Apple Vision Pro: The Next Era of Computing?

by Dushyant Kumar

I am no technology expert. OK, I'm a B. Tech CSE student, so I do know more about tech than the
average person. I’ve loved computers ever since I was a child, and I think they’re super cool. This
essay is a collection of my thoughts about this new monstrosity that the sorcerers at California have
unleashed upon the world. This is all speculation, an attempt to introduce (or re-introduce) what
this Subreddit is meant for – personal takes, new ideas and people’s opinions about tech. I am open
to any and every opinion and discussion.

It’s all over the media. It's all up in your face (or rather, ON your face, to be exact) no matter what
corner of the internet you're on. It's the next big leap and it is obvious to see. There's hardly been
any development this big in the way we compute in the last decade, and it’s one of the largest
developments, even in two. We’ve brought internet portals from being monolithic sculptures on a
desk to handheld slabs of plastic and glass, to even smaller slabs of plastic and glass on our wrists.
This is the way the majority of the population has used internet. VR headsets are not a new concept,
and Apple is not the first to reach the party. The important part is the fact that it has joined the party
in traditional Apple fashion (a.k.a. Not necessarily being the first but taking their time and completely
changing the game when they do join it) and has made the most dramatic entrance of all the
members. There has been a lot of song and dance being made about the iPhones 12-14 not being
anything creative or unique, and not innovative. Maybe this is where that innovation was at work
instead (this, and the stellar progress Apple has made with the new M series Macs.). The torch is
being passed on to VR, it is inevitably the next step in consumer tech towards simplifying and
enhancing the way we interact with our technology, and we’re the generation that’s witnessing it’s
advent. It might not be apparent to everyone at first, so I'll try to explain it best as I can.

This is the first ever first-generation product that apple has released with the “Pro” nameplate. Apple
takes their flagship series products very seriously, and this is no exception. Simply put for those out
of the loop, it is lined with sensors and cameras out the wazoo. It shows you the outside world,
shows your eyes to the world outside (sort of), and tracks your eye movements and hand gestures to
accurately interact with the VisionOS. It effectively lays out your workload over your actual physical
environment. It works as expected, but the current state of the Apple vision pro is almost laughable.
For everything that’s wrong with it, there’s one good thing that’s better than absolutely anything on
the market, not to mention that it is the first and currently, only competent spatial computing
product one can buy. It's way too large and bulky, but it’s also got first-in-segment features like retina
scanning for its “Optic ID”, the successor to the already echelons-ahead-of-anything FaceID. You need
carry a battery pack with it which only lasts a few hours, but it’s delivering the most realistic spatial
computing experience, has the highest quality screens, sensors and cameras and the tech reviewers
are testament to that. The spatial computing systems are solidly built and do their job without fail.
Simply put, it’s the only one doing all it does today, and the kicker is, for a first gen product, it does it
all really well.

So, it’s gonna let us take our digital lives away from screens and into the real worlds (sort of), it’s
gonna make it easier for us to interact with our tech, and it’s gonna be more immersive and engaging
than ever before. Then what does the future hold for it? Here’s what I see.

According to my vision, what's going to happen to it is going to be what's happened to all of our
computing devices over the years. There will be three major changes to the Vision Pro and to the VR
tech industry in general. First change will be experience and abilities of the products, second will be
their cost effectiveness and third change will be regarding their adoption and naturalisation. I’ll now
expand on these points individually.

#1: Cost effectiveness:

It will definitely get cheaper. It might take time, it might not become a whole lot cheaper, but it will.
It is the ubiquitous rule of any technology that has been, is or will be. Tech gets cheaper over time.
It’s using very high-quality components, has many costs attached to it but with time it’s going to get
cheaper. Thanks to this development, it will be produced on a larger scale and will reach a much
larger audience than it initially did. There will also be more money invested in R&D towards it, so as
to further increase its reach and effect on the consumers, and to gain access to newer, previously
untapped potential markets. There might be the eventuality that silicon shortage and the supply of
other necessary materials falls short and keeps costs more or less consistent over the years, but I
have faith in our recycling technologies and I believe that its prices are gonna come down.

