So, the Apple market is so far untapped when it comes to headsets and I really do think a lot of heavy Apple users won't have touched VR when it needed a PC. I'm not sure if this will just be for enthusiasts, or enterprise "industry" users.
Personally I have no doubt it will give a boost, just how much?
It'll undoubtedly bring well-heeled Apple ethusiasts into the VR field for the first time, although since they'll almost certainly be kept in a software walled-garden, the effect on the overall VR landscape is harder to predict.
I think it'll definitely stimulate media interest in XR and that alone should bring a boost to the industry.
It's expected to be very expensive but Apple have a track record of bundling useful apps and ease of use features with their kit that makes you think... why wasn't this done before?
AR just hasn't been tapped into yet, and it needs a boost. Simple things like bringing your friends via their avatar or via their phone camera into your real world for a chat... allowing you to have virtual worlds visible through you own real windows... or remotely filmed real locations... a proper planetarium superimposed onto your living room ceiling... there must be a hundred things.
Apple will probably bring the social AR stuff to people which I'm looking forward to.
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Chatting about this at work today - who is actually going to buy one of these? I don't mean, who on here reading this, I mean, what persona and what will they be doing with it? Not possible to answer because we don't know what it will be, but have a guess, assuming it looks cool as hell, has all the usual ipad apps and more and is reassuringly "Apple-expensive".
I keep hearing $3,000, that's 2 iphone pro max's.... well a bit more I guess.
So on that basis it doesn't seem like a fantasy purchase for someone who's waiting for the right level of AR quality and features (if that's what it has). On the other hand it's probably 6 or 7 times the price of the Quest 3 and I'd be surprised if it's 6 or 7 times as good. I'm sure most people choose a headset based on comparisons but there'll be some who just want what they think is the best regardless of cost and that's ok but it doesn't help the industry move along very much as far as engagement is concerned in my view.
Also, it's really easy for a headset to be let down by small design decisions... if it relies on a tethered battery... or is too reliant on hand tracking rather than have good controllers as an option (if the hand tracking isn't great). If there's no ability or poorly performing PCVR, that kind of stuff.
I'm in the wait and see camp, and that includes waiting to see if any good features it has aren't copied in cheaper headsets. I'd like somebody here to buy one though and review it.
That's definitely what I do - I compare (currently) the Quest 2 against all the others I use and sure some of them beat it at something small but the others are usually over the £1,000 mark. I do now recommend the Quest Pro to commercial users but consumers, I can't with the Quest 3 around the corner (hopefully).
I think as far as users of this headset, it will be a very small take-up for consumers for this first one. When it comes to business, unless they look very similar to normal glasses (spectacles) I can't see them being issued out the same way a mobile phone and laptop are. Common industrial users of XR headsets are CAD engineers, designers, training managers for manufacturing - and I think, but may be wrong, that currently most of that software is Windows only. WebXR though...?
As for my bank balance - I can't. I just can't. Unless it's £2,500. 😈 There was a regular on here who always did reviews though - I'm sure you'll remember better than me. Shadow?
Funnily, I've just been using my Quest 2 'cos I've developed a shallow but semi-permanent ridge across my forehead from Pro overuse, seriously. I think I realise now how much we get used to headset fit, the Pro seemed uncomfortable at first, now I can wear it for many hours straight, the Quest 2 with stock headband, for glasses wearers is not good.
The main difference is the lenses though, pancakes in the Quest 3 will surprise a lot of people. Air Link is not great for me with the Q2, I didn't realise, I must have been only using my Rift-S for PCVR. I assume the Q3 will have the same of better wi-fi kit as the Pro so some people who have poor Air Link should notice a bump.
If the Apple headset allows a version of bigscreen to be installed it might have PCVR capabilities even if they don't design it as such, will be interesting to see. I wonder if they don't want it to be used for that... if they're aiming to promote their own ecosystem and they know the headset isn't going to sell in big numbers, they may just want a halo headset (as in top-tier, not headstrap!)to advertise what's possible without PCVR.
Apple's headset is probably going to $3000 so I don't think it will boost the market as it will send people in the other direction thinking that all the headsets are going to get more expensive and more expensive and so on until nobody can buy them (of course that will most likely not happen but there would be evidence to back it up - the $1500 quest pro, the $1000 valve index and other headsets that are a lot of money.)
