Don’t Dismiss the Apple Vision Pro

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I cried the first time I used the Apple Vision Pro. Immersed in its virtual worlds, I saw a child blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. The picture was so crisp, the color so vivid, that my mind was fooled into believing I was actually there. My tears came because I realized that the promise of this device, if fully realized, would bring empathy at scale. The technological innovation of books was that they convincingly allowed us to live inside others’ minds. The Vision Pro allows us to see the world as other people do. 

Now, two months after the device’s release, the potential I saw on that first day remains only partially fulfilled. That’s because the virtual reality device is sorely lacking in, well, any virtual reality. Apple has released a limited amount of content, and the third-party developer ecosystem is bare-bones. There just isn’t that much to experience—not yet, at least. Plus, there are flaws with the device itself. It’s far too expensive and too heavy, and the battery life isn’t good enough to support hours-on-end usage.

But virtual reality headsets have been ass for a decade—the Vision Pro just happens to have broken the threshold of assery. Other devices merely hinted at what was possible, but the Vision Pro is the first to deliver even a glimpse of genuine magic.

While we wait on Apple’s virtual reality universe to be fleshed out, there is an immediate way that it’s a game-changing technology. The Vision Pro is the single greatest entertainment device ever created. Watching a movie or a TV show on it is a vastly superior experience to any other option. It is a crystal-clear, IMAX-size screen you can use in your living room. It totally transforms the viewing experience of any content. Bad shows become good. Great shows become whiz! bang! pop! explosions of dopamine. Intentionally or not, Apple has actually improved Hollywood’s product for them. My chief complaint is that there isn’t an on-screen clock because I keep losing hours of my life using it without even realizing.

In a world awash with AI and new hardware, it is easy to dismiss the Vision Pro as an expendable gadget, a product in search of a purpose. But the device’s strengths are such a technological breakthrough that it augurs a new era of entertainment. If Apple can fulfill the promise of virtual reality, it can genuinely revolutionize computing—and fundamentally alter how we take in the world around us.

The screen replacement

Unless you have the good fortune of having a job that involves the outdoors, you probably stare at screens all day. There is little screen—your iPhone, ready with all of your emails and text messages the minute you wake up. When you’re ready for work, you graduate to medium screen—a laptop or monitor that handles your core workflows. Finally, the best part—big screen. Here you turn on the TV to watch a show or play a video game to wind down for the day.

According to one estimate, American consumers already spend an average of more than seven hours per day with a screen—and that feels low. You can quibble with the methodology and sources, but regardless, we’ve reached the point where every additional piece of hardware, software, or media we add to our lives needs to be a substitution for an existing service.

The question then becomes: In what way is the Vision Pro a superior screen? What does it replace?

Replace the big screen

What I most enjoy with the Vision Pro is entertainment. As someone who has gone on a date night at the movies every Friday for the past year, trust me when I say this: The Vision Pro is superior to the average movie experience. While the Vision Pro cannot compete with a higher-end Dolby Cinema or IMAX screen, that’s only due to the sound design in those rooms. It is a much better way to watch when compared to your local movie theater using a 15-year-old projector.

The image quality is roughly similar to that of an mid-upper-range OLED TV, which retails for around $1,750. The image feels crispy, with strong blacks and well-defined shapes. The difference is that the Vision Pro’s TV screen appears in your view in the size of an entire movie theater and can be used without leaving your home. It is also the first time I’ve ever enjoyed watching a 3D movie. (You need special glasses for those in theaters anyway.)

You can lay flat on your back on the couch, throw up a screen, and enjoy. No dealing with uncomfortable seats or other theater-goers who scroll Instagram throughout the movie. No pants required. The immersive nature will also keep you from scrolling at home like you might during a not-so-engaging episode of the latest Netflix show.

Additionally, the Vision Pro has Environments, like Yosemite or the moon, that surround the screen, removing all visual ephemera and making it so you can’t even see where you put your phone. When I’m watching a show on the Vision Pro, surrounded by outer space, I don’t even get the urge to check it.