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Apple’s Tim Cook shares exactly how he uses Vision Pro headset every day as millions finally get chance to buy it
One feature is so powerful Tim admits it's 'hard to explain with words'
APPLE chief Tim Cook has revealed he's using “spatial computing” goggles every single day in an exclusive interview with The Sun.
I sat down with the tech titan to talk about the Apple Vision Pro headset as it finally launches in the UK – and he shared his favourite ways to use the premium headgear, including a futuristic TV habit.
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Apple unveiled the Vision Pro at its annual WWDC event in mid-2023.
In February, the hi-tech specs – which allow you to overlay (and even replace) the real world with apps and screens – went on sale in the US for $3,499.
Now it’s finally going global, bringing it to the heads and eyeballs of gadget-loving Brits with enough cash to afford its similarly lofty £3,499 price tag.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun for the UK launch, Tim revealed what a “spatial computer” actually is – and why it’s important for you, me and everyone else.
Read more on Apple Vision Pro
“Spatial computing is a big idea, you know, just like the Mac ushered in personal computing and the iPhone really propelled mobile computing,” Tim explained, speaking to us in early June, just before Apple’s WWDC 2024 tech conference.
“Vision Pro will introduce everybody to spatial computing.
- Read our Apple Vision Pro review
“And spatial computing allows you to see, hear, and interact with your digital content right in your physical space. And so you’re able to do things that you can’t do with other technology.
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“It’s the most advanced personal electronics device in the world, and we couldn’t be more proud than to deliver it to our UK customers.”
I’m speaking to Tim at Apple Park, the tech giant’s spaceship-like headquarters in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.
Apple Vision Pro review I've been wearing hi-tech headset every day – there are three places I'm obsessed with using it
Entering the campus is like visiting the future – appropriate really, because the Vision Pro is about as sci-fi as gadgets come.
The headset turns your world into a computer, surrounding you with floating apps.
But this isn’t pure virtual reality: you can still see the world around you.
That said, you can twist a dial on the goggles to shut out reality and enjoy the peaceful bliss of your imaginary world.
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So what is Tim – a tech genius worth billions of dollars, who runs a company valued at trillions of dollars – doing with his Vision Pro?
A lot, it turns out, because he tells me he’s donning the headset every single day.
STREAMS COME TRUE!
“I began to use it to screen entertainment. I watched the third season of Ted Lasso on the Vision Pro,” Tim says, proudly.
“I just screened a new show – that's coming out this week – last night on Vision Pro.
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“And so the ability for me to get in the position that I want to get in – including lying flat and putting the screen on the ceiling – is an incredible kind of experience.
“And of course, it's a 100ft screen. I mean, it's amazing the level of entertainment that it delivers.
“And so I use it in that way. In terms of productivity, when you're working in multiple screens, like so many of us do, the multitasking is so much more efficient on Vision Pro.
“Because you you can take various windows and put them around your physical space.
Apple Vision Pro pricing – how much does it cost?
Here's what you'll pay...
In the United Kingdom:
Apple Vision Pro 256GB / 512GB / 1TB – £3,499 / £3,699 / £3,899
Zeiss Optical Inserts (optional) Readers / Prescription – £99 / £149
AppleCare+ protection – £499
In the United States:
Apple Vision Pro 256GB / 512GB / 1TB – $3,499 / $3,699 / $3,899
Zeiss Optical Inserts (optional) Readers / Prescription – $99 / $149
AppleCare+ protection – $499
“And so I use it in all aspects of my daily life now.”
Sadly, I can’t fit a 100-inch screen in my home. Of course with Vision Pro, that doesn't matter.
The headset removes the need for space. As you can imagine, that's useful outside of the home too.
You can turn your airplane seat into a cinema, and your neighbours won’t have a clue. Try bringing a flat screen onto a plane.
VIRTUALLY REAL
If none of this is making sense to you, don’t worry. Even Tim admits it’s a bit confusing until you actually try it.
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“It's hard to explain it in words, the experience” Tim told me.
“It's hard to show it in a 2D fashion, what a 3D experience will be.
“And so we're offering everyone a demo. It's a very cool experience that you can reserve and not stand in a queue.
“If you don't want to do that, you can stand in the queue and await your turn.”
There had to be so many breakthroughs to get to this space.
Tim Cook
Yes, you can try it – and for free, no less.
Just go to the Apple Store online and book a personal one-on-one demo. It’s as easy as that.
But be warned: it can be surprisingly moving.
Tim explains that one of the key features – Spatial Photos and Videos – are like nothing you’ve experienced before.
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They’re detailed 3D images (that you can capture with iPhone or Vision Pro) that you feel like you can almost step into, or even touch.
“It's an emotional experience to take a demo,” an earnest Tim tells The Sun.
“And so I encourage everybody to go to their local Apple retail store and get a demo.
“It's interesting to watch people, the reaction that they have. You know many of them tear up.
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“Because when you begin to experience your photographs in the Vision Pro, it's almost like you're there again.
“And so you can imagine your family photographs as big as life, and you're there, you're celebrating a birthday party or you're celebrating some huge event in your family's history, it's amazing.”
TELE ME ALL ABOUT IT
Apple spent a huge amount of time, money, and resource to make the Vision Pro visuals as brilliant as possible.
