I simply walked out of a protracted demo session with Apple’s new $3,499 Imaginative and prescient Professional headset, which the corporate introduced at WWDC 2023 as “the world’s most superior shopper electronics gadget.” It’s… a extremely very nice VR headset with spectacular shows and video passthrough. And I imply extremely spectacular shows and video passthrough: I used to be fortunately utilizing my cellphone to take notes whereas carrying the Imaginative and prescient Professional, one thing no different headset can realistically permit.

That mentioned, whereas Apple would clearly want that individuals consider the Imaginative and prescient Professional as a “highly effective spatial laptop” or an augmented actuality gadget, there’s actually no getting across the important VR headset nature of the factor, right down to the adjustable headstraps which undoubtedly tousled my hair. It seems to be, feels, and behaves like a VR headset. Should you’ve used a Meta Quest, simply think about the very best Meta Quest working one thing very very like iPadOS, and also you’ll get it.