Apple’s Vision Pro is available for pre-order, but you might want to hold off
Months after Apple announced the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, the device is nearly here. It launches on Feb. 2, and you can pre-order it now for $3,499.99. That’s the cost of 9 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth collector’s editions, or nearly just as many PlayStation 5 consoles.
The elevator pitch for the Vision Pro is that it funnels experiences you might have elsewhere, like on your TV, phone, laptop, or tablet, into your own personal and private display, with your hands as the controllers. You can run mobile apps, join FaceTime calls with pals, watch movies, mirror your Mac’s screen, play some Apple Arcade titles, manipulate 3D objects, and more. It can do a lot of stuff, apparently, but its entertainment and gaming offerings at launch aren’t impressive.
Netflix and YouTube are skipping the Vision Pro (at least, for now) — painful exclusions considering Meta’s $250 Quest 2 has both, not to mention the ability to launch Xbox Cloud Gaming support right from the headset without the need for a console. Other movie and TV streaming apps are showing up, however, including Hulu, Max, Apple TV, and several others.
Slightly making up for that dearth, the Vision Pro will have exclusive Disney Plus content for subscribers to check out, including dozens of 3D movies, such as Avatar: The Way of Water, Encanto, Avengers: Endgame, and more. This special version of the app also boasts some Disney-themed environments that they can gaze at.
If that sounded dull, Apple’s pitch for gaming on the Vision Pro is even moreso. At launch, it has apps like Game Room, What the Golf?, and Super Fruit Ninja that will show off the headset’s spatial capabilities. I haven’t tested these out yet, but I’m choosing to interpret these as tech demos, which will probably get old rather quickly. According to Apple’s Vision Pro landing page, there are “over 100 of your favorite iPad games” available to play on the headset, but it doesn’t name any, aside from NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition and Sonic Dream Team. To
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