What's special about Apple's Vision Pro glasses costing $3,500 and how does it work?

Apple introduced the Vision Pro glasses model at the WWDC 2023 event taking place in the early morning of June 6, 2023 in California. This is a mixed reality headset, combining VR virtual reality technology and AR augmented reality to enhance real-life experiences.

Each side of the glasses uses a 23 million pixel micro LED screen, a higher density than a 4K TV.

What's special about Apple's Vision Pro glasses costing $3,500 and how does it work? Picture 1

When users wear glasses, they will see the visionOS operating system interface displayed in space. When users interact with content by voice, hand gestures and eye movements, the system of 12 cameras, 5 sensors and 6 microphones built into the glasses will identify what the user is trying to do.

Therefore, through the high-resolution screen, glasses wearers can watch movies, play games, participate in online meetings, take photos and record videos.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that by seamlessly combining the real world with the digital world, Vision Pro helps users see, hear and interact with digital content as if they were in physical space. No longer limited by screens and surroundings.

 Modern design, more convenient

Vision Pro glasses are made of aluminum frame, glass front and fabric cushion on the back. Users use hand gestures, eye movements, and voice to operate this device.

Vision Pro uses a single strap, helping to reduce the feeling of entanglement, which causes most of the weight of the glasses to press down on the nose, causing discomfort. Vision Pro has a removable battery for lighter weight.

What's special about Apple's Vision Pro glasses costing $3,500 and how does it work? Picture 2

EyeSight - highlight feature

The EyeSight feature helps Vision Pro stay connected to the real world. This function will notify and bring nearby people into the user's view.

Better experience

Vision Pro is equipped with a new chip, R1, to process image and audio input and an M2 chip to handle computer vision and graphics tasks.

The product runs the completely new visionOS operating system, which can run most current iOS and iPadOS applications.

The glasses can act as an additional display for your Mac. Vision Pro can also connect peripherals such as the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad as a portable 4K display.

Through the infrared camera system, the glasses can track eye movements to identify what content the user wants to see and interact with.

To improve the problem of feeling dizzy after a period of wearing VR and AR glasses, Apple has equipped Vision Pro with its new R1 chip, designed to eliminate latency and transmit images to the screen quickly. more than the blink of an eye.

Apple Vision Pro glasses are not fragile, but they are easily scratched

While the Vision Pro's front glass has proven to be quite impact-resistant, new tests show that it is susceptible to scratches.

YouTuber JerryRigEvery did some testing with the glass on the front covering the EyeSight's camera, sensors, and screen. As a result, Apple Vision Pro is not very scratch resistant.

This result is not interesting to some people. Typically, laminated glass has an interlayer of plastic to make it more resistant and less susceptible to breakage. However, for some unknown reason, Vision Pro's glass layer has a plastic layer placed on top.

This makes the Vision Pro's external screen extremely vulnerable to scratches. Testing based on the Mohs mineral hardness scale shows that the front glass of the Vision Pro has light scratches at level 2 and deeper scratches at level 3. The glass on most smartphones has scratches at level 3. degrees 6 and 7.

In other words, this means that objects such as keys, coins, and even dust can leave permanent scratches on the glass. Unsurprisingly, the Vision Pro comes with a special cover for the external display and a polishing cloth in the box. Apple charges $799 to replace the Vision Pro's front glass.

On the other hand, the plastic shell seems to make the Vision Pro more resistant to accidental damage. In the drop test shared by AppleTrack, the Vision Pro was dropped on the floor several times before the glass broke. However, as JerryRig Everything points out, the glass is quite susceptible to scratches.

How to use Vision Pro

When the user wears it, the glasses will perform a setup process including scanning the face and adjusting the sound in both ears called Spatial Audio. The glasses will automatically check the user's vision to adjust the display screen as accurately as possible.

After booting, the Home View main interface screen will appear along with applications with icon designs similar to iOS. The glasses will accurately simulate operations such as eye glances or finger gestures such as selecting, zooming in, zooming out, and swiping, although there is a slight delay. Users can press the Digital Crown button on the body of the glasses to navigate back to the main screen if they make a wrong choice.

 How much does Vision Pro cost?

Vision Pro will cost $3,500, due to its high cost and difficulty in manufacturing. Apple's target customers in the early stages were developers rather than general users.

Micah Soto

Update 06 February 2024