The XR Week Peek (2024.02.06): Apple ships the Vision Pro, Meta had record revenues, and more!

My feed on social media is full of posts about the Apple Vision Pro, which has just been released a few days ago. So, as you can expect, a big part of this newsletter will be about Apple’s device, but actually there are also a few interesting pieces of news that regard other products and other companies. As usual, I did my best not to miss any important thing that happened in the XR space, and I hope you will appreciate this 😉

Top news of the week

Apple has released the Vision Pro

On February, 2nd, Apple started shipping the Apple Vision Pro. A lot of info about the device has been shared since then. Let me try to tell you everything I’ve learned, organized properly.
 
 For the first time, Tim Cook showed himself wearing the Apple Vision Pro. It has been on the cover of Vanity Fair, with a very carefully studied picture. The choice of the magazine is not casual: Apple keeps pushing to show that its device is not a nerdy thing that isolates people, but it is a trendy thing that augments reality while you can still interact with other people. Wearing a headset is cool, this is what Apple is pushing also with its latest trailer. And this message, if it manages to go through, can be beneficial for the whole industry.

More info (Tim Cook on Vanity Fair)
More info (The Vanity Fair article, reported by Upload VR)
More info (New Vision Pro trailer)

On the past Tuesday, the first reviews of the device started to come out, and then the flow of people expressing their opinions on the device never stopped. I’ve spent quite a long time reading all that people think about this headset and come out with some common remarks:

• The display quality is amazing
• The passthrough is amazing, but less perfect than people thought in the beginning. For instance, it has some slight distortions at the edges and it does not work well in low-light conditions
• The FOV is smaller than the one of Quest 3
• Eye-hand interactions are very natural. When they work, they are incredible, but there are still some times when the system does not detect exactly what you are looking at and so it becomes frustrating
• Comfort is better with the Dual Loop headband because the device is too front-heavy. Anyway even with the Dual Loop, some people could not stand wearing the device for long periods of time
• Typing on the virtual keyboard is a pain, it’s better to have a physical keyboard connected to the device
• Having multiple virtual screens around is amazing
• Watching movies on it is fantastic
• Personas, the virtual representations of people that Apple feeds to all apps requiring a camera stream, are uncanny and creepy
• EyeSight, the feature that let other people see your eyes, appears much more dim and blurred than on marketing images. Plus it’s strange that you do not know when other people are seeing your eyes and when not
• Contrary to what Apple says, the headset is actually isolating and looks weird to the family people around you
• The tethered battery is not that bad, but still a nuisance
• Most of the content available does not exploit true augmented reality but seems like adapted iPad apps
• It’s incredibly expensive while its final value for the users is not clear

Some people argue that for $500, Quest 3 provides much more value for its cost. But others underline how Apple has built very solid foundations for its future ecosystem. 
 
 PS If you are in doubt about which review to read from the many listed below, I would advise the one on CNET or the one on The Verge. If you prefer videos, WSJ’s Johanna Stern made a good one that is short, while if you want something more in-depth you should go for Marques Brownlee’s one.

More info (Road To VR’s preview)
More info (Upload’s roundup of reviews)
More info (CaseyNeistat going around the street with the Vision Pro on)
More info (Johanna Stern’s review)
More info (The Verge’s review)
More info (CNET’s review)
More info (Marques Brownlee’s unboxing)
More info (Marques Brownlee’s review)
More info (A review from a Redditor)
More info (iFixit’s teardown of the device)
More info (EyeSight: Expectations vs Reality)
More info (Full Facetime call shows creepiness of Personas)
More info (All apps requiring your camera feed get your Persona)
More info (Apple Vision Pro’s incredible meshing capabilities)

In case you are curious about the device, you can book a demo in an Apple Store. During the demo, Apple’s employees will give you an Apple device that fits your head, and let you try the most important features of the headset.

More info (How to reserve your demo at an Apple Store)
More info (What happens during a demo at an Apple Store)

We also keep learning new things about the headset. First of all the first authorized 3rd-party accessories have started to surface, and we have already battery holders, alternative straps, carrying cases, etc…
 
 Then Upload VR investigated the external battery and discovered that it is a pretty powerful one, and this may be the reason why it has not been added to the headset. The reason why you need such a big battery is because the headset is power-hungry due to its powerful M2 and R1 chips (remember that the M2 is a chip for laptops, not for phones).

More info (AVP’s first accessories)
More info (AVP’s battery capacity)

Many Youtubers and techies have started to shoot videos of themselves wearing the Vision Pro in the streets, while eating breakfast, while driving… and so on. There is even one when a guy with the Vision Pro goes out for the streets of London with his robot dog! It seems that people around are not that scared much by this headset, also because it looks like a pair of ski goggles.

More info (Nathie going around the streets with the Vision Pro on)
More info (Vision Pro guy with a robot dog)
More info (A girl staying in the pool with the Vision Pro)
More info (Photos and videos of other people wearing the headset in public places)

Unity has released the tools to build for the Vision Pro. They were already available, but in beta, while now they have been officially released. So now people can build content for the Vision Pro using the popular game engine. Development tools are not a problem for developers, but the UX is: content creators have to work with a device that has a totally different input scheme from the other XR ones, and so some types of content simply do not fit.
 