The official line is that you’ve got the equivalent of a 4K TV for each eye.
I’ve tried it, and it certainly feels that way. Everything is crisp and clear and colourful. When fully immersed, you can even forget you’ve got a headset on.
It's especially great for sports fans. Tim reckons it's good enough that you'll want to turn off the TV and put the headset on for the next big game.
"Some people thought it would be like sitting courtside, which would be incredibly special because most of us don't sit courtside at a game," Tim said.
"But it's better than that. It's almost as if you're on the court, and you're face to face with the players. It feels like you are there. You're face to face with the net."
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HEAD FIRST
The headset really is a stunning feat of engineering, which explains why it costs over twice as much as a top-end iPhone.
I ask Tim what he’s most proud of. Unsurprisingly, he says all of it.
“We had to file over 5,000 patents on this single product,” Tim proudly tells me.
“This is amazing. There had to be so many breakthroughs to get to this space.
“So I’m proud of the total, and the perseverance of the team because this was multiple years in the making.
“This is not something that you decide in two or three years. It’s multiple years. And those multiple years were built on decades of innovation at Apple.”
It’s not an unfair answer: it feels incredibly well-polished for what is a first-generation product.
Compare that to the original iPhone, which didn’t even have an App Store when it came out.
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One of the things that impresses me most, I tell Tim, is how easy it is to control.
Usually powerful and expensive gadgets feel like they’re built specifically for tech geeks: think of a high-end gaming PC or a costly camera-toting drone.
REAL FEEL
But this headset feels, in many ways, like it’s easier to use than the iPhone.
Eye-tracking in the headset allows you to look at an app and then pinch your fingers to open it. Magical.
And simple hand gestures let you rearrange windows and scroll along virtual web-pages with an ease that feels like you’ve been doing it for years.
And Tim says that’s because you have been doing it for years. Sort of.
“It works the way your mind works,” he tells me.
“The gestures are so easy to learn, there’s no learning curve.
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Apple Vision Pro tech specs – the geeky stats
The hardware details you're looking for...
Storage: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
Display: Micro OLED 3D display system (23 million pixels)
Refresh Rates: 90Hz / 96Hz / 100Hz
Processor: 8-core M2 CPU (with 10-core GPU) + R1 coprocessor
Camera:
- Stereoscopic 3D main camera system
- Spatial photo and video capture
- 18 mm, ƒ/2.00 aperture
- 6.5 stereo megapixels
Sensors:
- Two high‑resolution main cameras
- Six world‑facing tracking cameras
- Four eye‑tracking cameras
- TrueDepth camera
- LiDAR Scanner
- Four inertial measurement units (IMUs)
- Flicker sensor
- Ambient light sensor
Audio:
- Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking
- Personalized Spatial Audio and audio ray tracing
- Six‑mic array with directional beamforming
- Supports H2‑to‑H2 ultra‑low‑latency connection to AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with MagSafe Charging Case (USB‑C)
Battery: Up to 2 hours of general use / 2.5 hours of video watching
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 / Bluetooth 5.3
Input:
- Hands
- Eyes
- Voice
Supported Input Accessories:
- Keyboards
- Trackpads
- Game controllers
Weight: 600 to 650 grams (21.2 to 22.9 ounces)
“And anybody that is using an iPhone can use the Vision Pro very easily.”
The Vision Pro is an odd product because despite being so impressive, this is just the first one.
Apple hasn’t confirmed any plans to make more, but it’s hard to imagine that there aren’t other secret headsets being built and worn deep in the heart of Apple’s Cupertino HQ.
It’s increasingly easy to see a future where headsets like this become more readily available – with several models to fit different budgets.
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Maybe one day they’ll even be as common as the iPhone. It might even replace it, in a distant future.
After all, the digital world is huge – arguably too huge to be crammed into the tiny smartphone, seen through its small window of glass.
By contrast, Vision Pro turns your entire world into a computer. And that’s going to change everything.
“I think it is very revolutionary,” Tim says.
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“I think it delivers stunning entertainment. It unleashes this infinite canvas for productivity. It gives you new ways to connect and collaborate.
“These are just huge ideas that affect all of the things that we do every day.
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“And so I’m a huge believer in it.”
Apple Vision Pro is in stores in the UK from Friday, July 12 – and is already available in the US.
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Who is Tim Cook? A quick look at Apple's top boss
Here's what you need to know...
- Tim Cook is the chief executive officer of Apple
- He was named CEO in August 2011, taking up the mantle from Apple founder Steve Jobs (who sadly passed in October that year)
- Before that, Tim was Apple's chief operating officer, where he was responsible for the company's sales and operations globally
- He was born on November 1, 1960 in Mobile, Alabama
- Tim holds a Bachelor of Science degree (majoring in industrial engineering) from Auburn University, and an MBA from Duke University
- He previously worked as VP of Corporate Materials for Compaq, and as the COO of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics
- And the Apple boss also spent 12 years at IBM, most recently as the director of North American Fulfillment
- Tim has led the launch of a number of products, including Apple Watch, AirPods, and the Vision Pro headset
- He also steered Apple to become the first company with a stock market valuation of over $3 trillion
- Tim Cook has an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion