Apple Vision Pro: Second Generation Update & Strategic Shift 🍎👓 Apple's second-generation Vision Pro arrives with an M5 chip upgrade from M2, enhancing app loading, rendering, and offering 20% longer battery life. Most elements, including design, micro OLED displays, 12 cameras, sensors, R1 chip, and the $3,500 price, remain unchanged. A significant focus was comfort: the new dual-knit band, ingeniously engineered with tungsten, better distributes weight, addressing original complaints about heaviness and discomfort. It's also compatible with the first generation.
Despite these technical bumps, the Vision Pro’s real-world usage often defaults to watching movies, frequently gathering dust rather than its full potential. This contrasts with the rapid progress and growing appeal of smart glasses (e.g., Meta Ray-Ban), which offer practical features with less social stigma. Given limited high-end mixed reality competition (e.g., Samsung's Project Muhan), Apple's strategy seems to be shifting, with reports indicating de-emphasizing future Vision Pro iterations, possibly redirecting resources towards smart glasses development.
Final Takeaway: The "face computer" vision is being pursued through both powerful headsets and evolving smart glasses. Smart glasses are currently gaining more immediate traction for everyday, socially integrated use.