Apple's Most Futuristic Product Ever

Apple has big plans for its new headset.

In a matter of days, Apple will unveil its most ambitious and futuristic product ever.

On June 5^th, at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to reveal a product called the Reality Pro.

This is a product that took Apple over seven years and a team of over 1,000 people to develop.

The company has some big plans for this product and one killer feature that it hopes will turn the Reality Pro into a global phenomenon.

What Is It?

So, what’s the Reality Pro? Well, it’s a mixed-reality headset.

You might have seen or you might even own a virtual reality headset like this Meta Quest 2. Well, the Reality Pro is kind of like that, but it’s got some extra features as well.

Like existing virtual reality headsets on the market, the Reality Pro will immerse users in a virtual environment.

That’s what VR is about—immersion—completely cutting you off from the outside world and engrossing you in a computer-generated virtual environment.

So you’ll put the headset, load it up and then you’ll see a bunch of app icons, similar to what you see with an iPhone or an iPad.

In fact, a lot of existing iPad apps are being adapted so that they can be used on the Reality Pro.

But there’s also apps and services that will be unique to the Reality Pro.

These include a new version of FaceTime in which users will be able to interact with others using a realistic 3D rendering of their face and full body. This is made possible thanks to the numerous sensors that the Reality Pro will have, including those that can track a user’s leg movements.

What the Reality Pro might look like (not the actual device)

Apple is also said to be working on bringing users VR gaming, fitness, and collaboration apps, as well as unique VR viewing experiences for things like movies, TV shows and sports.

Now, the cool part about the Reality Pro is that it can be controlled using just your eyes and hand gestures. And if you need to type something, there will be a virtual keyboard that you can use.

That will hopefully make using the headset a much more intuitive and less cumbersome experience than using controllers like these that you get with the Meta Quest 2.

Mixed Reality

So far, I’ve talked about the VR aspects of the Reality Pro, but remember, this is a mixed reality device.

Mixed reality is when the real world is combined with the virtual world. When it’s more real world with some virtual elements, it’s called augmented reality. And when it’s more virtual world with some real-world elements, it’s called augmented virtuality.

In the case of the Reality Pro, there will be cameras and sensors that capture video and data from the real world and then stream it back to the user.

Apps can then potentially use that stream of real-world data and combine it with virtual elements to create mixed reality experiences.

Now, here’s the killer feature I talked about earlier: users of the Reality Pro can quickly switch between VR and mixed reality mode by using something that’s similar to the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch.

Apple is hoping that the ease with which users can switch modes is going to make the Reality Pro into more than a standard VR device and potentially something that people will be willing to use outside the privacy of their homes.

I know what you’re probably thinking. Who wants to have a big device strapped to their head all day?

That’s before even considering the fact that the Reality Pro will be powered by an external battery pack, which you have to carry in your pocket.

It’s a pretty big stretch to think that we’ll see a lot of people walking around with these headsets in the near future. And that’s probably a disappointment for Apple CEO Tim Cook who envisioned something completely different when he initially greenlit this project.

What Cook originally wanted was for Apple to make a lightweight pair of augmented reality glasses. Something that looks like a standard pair of glasses, is comfortable and can overlay digital elements onto your view of the real world.

That type of device is the holy grail for a company like Apple because it’s the natural successor to the iPhone. Something like the iGlass, or whatever it would be called, would be able to do everything that an iPhone could do and much more.

And unlike the iPhone, which people use several hours a day, or something like the Reality Pro—which people will likely use even less frequently— these could easily be used all day long.

But the problem is, the type of lightweight AR glasses that could have mainstream appeal aren’t yet technically feasible due to challenges with miniaturizing the necessary components.

There are some AR glasses on the market, most notably the HoloLens from Microsoft, but they are typically bulkier and more suitable for specialized industries and professional use, rather than ordinary people.

So that leaves us with virtual reality, or in the case of the Reality Pro, a combination of VR and mixed reality—which doesn’t so much seem like a natural evolution of the smartphone, but something else entirely.

If you think about the evolution of computers, we went from room-sized mainframes to minicomputers to personal computers to smart phones. And everyone’s been asking: what’s next?

Lightweight AR glasses seem like the next step, while VR seems like almost the step after that.

So it’s kind of interesting that we have VR before AR, but that’s largely due to the issue of miniaturization that I talked about earlier. VR headsets are big and bulky, so they don’t have that problem.

And that’s why Apple is coming out with this VR-focused product, the Reality Pro, even though Tim Cook would probably prefer to release an AR-focused product first.

Replacing The Smartphone

That said, VR still holds a lot of promise.

This is a nascent computing category that’s truly unique when compared to well-established categories like PCs and smartphones.

It’s just a matter of getting the user experience and the selection of apps to the point where it becomes useful for the average person. If anyone can do that, it’s Apple.

That said, Apple is projecting the Reality Pro to have a relatively slow start, at least by its standards.

The company’s internal projections show it selling less than 1 million headsets in the first year, which compares to the over 200 million iPhones sold last year.

One headwind for Reality Pro sales is the high price tag for the device. It’s expected to cost $3,000—triple the most expensive version of the Meta Quest, which costs $1,000.

But Apple is working on cheaper versions of the Reality Pro, which are expected to debut in 2024 or 2025. When those come out, demand should pick up.

For context, there were 9.6 million VR and AR devices sold in 2022, which is similar to sales in 2017.

In other words, we haven’t seen growth in this market over the past five years— but Apple is expected to change that. Some people believe that VR and AR device sales could climb to 40, 50 or 60 million units in the coming years.

Personally, I think it’s only a matter of time before some combination of AR and VR replaces smartphones as our primary device—though I’m less confident about whether that happens this decade, next decade or even later. 

But of course, maybe I’m completely wrong about that.  There are skeptics who believe that Apple is wasting its resources on a product that they think will be a bust.

Only time will tell.

Note: The details about the Reality Pro that are mentioned in this story were pieced together based on reporting from Bloomberg and the Information. The actual features of the device may end up differing from these initial reports.