What is Vision Pro for? Ten potential answers to the big question …

Everyone I know who has tried Apple’s upcoming spatial computer has been impressed, but the big question remains: What is Vision Pro for? Who will buy it, and why?

Having had the opportunity to use a similar high-end mixed reality headset, and to consider some of the use cases of that device, I think I’m now a step closer to being able to at least partially answer that question …

What is Vision Pro for?

So far, I think I’ve come up with nine ideas which seem feasible – plus a tenth one which would be some years down the road yet.

These range from variations on the role of existing consumer and enterprise level headsets, to arguably better alternatives to iPhones and iPads for some of the things we do as consumers.

Let’s kick off with something very much inspired by my XR-3 experience …

A supplementary device for enterprise

My Varjo XR-3 experience convinced me that the company is right not to be too concerned about Apple making significant inroads into the high-end enterprise market.

If you’re an automotive designer working for a major car company, and your work is performed in the CAD software SolidWorks, for example, you’re not going to want to switch to a whole new app just to be able to use Vision Pro.

There are a whole bunch of professional and industrial apps in common use in multinational corporations, and none of their users are going to be switching apps anytime soon. These include Unity, Unreal Engine, OpenXR, Autodesk VRED, Lockheed Martin Prepar3d, VBS BlueIG, and FlightSafety Vital.

Similarly, if you’re an iOS developer who wants to move into the visionOS market, you’re not going to try to go up against these established apps, hoping to persuade Fortune 500 companies they they should be using your shiney new app instead of their tried-and-trusted solutions.

But … I can see a role for Vision Pro as a supplementary device.

Makers of high-end industrial design apps might offer cut-down versions for Vision Pro, in the same way we’ve seen apps like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro come to iPad.

I could see industrial designers exploring their work in progress on a Vision Pro, at home or on a plane, even if the render isn’t as detailed or responsive. The self-contained nature of the headset makes it practical as a mobile device in a way that headsets like the XR-3, with their tethered link to a high-end PC, could never match.

Maybe the designer’s boss has a Vision Pro on her desk so she can take a look at the latest iteration on demand, without the need to wander into the design lab?

This type of usage would depend on the high-end app developers being motivated to support it, of course, and they may or may not consider the work either worthwhile or financially viable. But I do think there’s at least some chance this could happen.

Small architecture practices, and the like

If you’re a freelance architect, or working in a very small practice, you might not have the budget to create 3D models of your remodelling projects. By the time you’ve married something like an XR-3 to the high-end PC and enterprise software needed to operate in this environment, you’re well into five figures – and that’s before you factor in the hourly costs of creating the models.

However, a self-contained $3.5k device which can display 3D versions of models created in your existing apps could well prove viable.

There’s no doubt to me that an immersive walk-through experience of a remodelling project could really help an architect sell their proposals, even if it’s essentially just a Vision Pro version of something like the Ikea Kreativ iPhone app.

Furniture and home decor sales

Similarly, imagine walking into a furniture store to look at a sofa. Currently, stores will typically have one or two display models, with fabric swatches for other colors and finishes. But it can be really hard to look at say a black leather sofa and visualize how it might look in a forest green cotton.

Now imagine the assistant handing you a Vision Pro, and letting you virtually walk around a full-size version of your preferred color and fabric, checking out alternatives along the way.

Or letting you use an iPhone app to create a 3D model of your living room, and AirDropping that to a Vision Pro in a home decor store. The headset then lets you see how your room would look like with the walls painted in a new color and texture, replacing existing lamps with new ones, and so on.

For even a mid-range home furnishings or decor store, a few Vision Pro headsets could easily be a great financial investment.

Virtual meetings – business first, families later

The Vision Pro FaceTime example Apple showed during the keynote was, to me, hugely underwhelming. Flat tiles, and semi-realistic images of the people in them.

But this is just Apple’s first-take. Imagine a more immersive experience, where grandparents could join their grandchildren in their room. Or business people could sit together in a virtual room for discussions, while also viewing presentations and handing round virtual images.

It will become financially viable for business long before it does the same for families, but I can see long-term potential here.

Emergency medical care

We’ve already seen some examples of telemedicine, where a first responder can wear a head-mounted camera and transmit live footage back to a specialist doctor in a hospital, who can offer advice on immediate life-saving treatment.

I can definitely see benefits in that doctor wearing a Vision Pro for a more immersive (and less distracting) view, compared to holding an iPad in a busy ER environment.

