Apple has announced an augmented reality headset called Apple Vision Pro that “seamlessly” blends the real and digital world. “It’s the first Apple product you look through, and not at,” CEO Tim Cook said of the device, which looks like a pair of ski goggles. As rumored, it features a separate battery pack and is controlled with eyes, hands, and voice. It will start at $3,499 and launch early next year, starting in the US market with more countries coming later in the year.

Vision Pro is positioned as primarily an AR device, but it can switch between augmented and full virtual reality using a dial. The device is controller-free, and you browse rows of app icons in an operating system called visionOS by looking at them. You can tap to select and flick to scroll, and you can also give voice commands. On top of that, the headset supports Bluetooth accessories including Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad and lets you connect your Mac to use inside the headset. Downward-facing cameras can capture your hands even if they’re resting low on your body.

You can see these as well as loads of other detail in our 200-plus image gallery below:

The headset has a glass front and an aluminum frame, containing five sensors, 12 cameras, a 4K display for each eye, and a computer that’s apparently cooled with a fan. The headset mask (which Apple dubs a “Light Seal”) and strap (which Apple dubs a “Head Band”) are cloth-lined and modular, and Apple says they can flex to fit to a variety of face shapes and head sizes. The Head Band is ribbed and fits around the back of your head, and you can swap different sizes and styles of band.

Zeiss has created custom optical inserts that magnetically attach to the lenses for people who wear glasses. It has an external battery that lasts up to two hours and can connect via a “supple woven cable” so it slips into a pocket. Apple promises that the display will be unprecedentedly sharp and can deliver 4K video.

The system uses an M2, but it also includes a new chip called the R1.

You’re also not, Apple promises, isolated from people around you. The headset will display your eyes with a system called EyeSight, and if you’re in full VR, a glowing screen will obscure them to suggest you’re not available. It also creates a digital “persona” — basically a hyperrealistic avatar — by scanning your face. The device uses passthrough video that lets you see the real world in full color, but you can project 3D objects into real space, including pulling objects out of a message thread into the real world.

When you’re talking to people remotely, you can use spatial audio to do things like arrange FaceTime participants as “video tiles” around the room. And you can capture and “relive” 180-degree video with a 3D camera while inside the headset. Apple is also touting TV and Arcade content on the headset, including premium content from Disney.

Image: Apple

The headset has been in the works for years and has reportedly gone through several iterations as well as years of delays. It’s meant to be CEO Tim Cook’s signature addition to the Apple product lineup, and it’s garnered praise from industry insiders, even though it will enter a market that hasn’t taken off. Its primary competitor will likely be Meta, which has enjoyed relative success with its games-focused Quest 2 headset and gotten a more mixed reception to its general-purpose Quest Pro.

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