Apple launched an augmented-reality headset called the ‘Vision Pro’ at its annual software developer conference on Monday, its first big move into a new product category since the introduction of the Apple Watch nine years ago. CEO Tim Cook described it as “spatial computing” with the device controlled by your eyes, hands and voice.
“It’s the first Apple product you look through, not at,” Cook said. Apple’s human interface chief Alan Dye said that users will select content inside the goggles with their eyes, tap their fingers together to click and gently flick to scroll.
The device also has an exterior display that shows the user’s eyes to people on the outside world. The exterior screen goes dark when a user is fully immersed in a virtual world. When a person approaches a user who is in full virtual mode, the headset will show both the user and the outside person to each other. “You’re never isolated from people around you,” Dye said. “You can see them, and they can see you. ”
For work uses, Apple showed how the headset can be used with a trackpad and keyboard to work like a traditional computer with multiple displays. Apple did not make any major announcements about generative AI products similar to ChatGPT or Google’s Bard search engine, but it quietly imbued several smaller features with AI, like live transcriptions of voice mails.
The headset launch will see Apple test a market crowded with devices that have yet to gain traction with consumers and put it in direct competition with Facebook-owner Meta Platforms. Shares of the iPhone maker rose 2% to hit a record high of $185 ahead of the launch. Intel fell 4% after Apple dropped Intel chips from its most powerful desktop.
Larger MacBook Air Apple also launched its first large-screen MacBook Air and new versions of the Mac Studio and Mac Pro, seeking to better compete with Windows PCs and reverse a sales slide that plagued its most recent earnings.
It also unveiled an overhauled version of its iPhone and iPad software, adding new features that let users make diary entries and turn their idle phones into a smart display. The larger MacBook Air, announced Monday at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, has a 15. 3-inch screen, compared with a 13-inch display on most MacBook Air models since the product debuted in 2008.
“It’s the first Apple product you look through, not at,” Cook said. Apple’s human interface chief Alan Dye said that users will select content inside the goggles with their eyes, tap their fingers together to click and gently flick to scroll.
The device also has an exterior display that shows the user’s eyes to people on the outside world. The exterior screen goes dark when a user is fully immersed in a virtual world. When a person approaches a user who is in full virtual mode, the headset will show both the user and the outside person to each other. “You’re never isolated from people around you,” Dye said. “You can see them, and they can see you. ”
For work uses, Apple showed how the headset can be used with a trackpad and keyboard to work like a traditional computer with multiple displays. Apple did not make any major announcements about generative AI products similar to ChatGPT or Google’s Bard search engine, but it quietly imbued several smaller features with AI, like live transcriptions of voice mails.
The headset launch will see Apple test a market crowded with devices that have yet to gain traction with consumers and put it in direct competition with Facebook-owner Meta Platforms. Shares of the iPhone maker rose 2% to hit a record high of $185 ahead of the launch. Intel fell 4% after Apple dropped Intel chips from its most powerful desktop.
Larger MacBook Air Apple also launched its first large-screen MacBook Air and new versions of the Mac Studio and Mac Pro, seeking to better compete with Windows PCs and reverse a sales slide that plagued its most recent earnings.
It also unveiled an overhauled version of its iPhone and iPad software, adding new features that let users make diary entries and turn their idle phones into a smart display. The larger MacBook Air, announced Monday at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, has a 15. 3-inch screen, compared with a 13-inch display on most MacBook Air models since the product debuted in 2008.
