Disney Plus and virtual reality sports games will be coming to Apple Vision Pro

How much is the Apple Vision Pro headset going to deliver? A hands-on look at one of the most anticipated features of the ioT headset on Apple Park

Software and user interface will be more significant than the gadgets themselves. There is still more to be determined before the Vision Pro launches next year. A brief look at the device in a hands-on area at Apple Park shows that Apple has a strong start on the hardware side.

Mark Gurman mentions in his Power On newsletter in April that Disney Plus users would be able to watch sports games in virtual reality with the Vision Pro headset. This is demonstrated in a few ways: the first of which features a regular 2D football game surrounded by useful information in widget-like boxes, such as the score, win probability, and player stats. Another example of this is a basketball game projected onto a coffee table in a user’s lounge that will let them see a replay of the match from every angle.

It is a much better-looking device than any other one we have seen, based on the little bit we have seen. The headset is quite thin, has a fabric shield around it, and is squishy around the back. The goggles are slightly curved and should wrap around most faces fairly nicely. The whole thing is a nice silvery color, down to the cable coming out the left side and the iPhone-sized battery pack at the bottom that provides its two hours of battery life.

The small bumps on the sides of Vision Pro’s band are where the built-in audio lives. (Spatial audio is one of the big selling points of the device.) Most of its other sensors and cameras are housed just under the front-facing glass; at just the right angle, you can see some of the cameras pointing outwards from the headset. The cheese grate-style vent underneath the eyes might push the processor’s hot air onto your cheeks.

How it feels will be the big question. Will it sit on your nose without an overhead band? The cable that goes to the battery pack is attached to your left temple. Will it get hot after a few minutes? And how will it look from the inside? While Apple talked about how you could use Vision Pro to replace your computer or television screen, it’s important to remember that doing that well requires a lot of processing power and display prowess. Even the 4K displays Apple announced might not be enough.

And, of course, there’s the “what is this for?” debate. Unlike when the company launched the Apple Watch or even AirPods, there’s not a huge existing market for mixed reality devices; there’s the Meta Quest, a bunch of barely successful prototypes like Microsoft’s HoloLens and the Magic Leap, and not much else. Most people don’t know how to use a headset, and not much has been said about how they should work.