The showdown in the XR market continues, although Apple would like to drive something other than the “XR” market. Apple calls it “spatial computing”, meaning the use of XR headsets in everyday life as well as in the workplace. Has Apple succeeded in this? What are my first impressions about this subject after testing the Apple Vision Pro, below.
Apple Vision Pro has been engaged in a loud battle with Meta Quest 3 for about a year now. Meta and Apple, two tech giants, mercilessly advertise and compete with new and ever newer devices.
We have Meta Quest 3 in the XRPGshowroom, and I have already shared my impressions. Apple Vision pro is rare in Europe, so I had to wait for American soil to give you some impressions. I conducted the demo testing in New York.
The Grand Central Apple Store
And so it was, on my way to America I booked a demo of the Apple Vision Pro through the Apple website. In New York, I went to an appointment at the Apple Store located in Grand Central, and experienced spatial computing for the first time. The process was really simple, you book your appointment online the day before, you get the time and location, you arrive at the exact location where the friendly staff is waiting for you.

Then you sit down in pleasantly designed benches with the leader, in my case the leader of the demo, and to begin with you get a device similar to a mobile phone that scans your face. Apple Vision Pro is not (yet) in the box. It is necessary to move your head left-right, up-down, several times, so that the device scans and sends data to prepare your demo headset. Everything lasts less than a minute, and then you wait and in the meantime you talk to the manager about your motivation for using the headset.
“My precious” arrives
A scene that reminded me a little of Lord of the rings and the famous “my precious”. At some point, the Apple Vision Pro arrives from the other room, on a special stand and brought in the style of a device of exceptional value for any customer. Ok, the price speaks for itself, but the very impression of wearing and preparing for the user experience is quite unusual.
Then the presenter explains the movements and control with the headset itself. I had the impression that everything was adapted to complete beginners, so here it should be taken into account that it is not my first experience, it was all over in a minute. The host of the demo did not rush anything, but very patiently explained the procedure and movements. By the way, the planned experience of the demo lasts approximately 20 minutes, I had the impression that they monitor the time very carefully and carefully and that each demo is worked out to the smallest detail. Then you put the headset on your head and the experience begins.

What do they show through Apple Vision Pro?
Nothing that we haven’t seen before. It is the basic comment on which we can build everything else. Apple Vision Pro is certainly a more unusual and high-quality device that is definitely not in the same league as devices like the Meta Quest 3, but in this demo it shows various elements of already existing devices that are sometimes less, sometimes more, refined compared to some others from the same or lower categories.

A few things we looked at:
- The Photos – the display of photos is something that certainly did not excite me, nothing much better than the existing headsets and their details. Here, in fact, the micro-OLED displays surprised me quite unpleasantly, because I definitely expected more. Meta Quest 3 with worse displays works much more in classic use, and OLED did not give as much more as it is appreciated
- Entering/Exiting VR/MR – using the small button on the top of the headset, it is possible to enter and exit VR and MR and vice versa. The demonstration of this is no space shuttle, on other devices it is much faster and perhaps more effective.
- Spatial video – all that we could read about in relation to spatial video, experiencing it live is unusual. It is unusual to look at your loved ones as if you were in the room with them, and whether the experience is worth so much is debatable. Reality will always remain reality and fiction fiction. Apple has purposefully connected its mobile devices (from the iPhone 15 onwards) and their option to record such videos, in order to naturally connect its ecosystem.
- No 360 photos – what surprised me was the lack of a VR 360 experience. In the whole demo you don’t have the opportunity to use 360 photos and enjoy a 100% experience, probably Apple saves such functionalities for the first use of the first users and an even better wow effect.
- The quality of the physical device – the quality seemed really top notch, although I could already read that there are many problems with the sensitive parts of the device, it looks top notch and no one needs to say that it is on par with the others. It’s simply better than most.
- Controlling the device – with the eyes! This is truly spectacular. We already use eye controlling in some of our business VR applications, but what Apple has done is way ahead of many. The fact that it is enough to just look at anything, literally anything in the headset, and click with your thumb and forefinger, and the content opens. What is spectacular is that you look at the smallest x and by clicking your fingers you succeed in the action you want.
- Spatial computing – can this device be used every day at work? After everything he’s seen, he would say he can. However, the question is how ready is the entire ecosystem of digital work for such a thing. Take this position with a grain of salt, because I have already had a lot of meetings via VR, as well as a large number of hours of using such devices for business purposes, so a more objective comment may be needed. However, hardly anyone will say that the answer is “can’t”. It is a matter of several aspects that we cannot talk about today, but that spatial computing is alive – it is. Here I can also mention one part of the demo that allows you to open a web browser and browse and read news. It is really special and functional, better than other headsets.
- The price – my comment on the price would be – it is worth 2 to max 3 times more compared to Meta Quest 3, but very hardly 6 times more as the price suggests. Simply, in this story, a good and quality product is being sold, in front of a great global company, and that has its price. It is not completely realistic, but even now I return to what I often mention in this (and other) business – don’t forget learning Apple, years of experience, testing and development, someone has to pay for all that… and that is paid by the customer, if he wants such an experience.
That’s it in a nutshell, in April we are open for demonstrations in the XRPG showroom in Zagreb, so get in touch!
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Čini se da je pao interes za Vision Pro – Apple smanjio proizvodne narudžbe
Probao sam Apple Vision Pro. Može se reći da je bolji, ali ne toliko