The Apple Vision Pro may be a TV, but it won’t replace a TV

Apple’s Vision Pro is a TV. It’s not even out yet, but it feels well established at this point. While it can play games and create VR experiences and mimic AR through spectacular feats of engineering, the use case with the most traction so far is that you can strap it to your face and You can effectively set up a 100-plus-inch 4K HDR TV without needing to find wall space in your home.

But while it’s clear that Apple has crafted a gorgeous content consumption device that should have incredible performance that can replicate the quality of a high-end television like the LG C2 OLED or the Samsung QN90B, let’s be serious. This thing won’t be replacing TV anytime soon,

Some would claim that this should not be the case. Instead it will be a supplement, similar to 3D TV, which burst onto the scene back in 2010 and disappeared a few years later because most people don’t really care much about basketballs and arrows that shoot out of the screen and hit their heads. come into view. Like 3D TV, Vision Pro requires you to wear special glasses and has limited usefulness for people with vision problems. But like 3D TV, it also faces enormous content challenges. One reason 3D TV failed was that not nearly enough studios, TV channels, and sports organizations adopted it.

Apple showed off lots of great game examples in its carefully controlled demo, but we could only get a very select few NBA games in 4K and only on DirecTVI’m not really convinced that Courtside 3D is around River Bend.

So let’s focus on this being just a 2D content consumption device because it will take a few years for Hollywood and the sports world to catch on – even if this thing is a smash hit and sells millions within months.

Instead of a TV in every room, you can put the Vision Pro and have the content follow you in a tiny corner of your line of sight as you cook a meal, do laundry, or post online shit. But the Vision Pro starts at $3,499. That’s roughly the same price as six 32-inch Samsung The Frame TVs. The Vision Pro’s quality is likely to be better than a 32-inch Samsung TV, but anyone in the house can enjoy it and blend it into the wall like art. The other is a pound of face computer that must carry your neck and shoulders from room to room and isolate you from everyone around you.

That isolation has given people pause. Other people cannot enjoy Vision Pro content with you unless they have their own Vision Pro. We have plenty of examples of other gadgets that have equally alienated people. From the Game Boy to the phone you’ll be reading this piece on, there are a lot of devices that are intended to be operated and enjoyed alone. Notably, TVs are not one of them. Televisions are generally communal devices. you like to call heinous acts on netflix Ultimatum Laugh at the person sitting on the couch next to you or at the creepy CGI in the latest live-action adaptation of a Disney movie. On the Vision Pro, this isn’t happening unless you both have your own and the Vision Pro streaming apps support watch parties. Given how long it takes streaming services to support watch parties on the web or set-top boxes, you’ll forgive me if I don’t see this happening at launch for most services.

But what’s really stopping the Vision Pro from replacing a TV isn’t price or weight or the inherent loneliness of using a face computer. The downside is that the Vision Pro won’t support all media in the same way as a TV. Instead, it’s a phone wall.

To play the PS5, you won’t be able to hardwire it; Instead, you’ll need to use Remote Play, hope your local area network is strong enough, and pray there’s no massive pixelation as the stream from your PS5 works with Wi-Fi and into your headset with minimal lag. Too compact to travel with. I currently occasionally play my PS5 on my Steam Deck and my iPhone, and while it can be a good enough experience, it’s nowhere near as crisp or clean as when I play it on my TV. . Because the Vision Pro lacks an HDMI port, I’m stuck there with the same experience, only on a virtual 105-inch TV. That doesn’t sound great!

The same is true for Xbox and other cloud gaming services. Apple is, notoriously, not a fan of allowing cloud gaming on its iOS platform, and for it to work, web apps have to be employed. Why would I want to run a low-resolution version of the upcoming web app star field On a virtual 105-inch TV when I could take the headset off, give my neck a break, and play on the TV, without web apps and serious compression?

As a gadget nerd, I know why. Because new and innovative forms of content consumption are fun. I’m fine with using a junky Android E Ink tablet to read books or a $3,500 VR headset to watch movies because I’ll happily suffer all the issues and awkwardness and tradeoffs for some new and different experience.

Most people (current company excluded) are not. People want things that are easy, and they want things that are fast, and they want things that are affordable. A $3,500 VR headset that’s arguably as good as a $1,500 OLED TV is going to be a tough sell for most people, and even when the price eventually comes down to or nearly as good as the much cheaper Apple Vision Essentials officially released, this thing still won’t replace the TV in most homes.