APPLE is planning to add Apple Intelligence to its Vision Pro headset, along with an updated mode for guest users and a spatial content app, as it seeks to boost interest in the device.
The company aims to roll out the features as part of a visionOS 2.4 software upgrade targeted for as early as April, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The enhancements will become available in beta for developers as soon as this week, said the sources, who asked not to be named discussing details of the update that are not yet public.
Apple Intelligence on the Vision Pro will include standard features such as the Writing Tools interface, Genmojis and the Image Playground app. It’s the first time Apple is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) tools from the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Because the headset includes a Mac M2 chip and 16 gigabytes of memory, it’s able to support the on-device AI processing.
The addition of Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro comes at an important time: Alphabet’s Google recently announced its own mixed-reality operating system – Android XR – that integrates its Gemini AI platform deep into the user interface. The first devices with the Google OS will launch later this year, starting with a Samsung Electronics headset that looks such as a Vision Pro.
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment. Bloomberg News reported in June that Apple Intelligence was in the works for the headset.
Apple is making the software additions about a year after releasing the Vision Pro, seeking to excite buyers about a US$3,500 product that has sold in relatively limited quantities and is need of major new features. The company is trying to find a new direction for its mixed-reality product line and has cancelled a planned pair of augmented reality glasses that would tether to a Mac, Bloomberg News recently reported.
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Apple is also adding a new app to the Vision Pro for viewing spatial content tailored to the device, including 3D images and panoramas aggregated from outside sources. The company has been slow thus far to release media for the headset, but the app is designed to spur interest in the spatial media category and drum up more use of the product.
In another content-related development, Apple on Feb 21 will release an immersive video in its TV app for the Vision Pro about arctic surfing.
Apple is not planning notable changes to Siri on the Vision Pro in this upcoming update, though OpenAI’s ChatGPT will be integrated into the Writing Tools feature. Apple had planned a major AI overhaul for Siri for release around April, but the features have hit last minute engineering snags, Bloomberg News reported on Friday (Feb 14).
The visionOS update will include a revamped mode for guest users, which is a way for an owner to briefly lend their device to someone else. The company believes such a process could help users excite their friends and family about the Vision Pro and potentially lead to sales. The change will potentially make it easier for multiple users in one home to share the headset.
The new mode will allow the user setup process to be controlled via an iPhone for the first time. On the phone, a Vision Pro user can decide which apps they want the guest user to be able to access. This process previously needed to occur on the Vision Pro itself. BLOOMBERG
