Technology

Apple Vision Pro: Impressive specs, new way of interacting could help it break the VR curse

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2023

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Apple Vision Pro

Source: Apple

Apple‘s new Vision Pro headset has sparked a resurgence of interest in head-worn computers that immerse users in a virtual world.

Engineers have been dreaming about virtual reality since 1968 when a professor at the University of Utah built the first 3D VR headset, and since then some of the most powerful consumer electronics companies have released headsets, including Nintendo, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Sony. None have been a hit.

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Now Apple’s at the table and virtual reality experts and developers say it has a chance to succeed where others haven’t.

“When people ask me what’s really special about this announcement, in one word, it’s Apple. The largest tech company in the world and also the most responsible,” said Ori Inbar, co-founder of Superventures and the CEO of Augmented World Expo, an industry conference. “They always put everything behind every product they put out there. And that’s exactly the message they’re sending to the XR industry, but also to everyone else out there.”

Apple’s reputation and record afford it the benefit of the doubt when it comes to genuinely new technologies, and many consumers already own and like Apple’s products.

Apple commercialized the success of multitouch displays with the iPhone, which transformed the smartphone industry by showing the world a new way to interact with phones. It may be able to replicate that in the VR industry with the Vision Pro’s gesture and voice-based user interface. Unlike other headsets, it doesn’t require a controller.

“Part of the Apple effect is they’ve built up this brand equity, they’ve done it time and time again, across multiple categories, whether it’s the watch, music player, and of course, the smartphone,” said Tipatat Chennavasin, general partner at the Venture Reality Fund. “What I think is really interesting about it, too, is they clearly laid out for their vision for the future — this is the next iPhone, the next big platform.”

The Apple Vision Pro is significantly more powerful than nearly all competing products on the market. It’s equipped with two high-definition screens, a battery of cameras and sensors, and custom processors that reduce latency and lag. Put simply: It can do more than any other headset.

The increased horsepower under Apple’s goggles has also enabled a relatively new concept, sometimes called “XR,” “mixed reality,” or “passthrough,” or, as Apple dubs it, “spatial computing.”

The cameras on the outside of the Vision Pro can display the real world in near-real time inside the headset, which makes the technology less isolating, and addresses one long-time issue with virtual reality: Users can’t see what’s around them while they’re in virtual reality.

But Apple also has to change the public perception of virtual reality. The moment that everyday consumers wear headsets on a daily basis may still be years away.

Huge specs

The new Apple Vision Pro headset is displayed during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 05, 2023 in Cupertino, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

One notable aspect of Apple’s Vision Pro is that it has a lot of raw power and expensive parts. Past initial Apple products didn’t emphasize processor speed, display resolution, or specifications.

The Vision Pro does. A short and incomplete list of its components we know so far:

Two Micro-OLED displays about an inch in diameter, each with the resolution of over a 4K television.
An Apple M2 processor — the same as in a laptop — and a specialized R1 processor for cameras and other visuals.
Eye tracking
Six microphones
12 cameras and five sensors for monitoring hand gestures

All these specs put together means that the Apple Vision Pro operates at a higher level of fidelity than products currently on the market, like Meta’s $299 Quest 2, which uses a mobile processor and has lower resolution screens.

It also costs a whole lot more: It costs at least $3,499, and likely even more if users opt for custom lenses or other potential upgrades, like storage.

The powerful specs allow the Vision Pro to display the outside world through video feeds on the inside of the headset in real time, making it the first device to do both high-quality VR, which transports users to a virtual world, and AR, which integrates virtual objects into the real world.

“Apple seems to be all in on the notion that it will let you see out, but it will let you see out using cameras and passthrough and very, very, very, low latency and very, very, very, high-powered computing and processing applied to the problem,” said Avi Greengart, analyst at Techsponential, who demoed the headset earlier this week at Apple’s campus.

That’s compared to rival devices like Magic Leap and Microsoft Hololens, which use transparent displays, that require less processing power but offer lower-quality images.

This level of visual quality means that demos can be better, and that developers don’t have to limit themselves based on the hardware. There’s headroom for new experiences that require a lot of processing power.

It also establishes a floor for virtual reality experiences going forward: Once people have tried an Apple headset, with thousands of dollars of computing gear, it will be more difficult to use a cheaper headset without seeing the tradeoffs.

“Apple is unapologetically saying, in order to do VR, or AR, or what they’re calling ‘spatial computing,’ this is the experience you need to offer, and that’s the price point it’s going to cost,” said Greengart. “Anyone else coming out with a product at that price point would simply be dismissed as niche. But Apple, because of its history with consumer products, and because of its history iterating, you can expect the experience gets better over time, and the price comes down — well, hopefully it comes down.”

A new interface

Apple Vision Pro

Source: Apple

Just as the iPhone did, the Apple Vision Pro introduces a new kind of user interface.

The iPhone introduced multi-touch screens, replacing styluses and mechanical keyboards, and enabled web browsing and full-color maps on a pocket device.

“The user experience is always the most important aspect. The most important part of the iPhone wasn’t shrinking it down, the display quality, the multi-touch, but it was making that UX feel good and magical,” Chennavasin said.

