vision pro

reports:-apple-is-halting-its-next-high-end-vision-in-favor-of-something-cheaper

Reports: Apple is halting its next high-end Vision in favor of something cheaper

Apple, apple vision pro, augmented reality, headsets, Tech, The Information, vision pro, VR headsets / /

Vision Pro strategy shift —

Finding a lower-price replacement for its high-end displays could be difficult.

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Vision Pro, seen from below, in a display with a bright white light strip overhead.

Samuel Axon

A report by tech news site The Information suggests that Apple is shifting its augmented reality priorities. The next high-end version of the Vision Pro has purportedly been canceled while work continues on a more affordable version with a reduced feature set.

Citing both an employee in Apple’s headset supply chain and one working in headset manufacturing for Apple, the report claims that the cheaper Vision product—perhaps around the $1,600 mark—is due before the end of 2025. Apple had originally intended to present this headset alongside the Vision Pro, similar to the models available in each iPhone release. The more affordable model would likely have fewer cameras, smaller speakers, and weigh less, though Apple has struggled to bring down the cost of the unit’s displays.

Apple’s efforts in augmented reality are closely watched by other players in the headset space, so even a momentary, situational step back from high-end headsets could have significant repercussions. The Information cites current and former Meta employees in describing how the company had killed plans for its own higher-end headset in January 2023, but it then began work on a new premium model five months after Apple’s Vision Pro debut.

The Vision Pro will launch in China, Japan, Australia, and many European countries later this month. The Information’s sources suggest that Apple has produced roughly 500,000 Vision Pro headsets and will not make significantly more, despite the entry of these new markets.

Apple has not responded to The Information or other outlets. Ars contacted Apple for comment and will update this post with any response.

In Senior Editor Samuel Axon’s extensive experience with the device, the home theater aspect of the Vision Pro, and specifically its high-quality display units, is the “one use case that’s a slam dunk.” Reducing the quality of the Sony micro-OLED displays in the Vision Pro, and their “staggering 3,386 PPI (pixels per inch)” density, would seemingly cut at a solid selling point for the device. It is otherwise not made for walking around, and while working in the Vision Pro is possible, it’s not ready to replace anyone’s standard setup yet, especially if they have regular web meetings.

Reports: Apple is halting its next high-end Vision in favor of something cheaper Read More »

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Apple’s new Vision Pro software offers an ultrawide virtual Mac monitor

Apple, apple vision pro, Tech, vision pro, visionOS, visionOS 2, WWDC 2024 / /

WWDC 2024 —

visionOS 2 offers iterative improvements and refinements, plus new developer APIs.

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A floating Mac desktop over a table

Enlarge / A Mac virtual monitor in visionOS 2.

Samuel Axon

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple kicked off the keynote for its annual developer conference by announcing a new version of visionOS, the operating system that runs on the company’s pricey but impressive Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

The updates in visionOS 2 are modest, not revolutionary—mostly iterative changes, quality-of-life improvements, and some features that were originally expected in the first version of visionOS. That’s not too surprising given that visionOS just went out to users four months ago.

Vision Pro users hoping for multiple virtual Mac monitors will be disappointed that’s not planned this time around, but Apple plans to add the next-best thing: Users will be able to take advantage of a larger and higher-resolution single virtual display, including a huge, wraparound ultrawide monitor mode that Apple says is equivalent to two 4K monitors.

There’s one major machine learning-driven feature: You will soon be able to convert 2D images into 3D spatial ones in the Photos app, even photos you took years and years ago, long before iPhones could take spatial photos. (Apple also announced that a new Canon DSLR camera will get a spatial photo lens, as another option for taking new spatial photos.)

Other notable improvements include support for using travel mode on trains instead of just airplanes and a simple finger gesture to open the home screen so you don’t have to invoke Siri or reach up to press a physical button on the headset.

A lot of the improvements that will lead to better apps come in the form of new developer APIs that will facilitate apps that really take advantage of the spatial features rather than just being flat 2D windows floating around you—something we noted as a disappointment when we shared our impressions of the device. Some APIs help create shared spatial experiences with other Vision Pro users who aren’t in the same room as you. One of those, TabletopKit, is focused on creating apps that sit on a 2D surface, like board and card games.

There will also be new enterprise-specific APIs for things like surgical training and manufacturing applications.

