Apple on Monday entered a new category of interest to Hollywood: The virtual reality/augmented reality space, and the Apple Vision Pro is the company’s first product in that sector, as well as the first entirely new product category in nearly a decade.
The headset was announced Monday by CEO Tim Cook during a keynote address at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. It will “start at $3,499” and launch in early 2024.
And in a sign of how important entertainment will be to the product, Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared onstage during the presentation, calling the product “real life magic” and announcing that Disney+ would be available on the Vision Pro on the day it launches.
“We’re constantly in search of new ways to entertain, inform and inspire our fans by combining extraordinary creativity was groundbreaking technology to create truly remarkable experiences,” Iger said. “And we believe Apple vision Pro is a revolutionary platform that can make our vision a reality.”
The product will “allow us to bring Disney to our fans in ways that were previously impossible,” Iger added, with a sizzle reel showing a user immersed in an NBA game, placing themselves into an episode of Marvel’s What If …? or bringing a Disney World parade into their home.
The Apple Vision Pro is “a new kind of computer that augments reality by seamlessly blending the real world with the digital world. It’s the first Apple product you look through and not out,” Cook said in introducing the product. A dial lets the user decide how much of the world around them they can see, or can choose to be immersed in an app. People around the user can see their face if they can see around them, giving them a vision cue.
The initial pitch also included Apple TV+ shows Ted Lasso and Foundation in the sizzle reel.
And an Apple engineer, En Kelly, showcased cinematic modes, letting users watch content on screens in their homes, in a cinematic mode that places the user in a theater, or in real-world locations like at the foot of a mountain.
Apple claims Vision Pro could become a “personal movie theater” by creating a “cinematic experience” for viewing movies, series and sports. Announced features include 4K, HDR, spacial audio and stereoscopic 3D — suggesting that viewers could immerse themselves in James Cameron’s Avatar movies.
Rumored for years, Vision Pro runs on a new spacial computing platform — “the start of an entirely new platform,” the company claimed during the presentation — and has a 3D interface controlled by face, hands and voice.
With a glass lens and lightweight frame, Apple announced that it is working with lens maker Zeiss to offer vision correction in the headset.
The mixed-reality headset has been rumored for months and puts Apple in direct competition with Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, which currently dominates the (still very nascent) market with its Meta Quest devices.
