- Tech giant Apple has unveiled its mixed-reality headset known as Vision Pro
- The company has however avoided associating it with the metaverse and instead referred to it as a spatial computer
- This is despite Meta linking its Quest 3 headset with the metaverse and making it seven times cheaper
Tech giant Apple has unveiled its mixed reality headset known as Vision Pro, redefining what it sees as the metaverse in the process. Apple’s decision to scrap the term ‘metaverse’ in favor of ‘spatial computer’ aligns with the company CEO’s belief that augmented reality, not the metaverse, is likely to take over the future. Apple’s stand contradicts that of Meta which sees the metaverse as the future despite making huge losses while exploring possibilities in the virtual world.
Metaverse Will Stop Being a Bad Word
Apart from avoiding using the term metaverse Apple has also distanced itself from other popular terms like augmented reality and virtual reality, despite the headset incorporating both AR and VR features. Some in the tech world have praised Apple’s move saying that the term metaverse “will stop being a bad word.”
🥽 Apple Vision Pro is everything we hoped for and then some.
But at $3,499 you’re either an early adopter or a AR/VR developer.
Yet two things change after today:
1. “Metaverse” will stop being a bad word (even though Apple didn’t use the word) – sparking a resurgence in… pic.twitter.com/x8FcGsKTbj
— Bilawal Sidhu (@bilawalsidhu) June 5, 2023
According to Apple executive Mike Rockwell, the company has gone to great lengths to create a compact “standalone spatial computer” housing one-of-a-kind features for a “personal electronics device.”
According to Apple, the headset is powered by visionOS which is the first operating system dedicated to spatial computing. However, the headset’s retail price of $3,499 saw some wondering whether it’s meant for regular users or VR and AR developers.
Meta’s Headset is Seven Times Cheaper
The price is in sharp contrast with Meta’s Quest 3 which is seven times cheaper at $500. Apple will launch Vision Pro next year while Meta said it plans to make Quest 3 available before the end of the year.
With Apple evading the term metaverse, it’s to be seen whether Meta will drop its metaverse push now that it has admitted branching to artificial intelligence (AI).
