Apple Vision Pro - New Report reveals Missing Features

Apple Vision Pro - New Report reveals Missing Features

When Apple introduced the Apple Vision Pro, it promised a new era of "spatial computing." This mixed reality device was more than a standard VR headset; it was meant to be a computer strapped to one's face.

And while the WWDC 2023 demo was certainly impressive, some features failed to make the cut; according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, three notable features were missing from the Vision Pro, but the planned second-generation Vision Pro is expected to include them.

The first two features that did not make it into the Vision Pro are enhancements to the features in Apple's first headset.

The Apple Vision Pro allows users to extend the display of a Mac desktop or MacBook by simply looking at it while it is turned on. Currently, this is limited to one desktop at a time; the ability to view multiple desktops at once is still under development.

Similarly, digital personas were previewed in the WWDC demo, a feature that allows Vision Pro to digitally recreate you in a FaceTime call. In the demo, personas were used to conference with a room of people in a regular instance of FaceTime (i.e., a live feed of real faces, not personas), but they can also be used to communicate with each other.

At this time, however, only two people can communicate with one persona and another persona at a time. A future version of this feature aims to allow "FaceTime meetings with several people" where personas communicate via FaceTime at once, but this upgrade will not be included in the original Vision Pro.

Unfortunately, one may not be able to try out the virtual keyboard anytime soon. This is because while it looks gorgeous on the twin 4K Micro OLED displays built into the Vision Pro, these displays may cause Apple some problems.

Business Korea reports (h/t OLED-info) that the total production cost of the Apple Vision Pro is $1,519, close to the $1,509 we reported. And nearly 50% of that cost may be covered by the displays alone; Business Korea reports that the 4K Micro OLED displays cost $350 each, and the front OLED display that shows the headset's EyeSight feature costs $30 The new Meta Quest is the first of its kind in the world. This is higher than the retail price of the newly announced Meta Quest 3.

And these displays appear to be a major supply bottleneck: The Elec reports that Sony, which makes Micro OLED displays for Apple, can only produce 100,000 to 200,000 displays per quarter.

In other words, if this rumor is true, Apple can only manufacture 400,000 headsets per year at most. So keep an eye on our pre-order guide so that you can be the first in line when the headset is released.

Categories