Apple Vision Pro, a device ahead of its time… on purpose
Apple has finally presented its long awaited device for mixed reality during the opening of the WWDC 2023, after years of numerous rumors (which were true for a large majority). After watching the keynote, a few thoughts crossed my mind, and I’m about to share them with you (everything you’re gonna read below are assumptions).
A groundbreaking invention, not yet an innovation
What i have been taught during my master degree in innovation management, is that an innovation is an invention which meets success on the market. It’s almost the case for each new device launched by Apple since the iPod. And today, even Mac products, which are not that innovative, are selling very well (Apple was ranked fourth worldwide in 2022 in terms of computers shipments).
The Vision Pro was a demonstration of a cutting-edge technology, embedding best-in-class hardware and seemingly, an unprecedented software implementation. With more than 5000 registered patent and several years of R&D, this device is undoubtedly a real technological advance in its domain, and that totally explains its price.
But as I said, to become an innovation, the Vision Pro needs to be sold at a large number of customers. Thus, if it aims to become a mainstream device, we need more practical use cases beside those already presented, a lower price and maybe, even a smaller overall size. And for all these reasons, I suppose that the Apple Vision has been launched ahead of its time.
An innovation with the next generation
He’s a “Pro” in its domain
The first Apple Vision to be launched is the “Pro” version. For all Apple products, if we have a “Pro”, we also have an “Air” or a standard version as for the iPhone. On the first hand, this naming «Pro» makes the price legitimate, and on the other hand, it seems to be targeted for a certain audience that I suppose to be early adopters and above all, software development companies and developers in general. This assumption could be ascertained by the fact that the Vision Pro will be launched more than 6 months after its presentation, giving time for developers to get more familiar with the ARKit library and to come up with new ideas. New products are usually launched after a few days, and no more than three months after their presentation. So, apparently, the Vision Pro is not aiming to be a mainstream product at launch, paving the way to an another iteration, more affordable, maybe in 2025 or 2026.
Call me Spatial Computer
Apple presented its device as a spatial computer, and according to what they’ve shown, we understand why. The Cuppertino’s company wants to make you understand that the Vision Pro has to be considered as a totally new kind of device and it’s a disruption regarding the companies which has launched VR and mixed reality headsets. In other words, Apple is the first to launch this kind of product and therefore, they are the leader of this new market, the market of spatial computers. And this is maybe why they decided to talk about it with this timing, especially when Google, Samsung and Qualcomm has announced earlier this year they are collaborating on a new VR/AR headset.
But seriously, is it a headset, a mask or just very thick glasses ?
Even if it’s announced to be way lighter than VR headsets currently on the market, the Vision Pro stays bulky, even if it’s more a mask than a headset, and we can’t imagine wearing it more than a half an hour, especially for productivity tasks. But there are a few things that could indicate that the Vision Pro could evolve into an even lighter device to come closer to glasses. First, the design is similar to the Apple Watch, so the Apple Vision products intend to be wearables. Secondly, we are at the dawn of this kind of products, as semi-conductors continues to shrink thanks to the minimum feature size constant reduction. Therefore, we will probably get a dramatically lighter product in the next 5 years (and probably at the same price).
An SoC from last year in a device for next year
The Vision Pro is equipped with an M2 chip which is assisted by a second new chip in the Apple Silicon family, the R1, specialized in data streams processing acceleration coming from the several cameras and sensors. But why the M2 here ? Why not the M3, which is going to have a lower feature size and therefore being more powerful and efficient. Such as the first Mac Mini with Apple Silicon dedicated to developers was equipped with an A12 instead of an M1, it could suggest, once again, that it’s a product dedicated in a first place to early adopters and developers.
Conclusion
The Apple Vision Pro seems to be a “mature prototype”, an oxymoron that suggests that this device has been launched ahead of its time on purpose.
Apple apparently wants to be remembered as the first to launch the “Spatial Computer” and as the source of disruption, to become the leader of this new market (Kodak has invented the digital camera but didn’t launch it first, and we know their fate).
Apple announced it now and will launch it ahead of its time to give an opportunity and time for developers to imagine a lot of new apps, in anticipation to a more affordable Apple Vision and an even lighter and sophisticated iteration of the Vision Pro coming in the next few years.
