Apple’s first-generation Vision Pro headset may have now ceased production, following reports of reduced demand and production cuts earlier in the year.
↫ Hartley Charlton at MacRumors
I think we’ll live.
Apple’s first-generation Vision Pro headset may have now ceased production, following reports of reduced demand and production cuts earlier in the year.
↫ Hartley Charlton at MacRumors
I think we’ll live.
I’m surprised that Apple treated the Vision Pro as a full product instead of a proof of concept. It needed refinement in many areas, plus an answer to “What should I use it for?”.
I always thought it was a real missed opportunity. It seems like the Vision Pro was always more of a virtual screen for iOS apps rather than a true augmented reality product. It seems work by Microsoft with the HoloLens was more refined and mature than the Vision Pro was.
I don’t doubt that AR has it’s place, and has many uses, but as a consumer product is not where it (currently) is. Uses in civil engineering, construction, military applications etc are definitely valid markets for an AR product, but it seems the Vision Pro is neither rugged, nor particularly well suited, for such uses.
If Apple can refine it into a product more for the commercial sector, rather than consumer sector, it might have a future, but in it’s current form it is just not rugged enough to be used in the workplace.
They thought the iSheeps will buy anything they through at them.
It’s funny how cyclic VR/stereoscopic technology has been over so many generations. The companies pushing it always seem to think “this time it will stick” but it never does.
It’s like every generation wants to experience it for themselves and then it goes away until next time. The goggle’s just seemed incredibly anti-social and creepy for public settings!
IMO stereoscopic never got a proper chance, it was abandoned by most manufacturers just before LG’s passively-polarized 4K OLED TVs solved all the problems associated with stereoscopic (that is, reduced light output and only 1920×540 per-eye resolution). OLEDs can deliver lots of light, and 4K gives you 3840×1080 per eye in stereoscopic mode. Once LG’s patents on passive polarization expire, I expect the Samsungs and TCLs to promptly “rediscover” the technology.
Really though, once you have experienced the joy of using disposable RealD glasses from your local cinema to watch stereoscopic content, those fragile, expensive, and battery-dependent active-shutter glasses look silly.
VR has lots of unsolved research problems such as disorientation, nausea, and reduced field-of-view, but it looks very futuristic, so people will keep trying.
kurkosdr,
Don’t worry, it will be back again. As for whether it has staying power next time…I wouldn’t really bet on that unless it’s practically free and there’s no downside. As an example I’d point to AMD64 where the majority of users had no 64bit software at the time, but it was a free bundled feature that they could use or not, making the market barriers extremely low.
I wanted to setup a stereoscopic projector for backyard screening events using those cheap glasses, but the projectors were too expensive for my budget and stereoscopic content is much more expensive and harder to come by….meaning it wouldn’t have gotten much use.
Maybe next time AI can add depth perception to arbitrary 2d inputs in real time. This would open up existing content to stereoscopic displays. I can see that being a selling point. I’m curious how well it would work but at least in theory AI could do this a whole lot better than studios paying humans to do it by hand. BTW I didn’t mean to rope in AI here, but I just happen to think it could be a really good application for generative AI to solve a real existing problem.
When I first heard about Vision Pro I was stupid enough to ASSUME that it could run Mac programs as well as “iPad” programs. And I was seriously going to buy one of those INSTEAD of a new Mac. But once I found out that it can’t run Mac games (without a Mac) then I lost all interest.
Apple largely view iOS as the future of Apple’s product line. Whilst i don’t think the mac is going anywhere, i also don’t think it’s any coincidence that not only has Mac migrated to ARM, the same chips found in new generation Macintoshs have also found their way into high end iPad Pros. You may find in the future, that certain iPad models may also be able to run MacOS natively when docked to a keyboard
I don’t agree or disagree with that except to agree that Apple makes __significantly__ more on iPhone and probably iPad than Mac. But that doesn’t stop my Mac gaming which is the issue here.
The two main games I play (making up over 95% of my time) is “7 Days To Die” and “Baldur’s Gate 3”, though the former has been taking up over 90% of my gaming over the last couple of months.
Even games that you can use a keyboard and mouse on don’t play the same on iOS as they do on Mac. And I really enjoy playing 7 days even though I play it quite differently than most people.
It’s a zombie apocalypse game but I have edited the game so that all of the zombies have zero points when they spawn as I’m not interested in shooting zombies. What I do is use the game as a sandbox to mine and combine things to make more complex things and through that I have fun repairing and building all the buildings in the game plus building vehicles to drive around. I find it a lot more fun that way than shooting zombies. But that’s just me. I’ve always been “different” than everyone else I know.
I’m not sure about you, but I’d probably have purchased one by now as is if the price was closer to $500. The features are enough to be useful, but not at the $3500 price point.
In recientemente news, Wicked’s director said he used Apple Vision Pro in the movie’s post-production
https://9to5mac.com/2025/01/02/wicked-director-vision-pro/
Perhaps this is the killer app that Apple is looking for.
I’m not sure there are enough people working in post-production to make the volume Apple needs for this to be successful.
Duh, now all software development will stop because if there is no product, why waste time making software for it? They need to stop making high end stuff that people don’t want and focus on things that people actually use. No “Home Pods”. Why can’t Apple make a gaming console? Hello? Listen to the people not whiny rich people that don’t know anything.