Apple’s Vision Pro Headset Is Tech’s Latest Bid To Crack AR/VR Devices—Here’s How Rival Products Have Performed
top line
Apple unveiled its upcoming $3,500 Vision Pro headset for the first time Monday, in its first major foray into the world of virtual and augmented reality — though the iPhone maker prefers to use the term “spatial computing” — and is closing it rivals Google, Microsoft, and Meta to similar devices with mixed success and some notable failures.
Important facts
Meta entered the VR/AR market with the acquisition of headset maker Oculus in 2014, but in 2021 Facebook officially changed its company name as part of a broader effort to focus on building the “Metaverse.”
Headsets from Meta – previously under the Oculus brand – account for the largest share in a relatively small market, with more than 20 million headsets reportedly sold to date.
Despite its success, Meta’s recent foray into the premium segment of the VR/AR headset market has been rocky: The $1,500 Meta Quest Pro has seen poor reviews and weak sales, prompting the company to keep its price tag just four months long to lower by $500 after its launch.
Google was the first major tech company to enter the AR space, first unveiling “Google Glass” to the public in 2012, but releasing it to a limited audience a year later at a cost of $1,500.
Due to the high price and limited app support, the glasses never caught on with consumers, and they also met with a lot of social backlash, including being banned from various public institutions over concerns – particularly about the camera recording videos could.
Google briefly moved to offering a remastered version of the Glass as a corporate product for factories of companies like DHL and Boeing, but eventually stopped selling the product entirely in March of this year.
Microsoft first unveiled its augmented reality headset, the Hololens, at a Windows 10 event in early 2015, which, unlike Apple’s Vision Pro, projected its images onto a see-through display rather than using front-facing cameras.
Although Microsoft offers many consumer-oriented features — like gaming, video calling, and watching TV — the HoloLens is aimed at developers and commercial purposes and costs $3,000.
A revamped version called Hololens 2 – priced at $3,500 – was unveiled in 2019 and the technology is being tested by the US Army, but the fate of the product remains unclear following the departure of Microsoft’s project leader last year and the restructuring of the Unit.
Several other companies like Sony, HTC, and Valve have released versions of their own VR headsets, but most of these devices are primarily gaming-focused and need to be paired with a video game console or gaming PC to operate.
What to look out for
Earlier this month, Meta introduced the Meta Quest 3, the successor to its best-selling headset to date. While it doesn’t quite match Apple’s offering in terms of fidelity and technology, the Quest 3 will be available at a significantly lower price of $499. However, unlike Apple’s headset, the Quest 3 is heavily geared towards gaming and will also be backward compatible with apps and games developed for the Quest 2.
tangent
In addition to Google Glass and HoloLens, both Google and Microsoft have launched various smaller VR products and platforms. In 2014, Google introduced the “Google Cardboard” – a fold-out cardboard and lens set – that could be paired with any smartphone to view VR content. A more sophisticated version of this platform was launched in 2016 as the Google Daydream, which replaced the cardboard kit with a plastic and fabric case that could house a smartphone and be used to view VR content. Both of Google’s products have been discontinued. With the “Windows Mixed Reality” platform, Microsoft tried to establish a VR and AR standard for Windows in 2017. The platform was not tied to a specific headset, but could be consumed by any Windows-compatible VR or AR headset to view content or play games.
further reading
Apple Introduces the Vision Pro AR/VR Headset, Its First Major New Product in Almost a Decade (Forbes)
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