Apple is bringing its proprietary Apple Intelligence-powered features to its Vision Pro mixed reality headset, along with an updated guest user experience and a new app for interacting with spatial content, all in an effort to increase interest in the Vision Pro among potential buyers.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the aforementioned innovations will become available to Vision Pro users after the release of the visionOS 2.4 software update, which is expected to become publicly available in April of this year. These innovations will appear in the beta version of the software platform available to developers in the coming days.
The Apple Intelligence features in the Vision Pro will be represented by a standard set of tools, including the Writing Tools interface, Genmoji, and Image Playground. It is noted that this is the first time that Apple has expanded the availability of its proprietary AI features beyond the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Since the headset is equipped with an Apple M2 chip and 16 GB of RAM, developers were able to implement support for AI features in it.
The addition of Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro comes at a good time. Google recently announced its own Android XR operating system for mixed reality headsets, which will integrate its Gemini AI assistant into the user interface. The first Android XR devices are expected to launch by the end of this year. The OS is expected to power Samsung’s mixed reality headset, which is visually very similar to the Vision Pro.
Apple is gearing up for a major software update to its mixed reality headset, about a year after its launch, in an effort to drum up consumer interest in the $3,500 product. The company is trying to find a new direction for its mixed reality product lineup, after Apple canceled the launch of an augmented reality headset for Mac computers.
Image Source: Apple
Apple will also release a new app for viewing Vision Pro-adapted spatial content, such as 3D images and panoramas collected from external sources. The company has been slow to release media for the headset so far, but the new app should spur user interest in spatial media and encourage more active use of the Vision Pro.
Apple does not plan to significantly update Siri in Vision Pro in the upcoming update, although the OpenAI ChatGPT chatbot will be integrated into Writing Tools. Apple initially planned to update Siri in April, but due to development difficulties, it was decided to postpone the update of the voice assistant.
The visionOS update will also bring some changes to the guest mode, which allows the owner of the device to lend the headset to another person for a short time. The company believes that this feature can help attract attention to the Vision Pro and potentially increase its sales. The user will now be able to manage the guest mode setup process directly from their iPhone, determining which apps the guest will have access to. Previously, such settings had to be made on the headset itself.