Finally, Apple says Vision Pro is going international. It will go on sale in China (including Hong Kong), Japan, and Singapore on June 13 and in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK on June 28.

There was no specific release date named for visionOS 2.

Apple’s new Vision Pro software offers an ultrawide virtual Mac monitor Read More »

what-to-expect-at-wwdc-24:-big-ios-changes,-more-vision-pro,-and-so-much-ai

What to expect at WWDC 24: Big iOS changes, more Vision Pro, and so much AI

Apple, iOS, ios 18, iPadOS, iPadOS 18, macOS, macOS 15, Tech, vision pro, visionOS, WWDC 2024, WWDC24 / /

WWDC 2024 —

There might not be new hardware, but Apple could make up for it with software.

–

A colorful logo that says

Enlarge / The logo for WWDC24.

Apple

Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, kicks off in Cupertino, California, next week. As always, it will start with a livestream keynote on Monday morning at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. We’ll be in attendance reporting on the event, so let’s take a moment to take stock of what we expect to see next week.

But first, let’s note something we don’t think we’ll see: Due to some peculiarities about Apple’s upgrade cycles, as well as a push toward the M4, we’re not actually expecting any major hardware announcements at WWDC this year.

That’s OK, though, because it looks like it’s going to be a big one for software news. iOS has seen relatively modest updates in the past couple of years, but that’s about to change.

AI in the spotlight

Most of the rumors leading up to WWDC have been about Apple making plans to announce tons of generative AI features for its platforms. Part of that is because AI is the hot topic right now, so anything about that is bound to get some coverage. However, according to leaks reported on by Bloomberg, The Information, and others, it looks like Apple is going to make a conscious effort to reposition itself as a leader in AI.

Apple was already doing neat things with machine learning in iOS and elsewhere, like features that make image editing easier, smart recommendations, and more. But there have been major new developments in models lately that allow for many new options, as we’ve seen from others like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft.

We don’t know many details about exactly what Apple will do here beyond it being a focus. The company has published several papers related to new large-language model chatbots, major Siri improvements, image generation, and more, but it’s hard to tell what will become user-facing features.

Possibilities include auto-generated summaries in apps like Mail, new ways to block ads or interact with websites in Safari, GitHub Copilot-like code editing assistance in Xcode, clip art generation for iWork documents, more conversational and larger-scope answers from Siri, new image editing features, expanded accessibility features, new transcription capabilities, and more.

Apple has reportedly been in talks with companies like OpenAI and Google (it even sounds like a deal has already been reached with OpenAI) about augmenting Siri and other parts of the iOS or macOS experience with an external AI chatbot. Apple has reportedly experimented with its own chatbot, but it’s unlikely that one would be far enough along to be a strong alternative to the likes of ChatGPT. At a minimum, expect Apple to partner with at least one company (probably OpenAI) as a provider for out-of-scope answers to queries asked of Siri or in Spotlight.

There have been rumblings that Apple could offer users a choice of multiple AI providers or launch an AI App Store, but we don’t know for sure how it will all take shape.

iOS and iPadOS 18

iOS 18 (and its close sibling, iPadOS 18) will roll out later this year alongside new iPhones, likely in September or October. But WWDC is the first time we’ll get a look at the major features Apple has planned.

Typically, Apple announces most new iOS features during the upcoming keynote, but it might save a couple that are are related to as-yet unannounced iPhone hardware for later.

The rumor mill this year points to an overhaul of both Control Center and Settings, plus the aforementioned inclusion of numerous new machine learning, LLM, or image generation features. One rumored example of how AI could be used in iOS described a new home screen that allows users to quickly recolor app icons to create a consistent color palette across their phone. Apple might even allow users to place icons wherever they want, addressing the irritating “wobble mode” home screen management that we’ve criticized in our iOS reviews for years.

Expect big new features for Messages, too, like new text effects and formatting options. There’s also a strong possibility that Apple will go into detail about RCS support in iOS. Generative AI could allow users to create custom emojis or stickers, too.

There were also a few rumors that Apple will make some visual changes to iOS, borrowing a bit from the visual language we saw in visionOS this spring.

Oh, and one more thing: iPadOS is finally getting a calculator app. We’re not sure why that took so long, but there it is.

What to expect at WWDC 24: Big iOS changes, more Vision Pro, and so much AI Read More »

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I worked exclusively in Vision Pro for a week—here’s how it went

Apple, Features, Reviews, Tech, vision pro, visionOS / /

  • A close-up look at the Vision Pro from the front.

