Vision Pro

A new report from The Information today says that Apple is researching ways to use Vision Pro to diagnose and treat mental health issues. According to the story, Apple wants to use Vision Pro’s array of cameras and sensors to detect when a user might have “depression, anxiety, stress or post-traumatic stress disorder.”

As Tim Cook continues a rather comprehensive tour of China with a visit to a Luxshare Apple Watch factory, the WSJ has an interesting profile on how the Apple supplier worked its way up from making iPad cables to becoming one of Apple’s most important manufacturing and development partners.

The story of Luxshare founder Wang Laichun, aka Grace Wang, is a true rags-to-riches one. She started out as a Foxconn production line worker, manually adding components to circuit boards …

The FCC in the US has officially given Apple, Meta, and Google the go-ahead to tap into the 6GHz band for wireless devices. This comes four years after the companies teamed up to petition the FCC for access to this spectrum, with one of the biggest use cases being for augmented reality and virtual reality devices.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is in China this week, visiting Apple Stores, touring Apple supply chain partners, and meeting with government officials. Amid reports that iPhone 15 sales are off to a slower start than the iPhone 14, Cook met with China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao and discussed a “win-win development” for the two parties.

While Apple prepares for the rollout of the first Vision Pro headset for early next year, the company’s product teams are already focused on the next-generation versions. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says today that Apple is prioritizing the development of a cheaper model, even at the expense of other initiatives like the AR glasses project.

The company is apparently aiming for a price point in the $1500-$2500 range. One of the ways Apple will save on price, Gurman reports today, is by removing the EyeSight feature that uses an external OLED display to project a rendering of the user’s facial expression to other people.

The developer of a virtual reality yoga app has filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of retaliating after it learned he was also in talks with Apple about bringing the app to Vision Pro.

As we wait for Apple’s Vision Pro to officially launch in 2024, developers have been working on third-party apps for its visionOS spatial computing platform. While it’s not something that will be possible (at least without some serious jailbreaking), a new concept imagines a live deepfake experience that could transform your partner into a celebrity.

A patent granted today describes a possible way to reduce neck strain when using an Apple headset. It follows a report that the company is concerned about neck fatigue from the Vision Pro’s weight.

Counter-intuitively, the method proposed would make a future version of Vision Pro heavier, rather than lighter …

Mixed reality headset makers seem to face a choice: do it well, or do it cheap. Priced from $3500, Apple Vision Pro sure ain’t doing it cheap. The consensus from those who have tried Vision Pro, though, seems to be that the experience is technologically impressive.

Can the same be said for Meta’s new Quest 3 mixed reality headset? The $500 XR headset is only loosely defined as cheap, of course, because of Apple’s hard-to-fathom price tag. Nevertheless, is it possible to sell mixed reality for a literal fraction of Vision Pro’s price and still make the experience compelling?

Mark Gurman’s latest newsletter says that Apple remains concerned about the Vision Pro’s weight and is working on making the next generation of the headset lighter.

Gurman also describes the difficulties the company is facing in dealing with the prescription lenses that will be needed for many customers …

Following the iPhone 15 announcement last month, Apple has also introduced a new version of the second-generation AirPods Pro with a USB-C charging case. However, the new version of the AirPods Pro 2 comes with more than just a new case, as it is capable of transmitting lossless audio when paired with an Apple Vision Pro. And Apple’s headset will remind users that it works best with the new version of AirPods.

Following the iPhone 15 launch, Tim Cook has embarked on an international tour. While in London, the Apple CEO gave an interview to The Independent to talk Apple gaming and Vision Pro. And while we’ve not yet seen Cook don the Apple headset in public, using it has apparently become part of his evening ritual.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has published a new research note in which he makes some Vision Pro predictions. Kuo expects Vision Pro shipments in year one to be below market expectations. He’s also unsure that a rumored low-cost version could come the following year.

Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C charging arrive in stores today. The new hardware is more than just a revised charging case though. As we know, the updated AirPods Pro 2 will be capable of streaming lossless audio from the Vision Pro headset when it ships early next year. Apple credits the H2 chip, but it’s still been a bit of a mystery since both versions have this processor.

Presenting yourself on a video call with a device that has a front-facing camera is easy. Doing that on a mixed reality headset? Not so much. Apple’s solution for FaceTime is a virtual representation of yourself called a Persona. Unlike Memoji characters, your Persona is meant to realistically portray you.

When Apple unveiled Vision Pro at WWDC 2023 in June, the company highlighted the device’s potential for different categories, from productivity to entertainment – and that includes gaming. Since Vision Pro won’t be available in stores until 2024, we don’t know which apps will be available for it. But game studio Resolution has announced that it has plans to bring the popular role-playing game “Demeo” to Apple’s mixed reality headset.

A studio that adapted Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens into an augmented reality experience for the Magic Leap 2 believes that combining a physical book with AR content could make a cool Vision Pro experience.

Rather than the purely virtual book brought to life in Magic Leap, the studio sees the potential for using Vision Pro’s high-resolution passthrough feature to create something truly special …

As developers continue to work on bringing their apps to Vision Pro, Apple has shared a new update via its website with details on the Vision Pro’s App Store. Starting this fall, Apple says that visionOS will include the App Store built-in, allowing developers to expand their testing of Vision Pro apps.

A newly-granted patent published today for an Apple Glasses Digital Crown design clearly shows a device very much along the lines of what we’re eventually expecting to see, as the company moves its AR wearables ambitions beyond bulky headsets.

The illustration shows how a Digital Crown could be used to cycle through different overlays available on the glasses, ranging from video content to weather data …

Even before Apple unveiled Vision Pro, Meta already had virtual reality headsets called Meta Quest (which were created after Meta acquired Oculus). However, Meta’s headsets aren’t exactly a hit. But Zuckerberg seems to have ambitious plans to compete with Apple Vision Pro, as a new report suggests that Meta has been working with LG to build a new VR headset.