major tech companies and startups that have tried selling headsets or glasses equipped with technology that either thrusts people into artificial worlds or projects digital images with scenery and things that are actually in front of them — a format known as “augmented reality”.

founder Mark Zuckerberg has been describing these alternate three-dimensional realities as the “metaverse”. It’s a geeky concept that he tried to push into the mainstream by changing the name of his social networking company to Meta Platforms in 2021 and then pouring billions of dollars into improving the virtual technology.

But the metaverse largely remains a digital ghost town, although Meta’s virtual reality headset, the Quest, remains the top-selling device in a category that so far has mostly appealed to video-game players looking for even more immersive experiences.

Industry struggles

The response to virtual, augmented and mixed reality has been decidedly ho-hum so far. Some of the gadgets deploying the technology have even been derisively mocked, with the most notable example being Google’s internet-connected glasses released more than a decade ago.

After Google co-founder Sergey Brin initially drummed up excitement about the device by demonstrating an early model’s potential “wow factor” with a skydiving stunt staged during a San Francisco tech conference, consumers quickly became turned off to a product that allowed its users to surreptitiously take pictures and video. The backlash became so intense that people who wore the gear became known as “Glassholes”, leading Google to withdraw the product a few years after its debut.

Microsoft also has had limited success with HoloLens, a mixed-reality headset released in 2016, although the software maker earlier this year insisted it remains committed to the technology.

Magic Leap, a startup that stirred excitement with previews of a mixed-reality technology that could conjure the spectacle of a whale breaching through a gymnasium floor, had so much trouble marketing its first headset to consumers in 2018 that it has since shifted its FOCUS to industrial, healthcare and emergency uses.

Daniel Diez, Magic Leap’s chief transformation officer, said there are four major questions Apple’s goggles will have to answer: “What can people do with it? What does this thing look and feel like? Is it comfortable to wear? And how much is it going to cost?”

The anticipation that Apple’s goggles are going to sell for several thousand dollars already has dampened expectations for the product. Although he expects Apple’s goggles to boast “jaw-dropping” technology, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said he expects the company to sell just 150,000 units during the device’s first year on the market — a mere speck in the company’s portfolio. By comparison, Apple sells more than 200 million of its marquee iPhones a year. But the iPhone wasn’t an immediate sensation, with sales of fewer than 12 million units in its first full year on the market.

Since 2016, the average annual shipments of virtual- and augmented-reality devices have averaged 8.6 million units, according to the research firm CCS Insight. The firm expects sales to remain sluggish this year, with a sales projection of about 11 million of the devices before sales gradually climb to 67 million in 2026.