    Samuel Axon

  • There are two displays inside the Vision Pro, one for each eye. Each offers just under 4K resolution.

    Samuel Axon

  • This is the infamous battery pack. It’s about the size of an iPhone (but a little thicker), and it has a USB-C port for external power sources.

    Samuel Axon

  • There are two buttons for the Vision Pro, both on the top.

    Samuel Axon

  • You can see the front-facing cameras that handle passthrough video just above the downward-facing cameras that read your hand gestures here.

    Samuel Axon

  • Apple offers several variations of the light seal to fit different face shapes.

    Samuel Axon

You can get a lot of work done while wearing Apple’s Vision Pro and have fun doing it—but it’s not yet at the stage where most of us will want to fully embrace spatial computing as the new way of working.

I spent more than a week working almost exclusively in the Vision Pro. I carried on Slack conversations, dialed into Zoom video calls, edited Google Docs, wrote articles, and did everything else I do within my day-to-day responsibilities as an editor at Ars Technica.

Throughout the experience, I never stopped thinking about how cool it was, like I was a character in a cyberpunk novel. The Vision Pro opens some new ways of approaching day-to-day work that could appeal to folks with certain sensibilities, and it offers access to some amenities that someone who hasn’t already invested a lot into their home office setup might not already have.

At the same time, though, I never quite zeroed in on a specific application or use case that made me think my normal habit of working on a MacBook Pro with three external monitors would be replaced. If you don’t already have a setup like that—that is to say, if you’ve just been working on a laptop on its own—then the Vision Pro can add a lot of value.

I plan to explore more use cases in the future, like gaming, but this is the last major piece in a series of sub-reviews of the Vision Pro that I’ve done on various applications, like entertainment or as an on-the-go mobile device.

My goal has been to see if the Vision Pro’s myriad use cases add up to $3,500 of value for today’s computing enthusiast. Productivity is front and center in how Apple markets the device, so this is an important one. Let’s see how it holds up.

The basics

Outside the realm of entertainment, visionOS and its apps are mostly about flat windows floating in 3D space. There are very few apps that make use of the device’s 3D capabilities in new ways that are relevant to productivity.

There are two types of visionOS apps: spatial apps and “Compatible Apps.” The former are apps designed to take advantage of the Vision Pro’s spatial computing capabilities, whereas Compatible Apps are simply iPad apps that work just fine as flat windows within the visionOS environment.

Let's find out if the Vision Pro can be an adequate replacement for this, my usual work space.

Enlarge / Let’s find out if the Vision Pro can be an adequate replacement for this, my usual work space.

Samuel Axon

In either case, though, you’re usually just getting the ability to put windows around you. For example, I started out by sitting at my kitchen table and putting my writing app in front of me, Slack and my email app off to the side, and a browser window with a YouTube video playing on the other side. This felt a bit like using several large computer monitors, each with an app maximized. It’s cool, and the ability to shift between your real environment and fully immersive virtual ones can help with focus, especially if you do intensive creative work like writing.

If there’s one thing Apple has nailed better than any of its predecessors in the mixed reality space, it’s the interface. Wherever your eyes are looking, a UI element will glow to let you know it’s the item you’ll interact with if you click. Clicking is done by simply tapping two of your fingers together almost anywhere around your body; the headset has cameras all over, so you don’t have to hold your hands up or in front of you to do this. There are also simple pinching-and-moving gestures for scrolling or zooming.

I worked exclusively in Vision Pro for a week—here’s how it went Read More »

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Apple Vision Pro’s components cost $1,542—but that’s not the full story

Apple, apple vision pro, Tech, vision pro, visionOS / /

Headset Economics —

The OLED displays account for more than a third of the component costs.

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A render of the displays inside the headset

Enlarge / The Vision Pro has two micro-OLED displays.

Apple

Research firm Omdia has published the first publicly available educated estimates of how much the materials for each Vision Pro really cost Apple. The analysis sets an overall price tag for the materials and identifies which components cost the most money.

Omdia Senior Research Director David Hsieh estimates that the total bill of materials comes in at around $1,542. The consumer price for the headset starts at $3,499 but can be as much as a thousand dollars more than that, depending on the configuration the buyer chooses.