 There are already more than 600 native apps for Vision Pro at launch. Some of them are known to us, like Synth Riders or Puzzling Places. Others are new, but from content creators we know, like Game Room, an app to play casual games like Chess by Resolution Games, or the puzzle game Soul Spire by Soul Assembly. Adobe is also launching Lightroom and Fireflies AI to the Vision Pro. A special mention is deserved by Juno, which seems like a great app for watching YouTube videos.

More info (Unity releases dev tools for Vision Pro — Road To VR)
More info (Unity releases dev tools for Vision Pro — Unity Blog)
More info (Vision Pro UX does not fit some popular VR games)
More info (Apple Vision Pro already has 600 native apps)
More info (Game Room)
More info (Soul Spire)
More info (Synth Riders)
More info (Puzzling Places)
More info (Juno)
More info (Adobe FireFly and Lightroom)
More info (Best Vision Pro apps to download according to Road To VR)

According to MacRumors, the device sold very well, and people already preordered more than 200,000 units. If you do the math, it is more than $700M of revenues for Apple… a number that is not that distant from the typical quarterly revenue from the whole Meta Reality Labs. Of course, this has been a very hyped launch moment and we have to see how sales will hold over time, but still, it is remarkable that such an expensive device is already bringing some good revenues to Apple.
 
 Given the success of the headset, Apple may announce the launch of the headset in countries that are not in North America already before WWDC 2024. I sincerely hope so.

More info (AVP selling more than 200K units)
More info (Ming-Chi Kuo predicts international availablility of AVP for Q2-Q3 2024)

To close this long journey inside the Apple Vision Pro, here you are a bonus picture with the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3 side-by-side.

More info (Picture with Meta and Apple headset)

Other relevant news

The Vision Pro is already affecting other companies

One of the most important reasons why the release of the Vision Pro may be disruptive for our industry is that the fact that Apple entered XR is going to create ripple effects across the space.
 
 For instance, now that Apple is in the field, investors are having more confidence in the future of immersive realities and this is going to benefit many startups in XR. XREAL just got a 60M investment and became a unicorn (compliments to the team for this impressive result). The company just returned to release a product focused on 6DOF augmented reality, and I’m pretty sure this happened in light of the release of the Vision Pro. Road To VR announced the news saying that “Xreal Raises $60M in Hopes of Competing with Apple”, showing how now many things in our space are going to be related to Apple.
 
 Meta is already feeling the pressure from Cupertino and has developed at record speed the possibility of watching Apple’s Spatial Videos, the ones you can record with the iPhone 15 Pro, on Oculus Quest. It’s clear that Meta is already doing whatever it can to show that its Meta Quest 3 can do almost everything that the Vision Pro can do but at a fraction of its price. And to do this, Meta is going to improve its product a lot, for the benefit of everyone. Meta never had a true competitor after the HTC Vive, so it will be interesting to see how the company will react to this situation.

More info (XREAL raises $60M)
More info (Apple Spatial Video on Quest)

Meta Reality Labs just had its most profitable quarter

Meta Reality Labs, the division of Meta that works on immersive reality products, had a fantastic Holiday quarter. In Q4 2023, it had for the first time more than $1B in revenues, which were driven mostly by the sales of Quest devices. According to Meta, it has been mostly Quest 3 driving this uptick, but considering the sales numbers reported about the two devices, I’m sure that the big sales volumes of Quest 2 have also helped a lot. Ray-Ban Stories is also selling well, and Meta claims that Essilor-Luxottica has to keep manufacturing them to keep pace with the continued demand.
 
 Notwithstanding this fantastic result, the company is still operating at a loss: during this record quarter, Meta had also a record of costs worth $5.72 billion. Meta CFO Susan Li told investors she even expects these losses to increase meaningfully over the next year due to “ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem”. Meta is not going to spare money in this rush to beat Apple for the dominance of the XR space.
 
 The success of Meta led to the success of the gaming studios that are publishing games for Quest: the CEO of Fast Travel Games claimed the company had its most successful holiday sales ever, almost doubling the amount it earned last year.

More info (Meta Reality Labs Record Revenues — Road To VR)
More info (Meta Reality Labs Record Revenues — Upload VR)
More info (Fast Travel Games having its most successful holiday sales)

News worth a mention

Neuralink has implanted one of its chips in a human being

Elon Musk’s controversial startup Neuralink has performed its first installation of one of its chips inside a human being and claims that the patient is recovering well. This is not the first time that a chip has been installed inside the head of someone (there have been many experiments about it in the past), but it is the first time for Musk’s startup. There are not many details about this story, so we don’t know for instance if the chip is reading data about the patient’s brain as the engineers were expecting or not.

More info

Will Quest 3 Lite come with color mixed reality?

