Apple Introduces Revolutionary Virtual Reality Glasses
Apple has recently launched its highly anticipated virtual reality (VR) glasses, creating a frenzy in the market. Within just 10 days, Apple received 200,000 pre-orders on its website. Today, the official sales of the glasses have commenced in Apple stores, leading to massive queues despite the winter weather in the United States.
The Apple Vision Pro VR glasses represent the company’s most advanced development in this field. These glasses combine augmented reality, immersing users in their surroundings, with virtual reality. Apple has dedicated years of research and development to create specialized components that have resulted in astonishing outcomes. The glasses can be described as spatial computers that integrate the digital world with reality. They detect motion, track eye movements, recognize speech, and offer endless interaction in an immersive virtual world.
The device operates on a new interface called visionOS, similar to an updated version of iOS, specifically designed for augmented reality glasses. The glasses feature a 3D glass display, an aluminum frame, and an adjustable head strap. The frame includes five sensors, six microphones, and 12 cameras. Users look at a micro-OLED with a 1.41-inch (3.6 cm) diagonal.
One of the notable features of the glasses is the ability to use applications beyond the confines of the display, allowing users to change their position or adapt to lighting conditions. Users can also access their iCloud photo library and view photos and videos in their original size. Panoramic photos taken on an iPhone surround users, creating the illusion of being exactly where the photo was taken.
Video calls also become spatially immersive, utilizing the space surrounding the user to make it feel like the person being called is in close proximity. The glasses also include thousands of applications, both familiar ones from the iPhone and unique ones created specifically for augmented reality glasses.
However, the glasses do have a few drawbacks. The main one is the high price, with the cheaper model with 256GB of storage costing $3,499, while the more expensive model with 1TB of storage costs $4,000. The expenses don’t end there: Apple Care service costs an additional $500. Various accessories, such as a case or protective cover, come at an extra cost of several tens of dollars. Corrective lenses are even pricier, as Apple has announced the introduction of unique prescription lenses by the German optical giant Zeiss, which magnetically attach to the device. The price for lenses for nearsightedness and farsightedness will range from $99 to $199, depending on the number of lenses.
The weight of the glasses also poses a problem, with testers reporting that the glasses are too heavy. They weigh around 600 to 650 grams, causing complaints of neck discomfort and making it difficult to wear them for more than a few minutes at a time. In addition, there is a battery that connects to the glasses via a USB-C cable, weighing 353 grams. All of this adds up to over 900 grams that users have to carry. Analysts believe that weight will be one of the first issues Apple needs to address when developing the second generation of the glasses.
Apple’s virtual reality glasses will compete with Meta’s Quest 3 glasses, which were released to the market last year. The capabilities of Apple’s glasses surpass those of Meta, which has made significant enhancements since the initial version of the Oculus Quest. However, the Quest glasses are priced at only $500, making them a much more affordable choice for most consumers. It is also expected that Samsung will introduce its own virtual reality glasses developed in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm. Despite the initial drawbacks of Apple’s glasses, analysts believe that the high price, and even the weight, will not deter enthusiasts of Apple products from spending thousands of dollars on a new product that is not yet available.
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The source of the article is from the blog publicsectortravel.org.uk