Vision Pro presents both the real and the virtual worlds to the user with two micro-OLED displays, one for each eye. Together, these dual displays are the most expensive component in the headset, costing $456. Another external display (the one used for EyeSight) costs around $70, Hsieh estimates. That means that Omdia estimates the device’s displays account for about 35 percent of the total cost of the device’s materials.

The runner-up category is silicon; a roll-up cost estimate of both the M2 system-on-a-chip and the R1 processor together lands at $240, or just over 15 percent of the total cost of the device’s materials.

You can see the full table of materials in Omdia’s estimate here, as first seen in one of the firm’s blog posts:

No matter how accurate that $1,542 number is, we should steer clear of the temptation to declare that Apple profits $1,957 on each Vision Pro sold for $3,499, as that’s certainly not the case.

A bill of materials like this doesn’t take into account manufacturing, shipping, or marketing, nor does it factor in the cost of research and development. There’s no way to know from these estimates how much profit Apple earns on each Vision Pro sold, but it’s definitely a lot less than the difference between the price tag and the bill of materials.

Apple has historically maintained substantial profit margins on its hardware products like the iPhone, and Vision Pro could follow in those footsteps, or it could be that Vision Pro is anomalous. Only Apple knows for sure. In any case, analysts expect some of these costs to come down with time.

Apple Vision Pro’s components cost $1,542—but that’s not the full story Read More »

why-walking-around-in-public-with-vision-pro-makes-no-sense

Why walking around in public with Vision Pro makes no sense

Apple, augmented reality, Features, Mixed Reality, Reviews, spatial computing, Tech, vision pro, visionOS / /

  • A close-up look at the Vision Pro from the front.

    Samuel Axon

  • The Apple Vision Pro with AirPods Pro, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and an Xbox Series X|S controller.

    Samuel Axon

  • You can see the front-facing cameras that handle passthrough video just above the downward-facing cameras that read your hand gestures here.

    Samuel Axon

  • There are two buttons for Vision Pro, both on the top.

    Samuel Axon

  • This is the infamous battery pack. It’s about the size of an iPhone (but a little thicker) and has a USB-C port for external power sources.

    Samuel Axon

  • There are two displays inside the Vision Pro, one for each eye. Each offers just under 4K resolution.

    Samuel Axon

  • Apple offers several variations of the light seal to fit different face shapes.

    Samuel Axon

If you’ve spent any time in the tech-enthusiast corners of Instagram of TikTok over the past few weeks, you’ve seen the videos: so-called tech bros strolling through public spaces with confidence, donning Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headset on their faces while gesturing into the air.

Dive into the comments on those videos and you’ll see a consistent ratio: about 20 percent of the commenters herald this as the future, and the other 80 mock it with vehement derision. “I’ve never had as much desire to disconnect from reality as this guy does,” one reads.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going all-in on trying the Vision Pro in all sorts of situations to see which ones it suits. Last week, I talked about replacing a home theater system with it—at least when traveling away from home. Today, I’m going over my experience trying to find a use for it out on the streets of Chicago.

I’m setting out to answer a few questions here: Does it feel weird wearing it in public spaces? Will people judge you or react negatively when you wear it—and if so, will that become less common over time? Does it truly disconnect you from reality, and has Apple succeeded in solving virtual reality’s isolationist tendencies? Does it provide enough value to be worth wearing?

As it turns out, all these questions are closely related.

The potential of AR in the wild

I was excited about the Vision Pro in the lead-up to its launch. I was impressed by the demo I saw at WWDC 2023, even though I was aware that it was offered in an ideal setting: a private, well-lit room with lots of space to move around.

Part of my excitement was about things I didn’t see in that demo but that I’ve seen augmented reality developers explore in smartphone augmented reality (AR) and niche platforms like HoloLens and Xreal. Some smart folks have already produced a wide variety of neat tech demos showing what you can do with a good consumer AR headset, and many of the most exciting ideas work outside the home or office.

I’ve seen demonstrations of real-time directions provided with markers along the street while you walk around town, virtual assistant avatars guiding you through the airport, menus and Yelp reviews overlaid on the doors of every restaurant on a city strip, public art projects pieced together by multiple participants who each get to add an element to a virtual statue, and much more.

Of course, all those ideas—and most others for AR—make a lot more sense for unintrusive glasses than they do for something that is essentially a VR headset with passthrough. Nonetheless, I was hoping to get a glimpse at that eventuality with the Vision Pro.