Similarly, there have been cases of a more experienced surgeon offering support to a junior surgeon in a war environment, and again I can see how the advisor using Vision Pro could make this a better experience.

Training

Varjo’s headset interfaces to full-on flight simulator systems. While a headset doesn’t replace multi-million dollar full moving simulators, they can replace some use of static simulators – which are still hugely expensive devices.

Apple seems unlikely to compete in this pro-level sector, but I can definitely see Vision Pro helping train private pilots. Even using Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane on a games console or very ordinary consumer-level PC has been proven to reduce the number of (expensive) hours needed to achieve a private pilot’s licence.

It isn’t just aircraft. VR headsets are used for simulating ships, trucks, buses, and more.

But even ignoring real-world training applications, flight simulators are a popular form of entertainment. I run X-Plane on my Mac, a simulator noted for its realistic physics, but am already finding that the immersive environment of a far cruder Quest 2 sim is a lot of fun (a device I’m trialling to again get a better personal understanding of the sector).

Virtual travel

I remember when Google Earth was first launched. For the first time people who didn’t have the budget, or lifestyle freedom, to travel to far-flung places could get at least some kind of sense of exploring an exotic location. It was low-res, but still offered a self-guided experience which watching a travel video couldn’t match.

Street View has gotten better and better since then, with 360-degree videos also providing something of the experience of remotely visiting a target destination.

3D video viewed through a headset provides a far more immersive experience, and the high resolution of Vision Pro will only enhance this.

Again, virtual travel isn’t going to be much of a thing when it costs more than actually getting on a plane and flying there, but I do see this as being a massively appealing use of the tech. Especially when it comes to visiting places which entail too much training or risk to do for real – like visiting the summit of Everest or the wreck of the Titanic, for example.

Reliving memories

Like many, I cringed when I watched Apple’s video of a dad wearing the headset to capture immersive video of his kid’s birthday party, instead of actually living it in the moment.

But, I’ve used a 360-degree video camera on a number of occasions, and this really doesn’t involve much sacrifice when it comes to living the experience at the time. On a RIB ride along the Thames, for example, all I had to do was hold a selfie stick in my hand. Same with snowmobiling or horse-riding in Iceland (or attending the opening of a new Apple Store).

For me, this is a killer combo. The relative unobtrusiveness of a 360-degree camera with the immersiveness of watching it back on a high-res headset.

I’m already planning on shooting some 360-degree video on every future trip I take, in the expectation of being able to relive it on a future Apple Vision device.

Games

Of course. I’ve left this until next-to-last, both because it’s an obvious use case, and because as someone who doesn’t have the gaming bug at all, I’m the least-qualified person in the world to talk about it!

But yeah, take your favorite game, and imagine yourself fully immersed in that world at a resolution massively more realistic than a current Quest headset, and the appeal is obvious.

The Apple Vision Mac Edition

Finally, I’ve previously described what I would consider the killer app for this type of device – replacing a Mac.

I’m writing this sitting at a fairly large desk, with a 49-inch monitor in front of me. Assuming there’s a way for work to be stored on wirelessly connected external drives, then I could potentially replace my Mac and monitor with one highly portable device.

I’d then need a desk only large enough for my keyboard, and could have as many virtual monitors as I want, of any size or shape, and change my configuration to suit my current needs.

Instead of having to travel with multiple devices to create a three-monitor setup for working away from home, I could have the virtual monitor setup of my choice without carrying anything more than Vision Pro, keyboard, and an external drive. Even, as Apple’s video suggests, on a train or plane.

The closest we’ll be able to get to that at launch is mirroring a single 4K Mac screen, and supplementing it with a bunch of visionOS apps.

Of course, there are lots of practical barriers here, with comfort top of the list. It’s probably no coincidence that Apple limited press demos to 30 minutes, a time short enough that the wow factor completely blocks out any weight and comfort issues, as was the case with my slightly longer XR-3 demo.

Wearing a headset for an entire working day may not be a desirable experience until the tech gets a lot lighter and cooler.

But I do see this as the future. And cost would be much less of a concern with an Apple Vision Mac Edition. Instead of being an expensive additional display, it could be my Mac, my primary monitor, and my secondary monitors. That’s more than $5,000’s worth of kit, and I’d certainly pay a premium of another $1k to $2k for the convenience factor. So there’s money for Apple to play with in developing this kind of product.

What is Vision Pro for, for you?

So those are my initial answers to the question “What is Vision Pro for?” – how about yours? Please share your thoughts in the comments.