Peter Griffin: Why I’m happy to wait for Apple’s Vision Pro

Peter Griffin’s consumer tech columns appear fortnightly on listener.co.nz

Apple’s Vision Pro headset launched in Australia last week, five months after its US debut and with an eye-watering price tag of A$5999 (NZ$6660).

That puts it squarely in the luxury electronics segment, up there with a high-end Sony Bravia 75-inch OLED TV, Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 laptop, or Apple’s high-performance computer favoured by film-makers, the Mac Pro. Those devices will likely deliver a lot more utility and entertainment value, too.

Apple usually only commits to a market when it’s sure there’s reasonable local demand for its products. There was a long delay between the launch of the Apple HomePod, ($529), a smart speaker with the Siri digital assistant built in, and its availability in New Zealand. The same will likely go for the Vision Pro, though if you are crossing the Tasman, you can pick up the Apple Vision Pro in one of 20 Apple stores.

Unless you pride yourself on being an early adopter, or work in the video game or virtual reality/augmented reality space, there really isn’t a compelling reason to shell out for the first generation Apple Vision Pro yet.

Yes, this device is state-of-the-art, technically one of the best “mixed reality” headsets to be released so far, and embodying the design aesthetic and build quality on which Apple built its reputation.

I’ve now had two decent sessions exploring the Vision Pro, including one with the team at Beyond, the Wellington-based video games studio that had its game Runaways, which it built for the Vision Pro, featured at Apple’s worldwide developer’s conference last month.

I’ve come away from both sessions in awe at the clarity of the image its screens produce, impressed at how easy it is to learn its gesture-based navigation system, and full of “what if” ideas about what you could eventually do with a device like this.

In the meantime though, the Vision Pro is really a showcase of the potential for headsets to move beyond the realm of video games. Its most compelling function is as a means of watching movies and TV shows. The high-resolution image and ability to block out the world around you and wrap a home theatre studio around your head has huge appeal to me - for watching a movie solo, or while travelling on a plane.