Why walking around in public with Vision Pro makes no sense Read More »

apple-vision-pro-will-launch-feb-2,-preorders-start-jan.-19

Apple Vision Pro will launch Feb. 2, preorders start Jan. 19

Apple, headset, Mixed Reality, vision pro / /

The future is soon —

Package includes 256GB storage and two headstraps; prescription lenses run $149.

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The Dual Loop Band as seen on a model head.

Enlarge / The Dual Loop Band as seen on a model head.

Apple

Apple’s highly anticipated mixed-reality Vision Pro headset will be available starting on February 2 at US retail Apple locations and on the Apple Store website, the company announced this morning. Preorders for the $3,499 “spatial computing” headset will start on January 19 at 5 am PST.

  • The “Dual Loop Band” offers a separate option for holding the Vision Pro securely on your face.

    Apple

  • The flexible Solo Knit Band will also be included in the Vision Pro box.

    Apple

  • A close-up of the “soft textile” light seal included in the box, which “comes in a range of shapes and sizes.”

    Apple

The stock model of the Vision Pro will include 256GB of storage, which can be used to store existing iOS apps or apps made specifically for the Vision Pro’s new spatialOS. The package will include the flexible Solo Knit Band seen in previous marketing materials, as well as a newly revealed “Dual Loop Band,” which adds a portion that goes over the top of the skull. Apple says the extra included band will “give users two options for the fit that works best for them.”

Here are the other items included in the Vision Pro box, according to Apple:

  • Light seal
  • Two light seal cushions
  • Apple Vision Pro cover
  • Polishing cloth
  • External battery

    USB-C charge cable
  • USB-C power adapter

For those needing corrective lenses while inside the Vision Pro, Apple says Zeiss “Readers” will be available for $99, while prescription Optical Inserts will run $149. Both options attach magnetically to the device to give an unobstructed view and allow for eye tracking while in Vision Pro.

What can this thing do, again?

In its press release announcing the launch details, Apple highlighted the availability of “more than 150” movies and TV shows that can be viewed in 3D on the device. The company also mentions Vision Pro’s support for “new spatial games,” including Game Room, What the Golf?, and Super Fruit Ninja, which “take advantage of the powerful capabilities of Apple Vision Pro to transform the space around players, offering unique and engaging gameplay experiences.”

Web pages and

Enlarge / Web pages and “flat” iOS apps can be placed around the mixed reality room on floating monitors in Vision Pro.

Apple

Aside from those visionOS-enhanced experiences, Apple’s release talks up Vision Pro’s support for 2D productivity apps, including “Fantastical, Freeform, JigSpace, apps from Microsoft 365, and Slack.” Vision Pro users can also view streaming services like Apple TV+, Disney+, and Max, which can be viewed “on a screen that feels 100 feet wide with support for HDR content” or play more than 250 Apple Arcade titles on the device.

Ars Technica went hands-on with the Vision Pro shortly after its original announcement last June, testing out its eye-tracking interface, avatar-based FaceTime calls, and immersive, 3D mixed reality content. We’re eager to get more time with the device for testing in Ars’ Orbiting HQ soon.

Apple Vision Pro will launch Feb. 2, preorders start Jan. 19 Read More »

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Vision Pro Will Use External Display for More Than Just Showing Your Eyes

Apple, Apple Vision Pro News & Reviews, eyesight display, News, vision pro, visionos beta 6 / /

The recently released VisionOS Beta 6 contains a video showing how users will scan their face to create their avatar using the Vision Pro cameras. Perhaps more interestingly, the video shows that Apple plans to use the external display for more than just showing the user’s eyes through the headset.

Probably the most unexpected thing about the Apple Vision Pro reveal is the headset’s external display. This is something that no commercial XR headset has shipped with to date. Apple calls this the EyeSight display, because its primary function is to show the wearers eyes ‘through’ the headset, so people nearby can tell if the wearer is looking at them or if they’re fully immersed and unable to see.

Image courtesy Apple

Technically, the EyeSight display isn’t actually showing the user’s real face. It’s actually projecting a view of their Vision Pro avatar (or ‘Persona’ as Apple calls them). Apple masks this fact with a stereoscopic display and some clever blurring and coloring effects to hide the limited resolution and quality of the avatar.

