The headset unveiled Monday creates an augmented reality experience where wearers can connect with one another, conduct meetings, watch movies or even play games. The augmented reality component means users can naturally see their surroundings and browse pages or apps by looking in different directions or gesturing with their hands.
Its EyeSight capabilities mean that when a person approaches someone wearing Vision Pro, the device feels transparent, allowing the people to see one another. When a user is immersed in the device, EyeSight gives visual cues to others about what the user is focused on. Like Khanna, XpertVR co-founder Evan Sitler-Bates thinks cost will keep some people from grabbing the device right away, but believes Apple will follow its past habits and bring the price down with successive releases, eventually making it more accessible to consumers.
“Nowadays you put on a VR headset and it can take half-an-hour to an hour to really get everything set up and to get acclimated to the VR space, whereas Apple is really good at having amazing user experiences,” he said. VR creates wholly artificial environments, while AR overlays sensory information like sounds or visuals on top of a user's actual environment. “Extended reality” is an umbrella term encompassing both VR and AR that is used to denote immersive digital worlds.