The Apple Vision Pro replaces controllers with simple gestures. The user’s eyes become the cursor and a simple tap of the thumb and index finger selects a button.

“No other headset has really introduced eye-plus-pinch as the main interaction modality,” said Jamin Hu, technical chief of Doublepoint, a private firm working on software to enable gesture-based interactions. “Apple is the first one that we’ve seen focusing on building their entire operating system to support eye tracking.”

Apple Vision Pro

Source: Apple

Eye tracking often uses small sensors to see where the user’s gaze is resting. It works well, according to people who had controlled hands-on demos earlier this week. “Meta’s headset has a similar feature, but it doesn’t work nearly as well as it does on Apple Vision, if it works at all,” wrote CNBC’s Steve Kovach.

The controller-less, gesture-based interface has been a goal of the VR industry for years.

“I think it’s pretty well known in the industry that eye-plus-pinch is magical. It’s even faster than the computer mouse. And it’s easier to learn,” said Hu.

Apple even brought up its record on new computer interfaces as one reason to believe in the potential of Vision Pro.

“So in the same way that Mac introduced us to personal computing and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the launch.

The Apple ecosystem

Apple CEO Tim Cook stands next to the new Apple Vision Pro headset.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The VR industry has waited years for Apple’s formal entry. Developers and experts believed Apple could set the standard once it launched its own headset. It invented the iPhone, and it could be inventing the next major mainstream computing product now.

“You have this element that Apple never comes into an industry until they really know this is going to be something special,” said Sean Mann, CEO of RP1, a technology firm working to enable immersive online experiences.

Apple is likely to have the strongest pipeline of apps that could take advantage of the unique aspects of a virtual reality headset. It already has millions of software developers and the Vision Pro will support iPhone and iPad apps at launch. No other headset has that.

“Apple has the unique ability to catalyze developer interest in new platforms,” Greengart said. “For the Apple Vision Pro, the App Store is going to be there on day one.”

Plus, Apple has a product ecosystem it can integrate with, from iPhones, Apple Watches, and even the Mac. The headset can even function as a massive Mac monitor for getting work done.

Apple also has retail stores that are well-suited to be a first-experience in virtual reality for people who are curious about the technology. Apple’s headset needs significant configuration, including head scans and custom lenses for people who wear glasses — but if any company was well-suited to providing those demos to give them the best chance to elicit a “wow,” it’s Apple.

“No one else in the industry has what Apple has. Apple has the phone, they have the watch, they have the desktop, and now they have a headset, and they all work with each other,” Mann said. “Something that I capture on my cell phone now could easily be shown in my new Vision Pro, and that ecosystem doesn’t exist in any other VR manufacturer.”

Getting developers excited for an untapped market

Source: Apple

The industry is still nascent. Data from Forrester, a research firm, found that 79% of online adults don’t currently use a VR headset.

“It can be read as, ‘My gosh, most people aren’t going to use this device’ or it can be read as, ‘Hey, there’s an opportunity to now penetrate an untapped market with something that will help everyday users,” said Mike Proulx, a research director at Forrester.

It’s expected to be a low-volume product, however, selling hundreds of thousands of units over the year, according to TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, versus the tens of millions of iPhones Apple sells in a quarter.

But many people in the VR industry think that’s fine for this kind of product, which isn’t meant for the mainstream yet due to its price, its clunky battery pack and its novelty.

Instead, it’s possible to see the Apple Vision Pro as a sort of developer’s kit. Sure, some Apple fans and enthusiasts will buy it, and everyone wants to try it, but what it’s really doing is kicking off a gold rush for software developers to make must-have apps for the platform.

Eventually, like other computers, prices for Apple’s Vision could come down, updated models could become slimmer and lighter, and it could become a must-have like a smartphone.

“I talked to a lot of developers who are already in the XR space, and all of them have said they’re interested in getting this headset and getting their hands on it and using it. Every single one of them,” said Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights.

When the iPhone introduced multi-touch, advanced phone cameras, and mobile internet, it birthed Uber and Instagram. Now, it costs $3,500 to start tinkering with software that could become an everyday experience for regular people as the market potentially expands.

“If you could’ve gotten the iPhone two or three years before it was released, and had access to understand the hardware, don’t you go for that? How much would you pay for that? This is the future today,” Chennavasin said. “If I was a developer, $3,500 is a small price to pay for that.”

Technology

Nvidia CEO downplays U.S. fears that China’s military will use his firm’s chips

Published

3 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Nvidia CEO downplays U.S. fears that China's military will use his firm's chips

Co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., Jensen Huang attends the 9th edition of the VivaTech trade show in Paris on June 11, 2025.

Chesnot | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has downplayed U.S. fears that his firm’s chips will aid the Chinese military, days ahead of another trip to the country as he attempts to walk a tightrope between Washington and Beijing.

In an interview with CNN aired Sunday, Huang said “we don’t have to worry about” China’s military using U.S.-made technology because “they simply can’t rely on it.”

“It could be limited at any time; not to mention, there’s plenty of computing capacity in China already,” Huang said. “They don’t need Nvidia’s chips, certainly, or American tech stacks in order to build their military,” he added.