To generate the avatar, users will use the headset’s own cameras to capture multiple views of their face. The exact procedure was found in the files of the VisionOS Beta 6 which developers can get access to.

New video tutorial showing Persona Enrollment for Apple Vision Pro added in visionOS beta 6!

The enrollment uses the EyeSight display to guide the user. pic.twitter.com/cGfsdTuIaY

— M1 (@M1Astra) November 14, 2023

In the video we see a pretty quick and easy process which employs the headset’s external display as a sort of step-by-step guide through the process.

The scanning process is interesting in itself, but perhaps more interesting is the way Apple is thoughtfully using the external display to help guide user.

It seems likely that Apple will leverage the display for more than just showing the user’s eyes and guiding them through the scanning process, which opens a bunch of interesting doors.

For one, the display could be used to let the headset communicate in other ways to the user when it isn’t being worn. For instance, it could light up green to indicate an incoming FaceTime call; Or blue to tell the user that a large download has finished; or red to indicate that it’s low on battery and should be plugged in.

While there’s nothing stopping Apple from literally just putting text on the display and going full Daft Punk, the company seems to be thinking of the external display as something a bit more organic and magical than a readout of how many emails are waiting for you or how many calls you missed.

Can you think of any other interesting use-cases for the headset’s external display? I’d love to hear more ideas in the comments below!

Vision Pro Will Use External Display for More Than Just Showing Your Eyes Read More »

vision-pro-isn’t-here-yet,-but-you-can-already-start-capturing-spatial-video-on-your-iphone

Vision Pro Isn’t Here Yet, But You Can Already Start Capturing Spatial Video on Your iPhone

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Apple Vision Pro isn’t slated to launch until early next year, but if you’ve got an iPhone 15 Pro you can already start capturing memories as spatial videos.

With the recent release of iOS 17.2 beta, Apple quietly added its first pass at spatial video capture for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

“Capture spatial video with remarkable depth on iPhone 15 Pro to view in 3D in the Photos app on Apple Vision Pro,” Apple writes in the update’s release notes. “Turn on spatial video capture in Settings > Camera > Formats, then capture spatial videos in Video mode in the Camera app.”

Enabling the mode adds a new Vision Pro icon to the Camera app. Tapping it instructs you to rotate the phone sideways into a landscape view and locks the capture settings to 1,920 × 1,080 at 30 FPS. This allows the phone to capture two video streams from different lenses, then the footage is compared and processed to add depth information to the final video.

An exaggerated example of spatial video playback on Vision Pro

When played back on Vision Pro, the headset’s stereoscopic displays allow users to see the depth as part of the video, but on an iPhone spatial videos play back in monoscopic mode and look no different that a regular video.

Although you don’t have the option to actually watch spatial video yet, it’s kind of nice that Apple is rolling out this feature ahead of the holidays, allowing people to start capturing memories of loved ones today that they might not see for another year.

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max and want to try capturing spatial video yourself, you can join the Apple Beta Software Program to install the iOS 17.2 beta.

Vision Pro Isn’t Here Yet, But You Can Already Start Capturing Spatial Video on Your iPhone Read More »

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Epic Games is “exploring native Unreal Engine support” for Apple Vision Pro

Apple, Apple AR, apple vision pro, Apple VR, AR games, AR News, epic games, Mixed Reality, News, unreal engine, vision pro, vision pro unreal engine / /

Unity, makers of the popular game engine, announced earlier this week it’s getting ready to levy some pretty significant fees on developers, causing many to rethink whether it makes more sense to actually go with the main competition, Unreal Engine from Epic Games. It seems Epic isn’t wasting any time to help transition those creating projects for Apple Vision Pro.

According to Victor Lerp, Unreal Engine XR Product Specialist at Epic Games, the company is now “exploring native Unreal Engine support for Apple Vision Pro,” the upcoming mixed reality headset due to launch in early 2024.

Lerp says it’s still early days though, noting that it’s “too early for us to share details on the extent of support or timelines.”

Lerp posted the statement on Unreal Engine’s XR development forum. You can read it in full below, courtesy of Alex Coulombe, CEO of the XR creative studio Agile Lens:

During Vision Pro’s unveiling at WWDC in June, Apple prominently showcased native Unity support in its upcoming XR operating system, visionOS. Unity began offering beta access to its visionOS-supported engine shortly afterwards, making it feel like something of a ‘bait and switch’ for developers already creating new games, or porting existing titles to Vision Pro.

