Apple Vision Pro

Background

Apple Vision Pro was announced on June 5, 2023, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, pre-orders began on January 19, and the product launched on February 2, 2024 in the United States. It was released in China, Japan and Singapore on June 28, 2024 and in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK on July 12, 2024. Vision Pro has a 3D laminated glass display front, an aluminum frame covered by a flexible cushion, and an adjustable headband. The frame contains five sensors, six microphones, and 12 cameras. Users see two 1.41-inch (3.6 cm) micro-OLED displays with a total of 23 megapixels usually running at 90 FPS through the lens but can automatically adjust to 96 or 100 FPS based on the content being shown. The eyes are tracked by a system of LEDs and infrared cameras, which form the basis of the device's iris scanner named Optic ID (used for authentication, like the iPhone's Face ID). Custom optical inserts are supported for users with prescription glasses, which will attach magnetically to the main lens and are developed in partnership with Zeiss. The device's speaker is inside the headband and is placed directly over the user's ears. It can also virtualize surround sound. During the ordering process, users must scan their face using an iPhone or iPad with Face ID for fitting purposes; this can be done via the Apple Store app or at an Apple Store retail location. The Vision Pro uses the Apple M2 system on a chip. It is accompanied by a co-processor known as Apple R1, which is used for real-time sensor input processing. The device can be purchased with three internal storage configurations: 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB. It can be powered by an external power supply, a USB-C port on a Mac, or a battery pack rated for two hours of use. The battery pack connects to the headset using an unremovable 12-pin locking variant of the Lightning connector. The user's face is scanned by the headset during setup to generate a persona—a realistic avatar used by OS features. One such feature is "EyeSight", an outward-facing display which displays the eyes of the user's persona. Its eyes appear dimmed when in AR and obscured when in full immersion to indicate the user's environmental awareness. When someone else approaches or speaks, even if the user is fully immersed, EyeSight shows their persona's virtual eyes normally and makes the other person visible. A digital crown dial on the headset is used to control the amount of virtual background occupying the user's field of view, ranging from a mixed-reality view where apps and media appear to float in the user's real-world surroundings, to completely hiding the user's surroundings.