The comments were made in reference to years of bipartisan U.S. policy that placed restrictions on semiconductor companies, prohibiting them from selling their most advanced artificial intelligence chips to clients in China.

Huang also repeated past criticisms of the policies, arguing that the tactic of export controls has been counterproductive to the ultimate goal of U.S. tech leadership.

“We want the American tech stack to be the global standard … in order for us to do that, we have to be in search of all the AI developers in the world,” Huang said, adding that half of the world’s AI developers are in China.

‘The Nvidia Way’ author Tae Kim: Jensen Huang always positions Nvidia ahead of the next big trend

That means for America to be an AI leader, U.S. technology has to be available to all markets, including China, he added.

Washington’s latest restrictions on Nvidia’s sales to China were implemented in April and are expected to result in billions in losses for the company. In May, Huang said chip restrictions had already cut Nvidia’s China market share nearly in half.

Huang’s CNN interview came just days before he travels to China for his second trip to the country this year, and as Nvidia is reportedly working on another chip that is compliant with the latest export controls.

Last week, the Nvidia CEO met with U.S. President Donald Trump, and was warned by U.S. lawmakers not to meet with companies connected to China’s military or intelligence bodies, or entities named on America’s restricted export list.

According to Daniel Newman, CEO of tech advisory firm The Futurum Group, Huang’s CNN interview exemplifies how Huang has been threading a needle between Washington and Beijing as it tries to maintain maximum market access.

“He needs to walk a proverbial tightrope to make sure that he doesn’t rattle the Trump administration,” Newman said, adding that he also wants to be in a position for China to invest in Nvidia technology if and when the policy provides a better climate to do so.

But that’s not to say that his downplaying of Washington’s concerns is valid, according to Newman. “I think it’s hard to completely accept the idea that China couldn’t use Nvidia’s most advanced technologies for military use.”

He added that he would expect Nvidia’s technology to be at the core of any country’s AI training, including for use in the development of advanced weaponry.

A U.S. official told Reuters last month that China’s large language model startup DeepSeek — which says it used Nvidia chips to train its models — was supporting China’s military and intelligence operations.

On Sunday, Huang acknowledged there were concerns about DeepSeek’s open-source R1 reasoning model being trained in China but said that there was no evidence that it presents dangers for that reason alone.

Huang complimented the R1 reasoning model, calling it “revolutionary,” and said its open-source nature has empowered startup companies, new industries, and countries to be able to engage in AI.

“The fact of the matter is, [China and the U.S.] are competitors, but we are highly interdependent, and to the extent that we can compete and both aspire to win, it is fine to respect our competitors,” he concluded.

Technology

Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Published

2 days ago

July 11, 2025

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Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Chief executive officer of Google Sundar Pichai.

Marek Antoni Iwanczuk | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Google on Friday made the latest a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf.

As part of the deal, Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google is not investing in Windsurf, but the search giant will take a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, according to a person familiar with the matter. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’re excited to continue bringing the benefits of Gemini to software developers everywhere.”

The deal between Google and Windsurf comes after the AI coding startup had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, CNBC reported in April. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move ratchets up the talent war in AI particularly among prominent companies. Meta has made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI in recent weeks. Most notably, the Facebook parent added Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into his startup.

Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will be among those joining Google in the deal, Jeff Wang, the startup’s new interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, wrote in a post on X.

“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang wrote.

Windsurf has become more popular this year as an option for so-called vibe coding, which is the process of using new age AI tools to write code. Developers and non-developers have embraced the concept, leading to more revenue for Windsurf and competitors, such as Cursor, which OpenAI also looked at buying. All the interest has led investors to assign higher valuations to the startups.

This isn’t the first time Google has hired select people out of a startup. It did the same with Character.AI last summer. Amazon and Microsoft have also absorbed AI talent in this fashion, with the Adept and Inflection deals, respectively.

Microsoft is pushing an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI is composing as much of 30% of his company’s code.

The Verge reported the Google-Windsurf deal earlier on Friday.

WATCH: Google pushes “AI Mode” on homepage

Technology

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sells more than $36 million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Published

3 days ago

July 11, 2025

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Nvidia's Jensen Huang sells more than million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, holds a motherboard as he speaks during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unloaded roughly $36.4 million worth of stock in the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The sale, which totals 225,000 shares, comes as part of Huang’s previously adopted plan in March to unload up to 6 million shares of Nvidia through the end of the year. He sold his first batch of stock from the agreement in June, equaling about $15 million.

Last year, the tech executive sold about $700 million worth of shares as part of a prearranged plan. Nvidia stock climbed about 1% Friday.

Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed as investors bet on Nvidia’s AI dominance and graphics processing units powering large language models.

The 62-year-old’s wealth has grown by more than a quarter, or about $29 billion, since the start of 2025 alone, based on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His net worth last stood at $143 billion in the index, putting him neck-and-neck with Berkshire Hathaway‘s Warren Buffett at $144 billion.

Shortly after the market opened Friday, Fortune‘s analysis of net worth had Huang ahead of Buffett, with the Nvidia CEO at $143.7 billion and the Oracle of Omaha at $142.1 billion.