In reply to Max Battcher.

I feel like a lot of people were surprised and/or disappointed to see the Vision Pro is essentially a VR device doing AR, instead of going the HoloLens and Magic Leap route. But I think it's undoubtedly the correct approach, not just for the current technology but for any future version. In other words: even if they did have some unprecedented waveguide implementation waiting in the wings, it would be an inherently different product, and not just swapping one display technology for another.

I think the greatest achievement in what I've seen of the Vision Pro is the near-perfect (IMO) passthrough; it all but obviates even bothering with any approach that tries to overlay virtual elements on your actual view. I've got limited experience with the Magic Leap and variations on the HoloLens approach, and I have a MUCH harder time imagining that it will be fundamentally improved over the next ten years, than I do with the potential for smaller, thinner, and lighter displays and the tech to drive them.

So that assumption is the basis for what I imagine as the future of the platform: it can, will, and should drive more interested AR applications, but there's no hard limitation on full VR apart from Apple's somewhat arbitrary guidelines.

I absolutely agree that it's a primarily marketing-driven decision, trying to encourage both developers and users to think in terms of mixed reality instead of just porting popular Quest games to the platform. But I worry that it artificially limits the platform, the same way I've seen Apple do over and over again. I wish they could just acknowledge what the device will look like after a few iterations, and lean into that instead of vainly trying to prevent it.

And obviously, I don't want to be spending that much money on a device that will be hamstrung by not having the capabilities that everybody knows are inevitably coming in future versions. Practically, I know that these are targeted at developers and at the super-rich, and not for people looking for long-term use, but that doesn't make me want one any less.