Priced at a whopping $25,000, the Vision Pro is Apple's first new category of hardware since the release of the Apple Watch in 2015, and the entire XR circuit is very excited. Cook said today marks the beginning of a new era in computing technology.

A not-so-good sign, however, is that the Vision Pro won't go on sale until next year, a rare occurrence in the past that suggests Apple isn't quite ready for it.

Apple's developer conference hasn't been this lively in a long time.

Although various OS operating systems and new MacBooks were also updated that day, everyone was there for Apple's new hardware device, MR (Mixed Reality). The long-awaited MR headset, Apple Vision Pro, was finally unveiled at the finale of the conference at 2:00 a.m. Beijing time on June 6, although key information had been dramatized long before that.

But Vision Pro as Apple since the release of Apple Watch in 2015, the first new category of hardware products, but also by Cook called "the next epoch-making products in the next decade. Such a high tone has whetted people's appetite at a time when innovation in consumer electronics is sluggish.

After the product was released, many people cheered that this was the "iPhone moment" in XR (a collective term for AR, VR, and MR) and that it would revolutionize this new track, including industry insiders who were generally excited that Apple would play a role in the industry's innovation and ecological maturity that no other company could match. The industry is excited that Apple will play a role in innovation and ecological maturity that no other company can match.

But some people have doubts, because this is not a very mature product, there are still too many problems to solve, and Apple's belated arrival is more like a last resort.

What are the highlights of the 25,000 yuan headset

After the audience waited for more than an hour, Cook finally took out the most important product of the day.

The cool-looking ski goggles is a spatial computing device worn on the head. Unlike the two-dimensional screen we all encounter every day, it can use a dial to switch between augmented reality and virtual reality. It does not have our common handle, the interaction is by eye, hand and sound. For example, you can pinch your finger to select certain content or flick up to scroll through a window, and "the whole world in front of you becomes a canvas for the app.

Apple demonstrated several scenarios where the real world and the virtual world come together. For example, the Safari browser window, Messages, and Apple Music window were all presented in front of you, all while hovering over a real-world table. Even if a colleague comes over to pass an item, it will not be affected.

When people wear this device to communicate with people, it will show your eyes through a system called EyeSight, and the camera inside the device will capture facial expressions and display them on an external screen, and the other party can judge your status based on what the screen shows. And if you're in immersive use, such as watching a movie, the glowing screen will hide your eyes.

Vision Pro can be connected to Apple's computers and other devices to present content and applications from these devices, in the head-up display. And it can also be connected to some of Apple's existing apps. For example, when talking on FaceTime, Vision Pro can create a real user image through machine learning technology - reflecting facial and hand movements in real time. Users can do things together, such as watch movies, browse photos or collaborate on presentations.

The entire body of Vision Pro contains 12 cameras, five sensors, and two 4K Micro OLED displays. Apple uses two chips in this device, one is the M2 that Apple uses in all its other devices, and the other is the R1 chip built specifically for AR. the R1 chip is primarily responsible for transmission, and officials say that transmission data can be touched in 12 milliseconds, faster than the speed of a blink. In addition, the headset uses a new operating system, VisionOS, with a dedicated app store.

For people who wear glasses, Apple has joined forces with Zeiss to customize an optical insert that can be magnetically attached to the lens to meet the needs of people such as those who are nearsighted.

However, battery life is a big issue. vision Pro itself does not have a battery, but is powered by an external battery that fits in your pocket. So, when you wear it on your head, there is a cable at the back that connects to the battery in your pocket, and the range can be up to 2 hours.

In addition to the range, this product is priced higher than previously expected in the market, up to $3499, nearly RMB 25,000. And there is no stock, Vision Pro will not be available in the U.S. market until early next year, and users in other countries and regions who want to buy it will have to wait even later.

The excited XR startup community

"Undoubtedly an engineering marvel" and "XR industry development can finally enter a new phase" ......

XR (a collective term for AR, VR and MR) entrepreneurs in China have shown exceptional excitement after the release of Vision Pro. Digital Intelligence Frontline learned that although the Apple launch was already early in the morning in domestic time, many domestic startup teams in the XR field were almost fully staffed to watch it.

Everyone has been waiting for too long, since Apple revealed in the development of XR devices to now has been six or seven years, the product release time is also constantly postponed in the outside world speculation.

And the performance of existing players is not as good as it should be. Both overseas Meta and domestic Byte Jump, despite heavy investment, have failed to make the product acceptable to the public and the XR track has failed to mature. the XR track has been cooling down in the past two years, with many big players withdrawing and the number and scale of financing decreasing. Everyone desperately needs a player like Apple to enter the global consumer market and supply chain that has the power to call the shots.

This pool of water for XR is already being stirred up by Apple. Meta, which was originally released in the fall, hoofed it ahead of Apple's new product release, snapping up the release of the new VR product Quest3. And OPPO also released an MR headset in late May, which OPPO sees as the next smart computing platform after smartphones.

