Straight off the bat, I understand I’ve made these types of statements before. Following the iPhone 14 launch, I had ‘no interest’ in purchasing anything, and a few weeks later, I had a 14 Pro Max and an Apple Watch Ultra. However, with that said, I have absolutely no interest in the Vision Pro, so I have stayed quiet about it. That is to say, this whole post is coming from this standpoint.

Due to this apathy, I’ve been reasonably sheltered from the gushing by others online. I’ve got the words muted on Mastodon, and it has kept most talk out of my feed. However, while laughing along to Andy’s recent face hugger post, I began to type some thoughts into my notes app, and it turned into something publishable. Spoiler alert: they haven’t really changed from my gut feelings.

That’s not to say I don’t see the use case. I understand the appeal of such a device, to be engrossed in something so much that the outside world is cut off. The feeling of immersion in something is a remarkable experience. The desire to be fully immersed in a film or computer game is understandable – I am just not convinced it is worth the downsides.

I enjoy nothing more than sitting in my office, noise-cancelling headphones on, playing brain.fm, and being engrossed in deep work. Perhaps going to the cinema and sitting in front of a gigantic screen with surround sound. In neither of these situations have I thought, ‘This would be better if I could put this screen on my face.’ For me, at least, any VR headset, even a £3,500 one with creepy eyes on the front, doesn’t solve problems I encounter.

Recently, I think Apple has also realised this and switched the marketing. From being all-in on the Vision Pro solving working and media consumption problems, they have switched the messaging to emotion. Many of those lucky enough to try one have a strangely unified emotional response to spatial video. With one such reporter being brought to the brink of tears.

Who am I to argue with someones feelings, but outside of this, the utility of this expensive purchase is extremely limited. Perhaps that’s the point. The Vision Pro is for those with money to spend on something with limited use. The technology will no doubt get cheaper and become easier to purchase, but from my anecdotal experience, there are already plenty of people with cheap Meta devices gathering dust.

Apple may well have developed technology to try to combat motion sickness, but there’s no getting around the sickness from spending £3500 only to realise you need to create problems for it to solve.