It’s interesting that the author does still think it’s the future despite returning it for a bunch of dealbreaking flaws that have no chance of being addressed. I don’t recall a lot of people out there with a similar sentiment when they bought their first generation iPhones and Apple Watches.

They saw a future that was imminent, a future that their current device could actually possibly be a part of, at least partially. Their original iPhone eventually got things like an App Store and Microsoft Exchange support, becoming a very useful device. The vision was essentially executed on the first try, and the only things that needed to be improved were very incremental details like network speed, screen size/quality, battery life, processor power. Despite that, the device was the right size, shape, and general combination of functionality.

Sure, those first generation devices stopped being updated fairly quickly, but at the end of the day they hit their stride within a couple years of updates, many through software.

I think it’s “the future” only if the tech can move a lot faster than it has thus far. It is a major problem that after so many years of active development with industry giants sinking billions into VR/AR, this space still doesn’t seem anywhere close to the sort of cyberpunk-esque human computer that is the eventual vision of AR, the only way it will gain mass adoption.

Not only did Apple not deliver an AR headset (it’s a VR headset with video passthrough that you can’t wear without messing up your hair), even if they delivered AR glasses or whatever…that is still arguably not a good enough experience. Wearing glasses isn’t great when you don’t normally wear them. That’s much more of a commitment than putting a phone on your pocket or a watch on your wrist. Step one is convincing you to do that.

But that isn’t even really the issue here because not only did Apple not deliver something like a pair of glasses, what they delivered is so far away from that where the very idea of a Vision Pro shrinking down into a pair of Ray Bans seems physically impossible. Apple gave us one of the heaviest headsets out there despite having an external battery to keep the weight down.

When the iPhone came out you could see the device becoming extremely powerful and performant within 5 years. That path was obvious. If you look at an iPhone 5, that is a phone that really isn’t that far off from modern, mature products. It had LTE, and there isn’t really a technical reason why you couldn’t use it just like any other modern phone besides the lack of updates. The product category essentially achieved its ultimate vision within a short period of time.

But when you look at the AR market, all the major VR/AR products were coming out around 5 years ago (or longer) and we’ve barely got a better experience. The difference between the Quest 3 and the original Quest (2019) is basically just some pass through cameras and a speed bump. Incremental changes like we got with the iPhone. We’re still just playing beat saber and superhot.

The Valve Index is a similar age and still represents one of the better HMDs that you can buy. Apple’s device has worse FOV even though it’s $3500 and 5 years newer.

There is not going to be this cool AR future because the products are already in their final form. They are screens attached to your head. That’s all they’ll ever be. We have seen this because they’ve only made incremental changes in their first 5 years like an iPhone or Apple Watch, no fundamental form factor changes. The Vision Pro 5 is going to be the same device as the original, without the external battery, and with a better display. It’s going to still mess up your hair and make you wear dumb looking shit on your head.

Even the educational and enterprise features that the author imagines, while cool, don’t seem to be going anywhere. Microsoft gave up on those despite having very capable first-mover technology and a web page full of enterprise client success stories. I personally guess that it’s just very hard to make useful AR experiences. They’re difficult to develop compared to making a web page, a CRUD app, training video, etc. Hell, they might not even be as cost effective as hands-on apprentice-style training. Between buying the hardware and developing a fully immersive 3D app…the applications for that level of effort are limited, IMO.