Apple Introduces the Vision Pro

Apple introduced Vision Pro at WWDC in June 2023 as a “spatial computer” rather than a conventional VR headset. The device combined high-resolution micro-OLED displays, multiple cameras, eye tracking, hand tracking, spatial audio, and Apple’s M2 processor with a new R1 chip dedicated to sensor processing.

The interface avoided handheld controllers. Users selected objects by looking at them and used small finger gestures for clicks and scrolling. That required extremely low-latency fusion of eye, hand, camera, and inertial-sensor data.

The R1 chip processed sensor streams separately from the main application processor to reduce motion-to-photon delay. Apple was trying to make virtual windows feel physically anchored in the room, which depends as much on tracking latency and calibration as on display resolution.