On June 12th, Gizcoupon reported that according to sources familiar with the matter, Apple recently unveiled a head-mounted device, Vision Pro, which is not considered their best design. The design team had to compromise after losing a power struggle with senior executives. The release of Vision Pro signifies that Apple is no longer a design-led company, as noted by international media outlets. The designers have lost their influence.
Apple augmented reality (AR) headsets research dates back to 2006. After nearly 20 years of effort, Apple finally launched Vision Pro last week, priced at a staggering $3,500. It is impressive in many aspects, boasting exquisite industrial design: a curved glass front panel and a digital crown that seamlessly transitions users from virtual reality to augmented reality. With the support of 12 cameras, 5 sensors, and 6 microphones, users can control the system using their eyes, voice, and gestures.
For many within Apple, it was a day worth celebrating. However, insiders reveal that the Vision Pro currently on display is not the best product. It emerged as a result of internal power struggles between Apple executives and the design team leadership.
The new era for Apple
Many insiders express regret over the current state of Apple’s design team. Despite continuing to hire unparalleled design talent, the company’s strategic focus has weakened the dominant role of design, resulting in diminishing influence for these talented individuals. As one-pointedly remarked, “Apple is no longer a design-led company.”
Apple has reached its current status by creating products that people yearn for deep in their hearts, even if they cannot afford them. This is the result of a clear product strategy. When design and technology merge into a single entity, this strategy reimagines what is possible rather than following what other companies are doing or succumbing to Wall Street’s demands.
However, Vision Pro serves as a compass pointing to Apple’s entry into a new era. In this era, Apple will be more dominated by engineering and operations than design. The decline of the Apple design team’s status is evident. As previously reported, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s disregard for design led to conflicts with legendary designer Jony Ive, ultimately resulting in Ive’s departure from Apple in 2019, which has been an open secret. During the Steve Jobs era, Ive received strong support from Jobs, and product design was often given priority.
The decline of Apple’s design team also forced another senior design executive, Evans Hankey, to leave. Having worked for Apple’s closely-knit design team for 20 years, she became Apple’s Vice President of Industrial Design, overseeing the company’s product design. However, she left in 2022 and was succeeded by Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams. Williams is not a designer but an operations expert, bringing him closer to CEO Cook.
Semi-finished product
Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has adopted a different business strategy compared to the Jobs era: leveraging the company’s massive scale to launch products with strong user stickiness. While these products may not be semi-finished products, they certainly require years of design iterations and technological breakthroughs to solidify their position.
With the release of the iPhone, Apple addressed the core user experience issues of smartphones. Over time, iterations improved the platform, from getting thinner to introducing haptic feedback, waterproofing, and the App Store. However, the groundbreaking value of the iPhone did not need these iterations to prove itself; it stood out so remarkably. Apple entered the smartphone market relatively late, yet it completely redefined the category. Apple’s competitors took several years to catch up to the three generations ahead of them. However, Vision Pro fails to demonstrate this competitive edge, which stems from Apple’s lack of design leadership.
According to reports, Ive envisioned Apple’s head-mounted display as a standalone consumer product. On the other hand, Mike Rockwell, Apple’s Vice President of AR/VR, responsible for the company’s AR/VR initiatives, wanted it to operate from a base station (more akin to early Oculus Rift headsets), providing higher-fidelity images and targeting creative professionals. This indicates an internal struggle within Apple between these two approaches. Ive focused on the experience, while Rockwell prioritized clarity. However, Apple’s successful products to date have always prioritized experience rather than clarity.
The complexity of headsets
While all the tech giants have built great tech demos, they have yet to succeed in AR/VR so far, and developing AR headsets is especially difficult. For example, Carl Ledbetter, Director of Design Engagement at Microsoft, responsible for the development of Hololens 2, a mixed reality holographic lens, has detailed the tolerance of picometers (trillionths of a meter) on the Hololens projection system. The accuracy determines whether the user is shocked or nauseous.
Microsoft acknowledged that Hololens was expensive and bulky, initially targeting the enterprise market but ultimately finding its largest customers in the military. However, the technology has yet to be fully applicable to soldiers. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, made significant investments in VR/AR headsets but has yet to make significant progress with its touted metaverse concept. Additionally, Magic Leap shifted its focus to medical applications, and Google stopped selling its Google Glass AR platform to enterprise customers.
The Familiar Design of Apple Vision Pro
In the AR/VR field, Apple seems to have surpassed its competitors, but its solution is similar to others. With Vision Pro, you can see a sports bar-style user interface with numerous small windows, a design that has existed for years. Since even Apple cannot overcome the physical limitations of weight and power consumption in head-mounted devices, it can only connect the headset to a battery pack with a single wire.
Reports suggest that Apple is still working to address the overheating issue with Vision Pro. This technology requires integrating incredibly complex cameras, sensors, processors, displays, and power management, which still seem to be far from reach. However you look at it, Vision Pro has yet to be a fully mature consumer product.
This is not to say that Apple cannot succeed where others have failed. The company has done so in the past, of course. However, based on the Vision Pro they showcased, Apple still needed to fundamentally redefine the headset category, as they did with the Mac, iPod, and iPhone.
Design as the Foundation of The Success of Apple
Perhaps many had forgotten that IT professionals had no interest in deploying Apple products in the corporate world when the iPhone was released. BlackBerry and Microsoft devices were dominating the market at that time. However, Apple forcefully entered the enterprise market by winning the support of consumers or perhaps even winning over CEOs. With its impeccable design, Apple emerged victorious, just as it did with several generations of iMac, iPod, and iPhone. Even something like AirPods, which may be the world’s most discreet AR product (with 3D spatial audio and audio transmission).
The Evolution of Apple Vision Pro
In contrast, the launch of Vision Pro feels more akin to the Apple Watch, a product that initially struggled in sales and lacked a clear purpose. But over time, with technological advancements, its features grew exponentially, encompassing new health functionalities and a clearer interface. Let’s not forget: when the Apple Watch launched, its screen couldn’t even display a watch face for an entire day. Yet, the most expressive device worn by most people remained dormant.
However, it proved to be an industrially designed platform for reliable iterations. Now, the Apple Watch is a significant business for Apple, holding the immense potential to become a computer dedicated to long-term human well-being. It’s no wonder that Apple’s leadership hopes to replicate this success with Vision Pro.
The Potential of Apple Vision Pro
Indeed, Vision Pro appears superior to any product released by its competitors. It’s striking lenses and knitted headband seem like significant ergonomic improvements in headset design. This headset also addresses serious user experience issues. For instance, how do we communicate with each other through the vast computers installed on our faces, using features like EyeSight’s reverse perspective or FaceTime group chat?
However, this has never been Apple’s sole measure of surpassing its competitors, as it is not just about releasing a slightly better version of a product in the same category but rather the best version. Apple executives refer to Vision Pro as “Apple’s first spatial computer.” Yet, even after watching its demo, consumers may still not understand why Apple is producing this computer and why they need to purchase it.
Past products have shown that when Apple introduces something that feels impossible to be created in any other way and can make people live in a new and improved manner through a refined design, it becomes the best. This is because Apple has traditionally been a design-driven company, with its only true competitor being Apple itself.