Does the Vision Pro require a computer or phone?

The Imaginative and prescient Professional is an thrilling new headset that Apple calls a spatial laptop, however you may be questioning if the computing actually occurs on this compact system or if it wants to hook up with a pc or a telephone for processing. That’s a good query to ask since many AR and VR gadgets require a separate system for energy and computing.

The Imaginative and prescient Professional and the Apple ecosystem

So, how does the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional work, and what’s wanted to make use of it as a spatial laptop? The excellent news is that this $3,500 system is full proper out of the field. You don’t want to purchase an iPhone or a Mac to make use of it. It has an M2 processor inside, makes use of hand gestures for controls, and the whole working system is self-contained.

This differs from some VR headsets that require the efficiency of a gaming PC with a quick, discrete graphics card to deal with the processing calls for of two high-resolution screens. For instance, the Valve Index and Varjo Aero received’t work with out a pc. There are different standalone VR headsets just like the Meta Quest 3 that share extra in widespread with the Imaginative and prescient Professional through the use of low-power processors just like the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip.

Most good glasses additionally have to be linked to a telephone to allow all of the options. The Ray-Ban Meta Good Glasses can document video with no telephone, however have to hook up with reply calls, switch photographs, and use Meta AI. Good glasses just like the Xreal Air 2 have to be linked to a telephone or different system to get energy and a video sign.

Imaginative and prescient Professional with a Mac

The Imaginative and prescient Professional is a whole spatial laptop in itself, but it surely doesn’t run macOS. Which means you may nonetheless need to join your Mac or MacBook, particularly for sooner typing and productiveness. Apple helps you to see your Mac desktop in a Imaginative and prescient Professional window, like a distant desktop app. It will probably mirror the window, permitting you to manage it absolutely — although you possibly can’t prolong the window as you’d with an exterior monitor. As a sidenote, you can even go for connecting a wi-fi Bluetooth keyboard as a substitute.

So, should you’re utilizing your Imaginative and prescient Professional and need you would open an app that’s not but out there within the Imaginative and prescient App Retailer, you possibly can nonetheless use it whereas sporting the headset by connecting to your laptop. Which means your headset can run iPhone and iPad apps, native Imaginative and prescient Professional apps, and macOS apps by way of your Mac.

TThe Imaginative and prescient Professional does require an exterior battery pack, which comes bundled with the Imaginative and prescient Professional.

Should you do personal different Apple merchandise, you may get a head begin on having fun with the Apple ecosystem. While you arrange your Imaginative and prescient Professional, you possibly can signal into iCloud to entry your picture library, music playlists, contacts, and messages, similar to you possibly can on an iPhone or a Mac.