Apple Vision Pro — the company’s first mixed reality headset that went on sale in the US this month — has quite a few bugs for a first-generation Apple product, but could eventually replace the iPad, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The company’s wearable ‘spatial computer’ that costs $3,500 (roughly Rs. 2.9 lakh) is currently available in the US and offers support for both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) content and with over 600 apps available when the headset was launched.
People in the Vision Products Group — involved in the development of the headset — think that it could take Apple up to four generations until the Vision Pro is at its “ideal form”, Gurman writes in the latest edition of his weekly Power On newsletter, while pointing out that this was also the case for Apple’s early smartphones, tablets, and smartwatch models.
Gurman notes in his review of Apple’s Vision Pro headset that the visionOS operating system is buggy and feels like it is “a beta version and about a year away from feeling refined enough for consumers to use on a day-to-day basis.” He also states that the Vision Pro could eventually replace Apple’s iPad and allow users to perform the same tasks that they can on the tablet.
One of the teething issues that could affect early adopters of the Apple Vision Pro is related to the device’s authentication system. If a user forgets their Vision Pro passcode, they will need to bring the headset into an Apple Store in order to reset it, according to a Bloomberg report.
Software support for the Vision Pro will also need to increase considerably, before it is considered a viable alternative to the iPad. At the moment, there are no official apps for Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube for the Vision Pro. It’s worth noting that YouTube recently made a U-turn and said an official app is in the works, soon after Juno, a third-party app for the headset arrived on the App Store.
A recent report suggested that the Vision Pro would be launched in China by May, with a different name. While the mixed reality headset is called the Vision Pro in the US, rival Huawei owns the trademark for the same name in China, according to the report. The first batch of sales for the headset in China will reportedly be “relatively tight”.