#2: Experience and Abilities:

The present pace of VR advancements is promising, and there is soon going to be a large number of
developers and investors looking to cash in on this new tech trend, and people from both guilds who
just love tech and are willing to contribute to it. What this means for the user is that once the AVP’s
price comes down to planet earth, there’s gonna be a large amount of development being done
specifically for this platform. Currently only a limited number of apps are available for it, but it’s
going to change very soon. There’ll be a plethora of apps available for the users, all major modern
apps will be adapted for it, and even many “Built for Apple Vision Pro” apps. It’s going to become a
lot more engaging than it is today. There’s gonna be big jumps all the time in what VR headsets are
able to do, and how they do it. Just how people once said “one day computers will fit in our hands”, it
won’t be overselling it to say that one day, maybe, just maybe, an entire VR headset, lock stock and
barrel might fit into a set of glasses, and maybe even into a set of contact lenses. Who knows? There
will be major improvements in the hardware. It won’t be the same ski-goggles looking contraption
for long. The battery will become inbuilt and last for much longer (Apple already oversells their
batteries and the official website states an expected two-hour runtime. It’s terrible. They aren’t
getting anywhere with that.). In the words of MKBHD, Apple has opened up a whole new arena for
developers and ordinary people to dream about, and once again, as with every major revelation,
there is no telling how high and far this new plane can elevate our experiences to. The world is our
oyster. The possibilities are endless. We ourselves don’t quite know what all can be done with it.
That’s going to change the quickest. For a good while, this party’s gonna be a lot of fun.

#3: Naturalisation and adoption:

As the tech gets more and more accessible, it’s gonna reach a wider audience, and be used in a wider
variety of applications. There’ll be a new plethora of uses for it and we’re gonna see a lot more
people adapting to it. It’ll eventually mesh into our lives seamlessly. This might seem like hopeful
talk, but I believe that this is where we’re headed and there’s little chances of us just dropping VR
after Apple’s shown us what’s possible. Google glass was ahead of its time, but the major problem it
faced was execution and immersion. And those two points, the AVP executes very well. It is way
more immersive than it’s forebearers. And it’s been done well.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I’m not some kind of green anarchist, so I’m gonna keep this
section as clear and coherent as I can. This is the takeaway I want you to remember. It’s very obvious
that the world today is in the clutches of a chronic media consumption addiction. Especially short
form media, which I have a personal hate for. We are already struggling to manage our time with our
devices in their present state. Social media addiction and chronically online people are on the rise.
I’m not saying that it’s gonna be more fun to scroll TikTok in VR with a 600-gram ski mask on your
face, at least not for now. Once the vision pro does get more… efficient at what it does, it will be
supremely engaging and cocooning, better than anything we’ve seen before. It will be too immersive
for our own good. It will worsen the epidemic of people glued to their screens. We’ve already got
idiots driving with the AVP on. There’ll be people injuring themselves seriously soon enough. Major
social media developers and algorithm experts will have a blast with all that’s possible and all the
new ways that they can get people to spend more time in their own little virtual worlds, perfectly
curated to attract their eyeballs and keep them hooked. There will be newer and way more personal
ways for governments or other institutions to infringe onto people’s privacy, to a greater extent than
ever before. We humans build great things that are capable of drastically improving people’s lives,
yet we rarely make the best use of them. We will definitely not extract the best out of this either, and
it’ll probably be just like what we did with the internet. It’s great, it does a lot of good, but the
present applications of it leave much to be desired. There’s gonna be a lot worse we’re gonna get to
see. I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s often better to be realistic.

I want to be optimistic, but there isn’t a lot for me to be excited about or look forward to. The short-
term developments will be very fun to see, but the landscape will change soon and drastically. I want
to see ourselves improve as a race. This is a huge step in that direction, only if we make the best of it.
We’re human, and we have a tendency not to. We’re in for the ride and we probably can’t get off. I
guess the best we can do is wait and be cautious observers.

Fellow enthusiast and hopeful signing out.

Dushyant.