Apple’s very expensive smart glasses are coming – here’s what you need to know

The Apple Vision Pro is coming. For Apple it is the largest and most important product launch of the year. To fuel the hype, the marketing professionals came up with something: a tribute to the first iPhone (2007) – in the form of a 30-second teaser video.

All the Hollywood movie heroes from the promotional video get ready by lowering their visors or putting on glasses. According to Apple insiders, in the developer documentation also published on Monday, the manufacturer asked app developers not to refer to the new device as a ‘headset’ in their apps or the associated descriptions.

It was no coincidence that the announcement of the start of sales took place during the media day of the CES technology fair in Las Vegas, which Apple has not participated in for years.

When will Vision Pro be released?

Apple will start selling its data glasses, which cost about $3,500 in America Launching in early February. Pre-orders will begin on January 19 and sales on February 2, as the company announced on Monday evening.

It is not yet known when the device will be available in Europe and how much it will cost here. The US price is the equivalent of approximately 3,000 francs, but in America this includes VAT, which varies from state to state not contain.

What can the device do?

The Apple Vision Pro is considered a mixed reality headset. It allows both immersion in 100 percent artificial worlds, called virtual reality (VR), and the insertion of digital content into the user’s real environment, known as augmented reality (AR).

The group also sees this as a way for users to make FaceTime video calls or stream content without a screen. Also unusual is a display on the case that can make it appear transparent by showing the hidden eye area.

How is the device operated?

Control takes place via the eyes, or one eye, via finger and hand movements or voice commands. Users can decide whether they want to fully control the Vision Pro with appearance, manual input, their voice or a combination thereof.

Glasses wearers receive inserts that are tailored to their own vision (or glasses prescription) at an additional cost. Apple charges $99 (reading glasses) or $149 for the accompanying Zeiss lenses.

And the apps?

Unlike the iPhone launch in 2007, Apple promises that a wide range of applications will be available when the Vision Pro goes on sale. In addition to the apps developed exclusively for computer glasses (in a separate app store), there are also more than a million apps known from iOS and iPadOS available on Apple Vision Pro – of course with the necessary technical adjustments.

The Facebook group Meta is currently particularly strong in the VR glasses market. The latest model, the Quest 3, also combines digital content with real-world environments, but at $500 in the US is significantly cheaper and less powerful than the Apple headset.

Sources

With material from the Keystone-SDA news agency

(dsc)