As explained by Axios, Unity’s new plan will require users of its free tier of development services to pay the company $0.20 per installation once their game hits thresholds of both 200,000 downloads and earns $200,000 in revenue. Subscribers to Unity Pro, which costs $2,000 a year, have a different fee structure that scales downwards in proportion to the number of installs. What constitutes an ‘install’ is still fairly nebulous at this point despite follow-up clarifications from Unity. Whatever the case, the change is set to go into effect starting on January 1st, 2024.

In the meantime, the proposed Unity price increase has caused many small to medium-size teams to reflect on whether to make the switch to the admittedly more complicated Unreal Engine, or pursue other game engines entirely. A majority of XR game studios fit into that category, which (among many other scenarios) could hobble teams as they look to replicate free-to-play success stories like Gorilla Tag, which generated over $26 million in revenue when it hit the Quest Store late last year.

Epic Games is “exploring native Unreal Engine support” for Apple Vision Pro Read More »

apple-confirms-vision-pro-still-slated-to-release-in-early-2024

Apple Confirms Vision Pro Still Slated to Release in Early 2024

Apple, Apple AR, apple vision pro, apple vision pro release date, Apple VR, News, vision pro, vision pro launch date, vision pro release date / /

Apple’s “Wonderlust” product launch event featured the official unveiling of iPhone 15 and both Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. While XR wasn’t a major focus of the event, Apple confirmed its upcoming mixed reality standalone Vision Pro isn’t seeing any delays to push it off its early 2024 release.

First unveiled at WWDC in June, Apple CEO Tim Cook said last night during the product event that Vision Pro is still “on track for release in early 2024.”

Vision Pro, which comes along with the very ‘pro’ price tag of $3,500, has reportedly been the subject of multiple delays in the past. The MR headset was widely thought to arrive sometime in 2022, although several successive reports maintained it was delayed multiple times since then.

With an “early 2024” launch in site, Apple seems to be making some of the right moves in the background, as the company has already opened up applications for developer units which are undoubtedly already in the hands of studios.

Meanwhile, the Cupertino tech giant also announced it’s prepping iPhone 15 Pro to take stereoscopic video which can be viewed on Vision Pro. It’s an interesting choice, as features on company’s most premium ‘Pro’ phone offerings tend to trickle down in successive generations. Here, the phone’s ultrawide and main cameras work together to create what Apple calls a “three-dimensional video.”

Apple Confirms Vision Pro Still Slated to Release in Early 2024 Read More »

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‘Demeo’ Update Brings Hand-tracking Ahead of Planned Launch on Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro

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Resolution Games revealed its popular tabletop dungeon-crawling RPG Demeo now features hand-tracking support on Quest 2 and Quest Pro with its latest mixed reality update. It also includes a few new features to its previously released MR mode that are aiming to appeal to both future owners of Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro.

Ahead of Demeo’s confirmed launch-day release on Quest 3 sometime this Fall, Resolution Games announced it’s now pushing out the game’s Mixed Reality 2.0 update, which is available starting today on the Quest 2 and Quest Pro.

Added to Demeo last Fall, the game’s mixed reality mode lets players take the gameboard out of the virtual world and into their living rooms. Now, in the game’s Mixed Reality 2.0 update, players can put down their controllers and use their hands to pick up miniatures, play cards, and roll the die.

The update also adds two new MR features: co-location to optimize local mixed reality multiplayer, and decorations (including candles and posters) that can be placed to set the mood.

Notably, the studio says the original Quest won’t be receiving the Mixed Reality 2.0 update, but instead is getting a separate final update, bringing ongoing support for the game on Quest 1 to a close. Cross-play support for Quest 1 has also been discontinued.

Demeo Battles, the game’s upcoming PvP mode, is set to feature a similar MR mode on Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro when it launches later this year, Resolution Games says.

At the moment, Resolution Games says it’s currently focusing half the studio’s workload on the creation of MR projects. The studio tells Road to VR it has “multiple mixed reality titles actively in development across a number of devices for 2024 and beyond, including several with dedicated controller-free play.”

Additionally, the studio confirmed Demeo is in active development for Apple Vision Pro for “fully virtual as well as mixed reality gameplay,” with a flatscreen version planned for release on Mac.

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