The New Apple Vision Pro AR Headset From Apple Is Going To Change Our Lives (Or Turn Us Into Wall-E People)
Normally these Apple expos come out and it's like, a couple new things that are so technologically advanced, the Average Joe won't even need to be involved with it. We just want our ramen emojis and for autocorrect to stop changing "fuck" into "duck." This time, I think we're on the edge of a real disruptor. The Apple Vision Pro is here to finally make those of us who have always waited to feel like we're "living in the future," a reality.
Back in 2016, I was working at The New Yorker, on the advertising team. It was awesome, I love advertising. For one of our special issues, we did a HUGE deal with Qualcomm and implemented an Augmented Reality cover. This was the first time I had ever heard of AR and it blew my fucking mind. We had to download a specific app for it, and if we held it up to the cover of the magazine, we could see the skyline pop out of it. Here's more about that if you're interested, it's pretty sick.
A few months later, Pokemon Go came out with an even more advanced version of AR technology. Pokemon were literally chillin in my room, through an app on my phone, and I don't even care about them. Obviously Pokemon Go took off like fucking crazy, and then it plateaued into just the real fans. After that, I've barely seen anything AR related go mainstream. Snapchat started doing a lot with it, a few brands were utilizing it on a small scale, but it blew my mind that more people weren't incorporating this technology into their business plans. We could virtually shop! Or virtually order food! AR is basically half a step away from holograms!
Now here we are, 7 years later, and Apple was the one to open their eyes to the real possibilities of AR. VR kind of sucks IMO, you're too lost within an artificial world and its basically just a TV strapped to your head. It's cool for sure, but it isn't functional. Augmented Reality leaves you the ability to exist inside the actual world, and also get shit done. Being able to FaceTime someone in AR is essentially bringing a hologram INTO YOUR HOUSE. Think of the possibilities for communication, advertising, concerts (Taylor Swift in my fucking living room?), movies - it's hard to wrap my head around.
At the same time, there are a few things that make me worry - I bet this will trickle down into something like dating, or sex stuff. It's easy not to ever leave your house when you can virtually date, so close to reality. Or fuck a human connection all together, you've got Abella Danger ass up on your couch, and some kind of device to make it feel like you're fucking her? Regular girls don't stand a chance.
Technology is so interesting to me because it scares the shit out of me, but nothing thus far has really made me feel (apart from my phone, I guess) has made me feel like I'm truly living in a different world. This is going to be on a whole new level.
As of now it's absurdly expensive at $3,499, but as everything Apple does, someone will rip it off and make cheaper versions to water down the market. Eventually everyone will have one of these, just like everyone has a laptop, or an iPad, or even a phone. I think we can finally say that the future is here.