"Monocular to 4K, this is unprecedented." Yieldland CEO Shi Qing told Digital Intelligence Frontline that Apple has achieved an ultra-thin design in terms of optics and display, all of which are industry-leading. Although there have been a lot of drama before, the launch still brought many people a surprise.

"Apple will pull the entire supply chain toward their planning, which also gives the surrounding companies room to survive." Shi Qing said he would go for it at the first time of the sale. And no surprise, Apple's first batch of machines are likely to be snapped up by the circle, including the supply chain and enthusiasts. At present, billion realm has been working in XR track for 8 years, also made some preparations, hope to go to meet the opportunity of this development.

Nedja co-founder Duan Jiaxi told Digital Intelligence Frontline that Apple has a strong ability to define products. When an industry is still figuring out, the launch of Apple products will have a directional drive for the whole industry. "The whole industry will soon benchmark Apple to make their own first and second generation products, and may make it to the third generation to align with Apple's first generation products." Shi Qing said.

The second is to drive the maturity of the supply chain. Startup teams have almost no say in the supply chain, but a strong Apple, can drive the maturity of the core supply chain, which will also benefit the entire industry. For example, in the XR chip, the current basic use of Qualcomm, before the domestic also have a few sporadic companies have launched XR chip, but the performance and development tools are not quite enough, but also has gradually withdrawn.

"This is not a product problem, but a problem of the industry chain." An entrepreneur in the XR field said, "We are hoping that this time Apple has driven the industry chain to make a leap towards the stage of true human-machine integration."

The doubts don't stop there

Despite high expectations for Apple's new hardware products, there are still many who believe that the launch of Vision Pro will not have the same kind of buzz that Steve Jobs had when he released the iPhone.

Apple analyst Ming-Qi Kuo said bluntly that compared to AI, investors are clearly less interested in Apple AR/MR headset devices, which may still be difficult to make significant revenue and profit contributions to suppliers in the next 2 years. "Investors have recently paid more attention to when Apple will launch ChatGPT-like services than AppleAR/MR headset devices."

In some people's view, Apple's move is even a bit risky. AR/VR optics expert Karl Guttag argues that Apple's development of AR/VR headset is more like a fear of missing out on new technology trends. Looking back at some key AR products in the past, from Google Glass, Magic Leap, HoloLens, although a lot of research and development costs were invested, but the market did not give the expected feedback.

There are even reports that not all Apple executives agreed to hold this launch. But Apple has been on the sidelines for too long on this matter and has been criticized for only launching AR/VR technologies that have not been completely perfected, because it needs to see how these technologies perform in the real world, and how developers and consumers react to them. I think Apple has been on the sidelines for too long," said Abowitz. At some point, they have to get involved themselves."

Duan Jiaxi told Digital Intelligence Frontline that when Apple first started the XR project, it was thinking of making AR glasses to be the next-generation computing platform after cell phones. But the AR glasses were not mature, so Apple had to make an MR headset first.

From the existing products and production capacity, this product will not be as big a seller as Apple's other products:

For one thing, the high price of $3,500 will directly turn away a large group of people, and those who buy it will be more developers and some enthusiasts who want to try it. Duan Jiaxi believes that Apple's first batch of devices will probably be geared more toward development teams, allowing them to launch more applications on them.

Second, the mass production capacity of this product is very limited, and the complex process and very low production volume rate make subsequent delivery create a big problem. Apple produced 100 headsets per day in the early stages of development, but only 20 reached the standard. Previously, sources said that Apple's target has been reduced to 250,000 units. But it is not easy to reach this goal. This means that, even if many users want to buy, Apple can not produce.

Moreover, the MR market is still not very mature in the short term. Although Pancake optical solutions make VR devices much thinner and lighter, and the display light source has also transitioned from LCD to OLED, refresh rate and residual images have obviously improved, VST perspective allows VR devices to achieve the possibility of MR mode, "these are quite powerful breakthroughs".

But Apple is facing a market that is far from mature. Both Microsoft, Google and Meta have been working on this track for years and have also invested heavily, but have failed to achieve the expected success. Google launched Google Glass in 2012, and although it looked very cool at the time, it had very limited functionality and a short life span and was discontinued. And Microsoft launched its AR headset HoloLens in 2016, focusing on the To B market, but this product has also suffered huge problems, and news of Microsoft cutting the project has been rumored in the market from time to time.

Michael Gartenberg, a former executive who was once in charge of Apple's marketing efforts, also said that Apple's launch of a headset device has a very high risk, the most important reason is that similar products launched by competitors have little market, and even Microsoft's products have mediocre sales.

AR/VR needs to solve many more problems, including large computing chip, heat dissipation, weight, battery life, screen refresh rate, eye tracking, etc.. Zuckerberg has said: "Probably the hardest technical challenge of our time is to fit a supercomputer into an ordinary-looking glasses frame. It's hard, but it's the key to bringing our physical and digital worlds together."