Just four days to go and users will see one of the most anticipated products by Apple entering the market this year. Vision Pro, the company’s mixed-reality headset focused on spatial computing, will come out on February 2, 2023. They cleverly kept the term metaverse aside while showcasing the product during WorldWide Developer Conference 2023 (WWDC23).
A Strong Possibility
Their rivals, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), on the contrary, are actually hopeful that the Apple Vision Pro launch will make a metaverse market for them according to the American business newspaper The Wall Street Journal. Users are simply more into head-mounted displays (HMDs) in contrast to virtual worlds. Nevertheless, both of them are yet to enter the mainstream market.
Users may not understand what the metaverse is exactly, in reality, no one does as there does not exist an acceptable definition yet. However, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and more are comparatively understandable. Besides, they have an acceptable definition too.
Meta Platforms began its metaverse journey in 2021 after rebranding from its former title Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg walked everyone through the ‘future’ during the Meta Connect 2021 where the team showcased their vision, which, sadly, is still a far cry from being materializing.
Technologies like AR and VR are deemed keys to experience the metaverse as it is. Yet, advancements in technologies have taken the concept beyond simulated virtual worlds. For instance, MR infuses the physical and digital worlds, allowing users to feel like they are actually interacting with digital elements they are seeing through the lens of the headset they are wearing.
Now, as Apple has tapped the HMD market, it will undoubtedly bring something to behold, but also be expensive. Similar to its hold in the smartphone sector where several companies try to bring the features Apple is providing through cheaper means, the company must expect to see such instances again.
As Meta Platforms is exploring the metaverse with little to no competition, Apple’s entry in the MR space could give the upper hand in sales given that the company is selling their HMD for $500 in contrast to Vision Pro, which carries a price tag of $3,500 as of now.
It can be implied that users may want to experience mixed reality if Vision Pro becomes a success. The latest analysis showcases that Apple has already sold between 160K to 180K units during the preorders. That also means it was not just hype like the metaverse. Interest in the concept, as of now, has faded already.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, a renowned analyst, Quest 3’s demand was weaker than expected when it launched last year. He wrote on his Medium that, “The original shipment forecast for Quest 3 in 2H23 was set at over 7 million units. However, due to anticipated weak demand, the current shipment forecast for 2H23 has been cut to between 2–2.5 million units, with shipments in 2024 estimated at around 1 million units.”