The rumors about the upcoming “Quest 3 Lite” are intensifying and the data scrapers have just found inside the Quest runtime references to a “New Quest” device. Similar findings were done before Quest 3 was actually revealed, so it’s reasonable to think that a new device is in the works.
 
 Some rumors say that this device will have RGB passthrough, while others say that it will be black and white to spare on the bills of materials and make the device cheaper. According to Upload VR, RGB passthrough is the only logical choice, because mixed reality is the new trend of XR and Meta should push it with all its future devices.

More info (References to ‘New Quest’ found)
More info (Why Quest 3 Lite will have RGB passthrough)

The EU will evaluate Apple’s compliance with the DMA in March

Last week we saw that Apple just complied with the EU’s Digital Markets Act in a way that still protects its walled garden. After that announcement, many major companies that use the Apple Store to sell their products complained about the “malicious compliance” of the Cupertino giant. Some journalists asked the EU officials what they think about it, and they answered that all the implementations of the guidelines provided in the DMA will be evaluated starting from March, 7th and every company that has not followed the rules will face “strong action”.

More info (Companies are complaining about Apple’s DMA compliance)
More info (EU will evaluate Apple’s DMA implementation in March)

UltraWings 2 launched on PSVR2… by mistake

One of the funniest stories of the week is that Ultrawings 2 has been released on PSVR2, but this happened by error. The game studio was still working on some last fixes when it found that its title had already been released for Sony’s peripheral. No one knows why this happened, but the good piece of news is that PSVR 2 players have now a new cool title to play!

More info

VR MMO Zenith to launch free-to-play mode

VR MMO Zenith is going to release a big update aimed at fixing its issues with revenues and retention of users. Ramen VR announced the game will soon feature a free-to-play mode, called Infinite Realms, and premium in-game currency, the Zennies. The game is rebranding to Zenith: Nexus. The release should come “soon”.

More info

Art Plunge is now free on Steam

Art Plunge, a quite popular experience for PCVR that lets you “enter” into famous paintings, is now completely free on Steam! And the developer behind it plans to even release new paintings for it… what could we desire more?

More info

Some news about content

• Vertigo Games and Deep Silver announced that they’re bringing the post-apocalyptic world of Metro to PSVR 2, Meta Quest 2/3/Pro and SteamVR headsets with a new title called Metro Awakening VR. It will be a story-driven first-person adventure built exclusively for VR that blends atmospheric exploration, stealth, and combat
• Tender Claws has announced that after some delays, finally, Stranger Things VR should release for Quest on February 22
• Meta and Sanzaru Games are keeping Asgard’s Wrath 2 alive, and just launched a new event featuring new battles and new rewards
• Rogue Stargun, an indie VR space combat sim, has been released on Quest App Lab for $10.99
• Walkabout Mini Golf is coming to iPhone with a “Pocket Edition” that will let people play the game also in mobility. Players from VR and mobile can play together and this leaves me a bit puzzled because playing a game in VR and on a mobile phone are not the same thing at all
• Upload VR has published its usual roundup of news of the week

More info (Metro Awakening)
More info (Stranger Things VR)
More info (Asgard’s Wrath 2)
More info (Rogue Stargun)
More info (Walkabout Minigolf)
More info (Upload VR roundup)

Other news

Jaron Lanier has written an article about the past and future of Virtual Reality. I personally didn’t find it very interesting, but many people loved it, so I thought it was worth sharing it with you

Learn more

The latest v62 of Meta Quest is bringing a lot of updates, like Spatial Video Support, better spatial understanding, improved microphone, and more

Learn more

A very well-written editorial by David Heaney questions if Meta is the Android of XR (as it proclaims to be) or actually is more similar to Blackberry

Learn more

News from partners (and friends)

Peanut Butter released its mixed reality experience

Together with the release of Retropolis 2, Peanut Butter has also released a mixed reality experience called Retropolis dot.Line that is currently free on App Lab!

Learn more

Discover two new XR newsletters

This week two people told me about their own XR newsletters, so let me help them a bit with their own promotion:

• XR Developer News focuses on the news that concerns mostly XR developers, may they be Unity devs or creators using programs like Meta Spark
• XR World Weekly by XRealityZone provides a roundup of generic XR news, with special attention to what is happening with the Apple Vision Pro

Learn more (XR Developer News)
Learn more (XR World Weekly)

Some XR fun

When you have not the money to buy an Apple Vision Pro…
Funny link

I see a magazine by Damo, I like and reshare
Funny link

Whenever I read “AVP”, actually… yes
Funny link

Jesse… no
Funny link

How the Vision Pro sees the Android users. Fairly accurate
Funny link

The XR version of a popular meme. Pretty genius, in my opinion
Funny link

This VR is so realistic…
Funny link

A good collection of memes related to the Vision Pro launch!
Funny link

Donate for good

Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate for my blog, but to the poor people that are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
 
 Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:

• Alex Gonzalez VR
• DeoVR
• GenVR
• Eduardo Siman
• Jonn Fredericks
• Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
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And now here you are the link to donate:

Support The Red Cross in Ukraine

(Header image by Apple)