Casinos are coming to an Apple Vision Pro near you

Is this Apple VR?

No. The Apple Vision Pro can double as a VR headset, but it is more a combination of VR and AR (alternate reality). That means that when you use the Apple Vision Pro you will see a mix of your actual environment and digitally added elements. Apple calls it XR.

What is the Apple Vision Pro hardware?

As with most things Apple, the hardware is really good. The Apple Vision Pro isn’t like other headsets that connect to another device like a computer or your phone. It functions on its own. What you will be looking at when wearing the headset is 24 million pixels across two panels. That is way more pixel power than any other VR headset available to consumers.

It is a good looking design for the main frame and the massive piece of glass on the front. It is substantial in size. It’s not heavy, but size is always a barrier to entry for these headset devices. It sits comfortably on your head, but since nobody has been able to use it for extended periods of time it is hard to say how comfortable it will be after a couple hours of use at a time.

The M2 chip is accompanied by a new R1 chip is what Apple makes the workhorses when trying to carry the latency-burden that comes with headset use. When using the headset there are no judders or frame drops. When opening windows for browning the web, reading email etc. they were rendered in crisp 4k and moved around as snappy as you would expect the latest iPhone to behave.

How much does the Apple Vision Pro cost?

The pricing of the Apple Vision Pro is $3500. It’s brand new hardware with a huge array of new technologies implemented all over the device. As such, there isn’t much of a surprise here for the Apple Vision Pro pricing of $3500. New tech is expensive to develop and deliver to the consumer. The price exceeds many Apple computers and laptops, and as such puts the Vision Pro in the Apple power user category.

What makes the Vision Pro stand out?

Eye tracking that is out of this world

The headset has no controllers like other VR headsets have. Instead the Vision Pro relies 100% on eye tracking and gesture control with your hands. Your hand gestures are picked up anywhere around the headset. The headset has two downward facing cameras specifically to keep track of your hands even when they are in your lap or at your sides. The eye tracking array does a perfect job of tracking exactly what you are looking at after it has been calibrated. You can click on what you are looking at by simply tapping two fingers (index and thumb) together. It is mind blowing how well this works and how fast you get used to using your eyes and fingers to control your inputs.

Seemingly passthrough glass to look into

As humans we get very uncomfortable when we can’t see our surroundings for an extended period of time. It’s a big part of why VR and headsets have not caught on, yet. With the Vision Pro you can see your personal space. Even though it’s images being displayed to you in the headset it completely removes the uncomfortable feeling of not being able to see your surroundings. You are alerted if anyone enters the space near content you might be viewing, so you will be aware of other people around you too. On the outside of the headset your eyes are displayed to those around you by an OLED screen, helping show the expression on your face.

Apple has revolutionized text with a headset

If you have ever used VR or a VR headset you will know that simply reading text is not like reading a book or the screen of your smartphone. With every other headset I have used reading text is straining on the eyes. With the Vision Pro there are no jitters, and in the “virtual desktop” all text is clear and easily readable. It’s a remarkable step forward for VR and AR technology.

FaceTime, but more immersive

You can have the faces of the people you call with FaceTime in your personal space. It makes FaceTime much more immersive. Obviously, now you want to know what the people in the call with you will see? This is where we get very-Wall-E: Over 20 years ago the technology to make a realistic digital avatar of a person’s face was expensive. Lord of the Rings the movie series spent millions of dollars to get brief seconds of digital representations of actor’s faces. Now you can do it with your iPhone and an Apple Vision Pro.

By making a scan of your face, viewers will be able to FaceTime with you while you are wearing a headset. On their device they will not see you wearing the headset, but instead a digital render with very realistic skin tone and expressions. It’s not perfect, but it’s not as jarring to interact with as a Metaverse avatar. It works.

3D is about to become commonplace in homes

This is going to change the way we are entertained. The Apple Vision Pro is the device that is going to immerse us in 3D entertainment. Not just with 3D movies that are better than in the cinemas, but also in terms of gaming. Guaranteed you will see 3D Slots, immersive roulette table experiences and live poker tournaments where you can read tells of those you are playing with because you can see their faces.

Just like when Apple released the first iPhone they are leaving much of the content creation responsibility with other people. Entertainers, developers, film makers and all kinds of other creatives have now been given a new creative toolset by Apple with the Vision Pro. If Apple didn’t create the iPhone we would not have Uber or AirBnb. Who knows where we are going to go with the Vision Pro.

Samsung and Xiaomi are sure to follow

With the Apple Vision Pro comes a string of patents indicating that Apple will share the technology, at a price. There is no doubt in my mind that other technology manufacturers like Samsung and Xiaomi will also be releasing their answer to the Vision Pro. I don’t want to draw comparison to the iPhone again, but only fools don’t learn from history. That means different headsets, with different capabilities, at different price points, but all about to send us tumbling into a new world.

Apple Vision Pro Casino

The Apple Vision Pro is going to be releasing early 2024, and I’m confident that somewhere one of the iGaming development companies are already working on some Apple Vision Pro Casino games that will get you as close to being in an actual casino as possible. Or, you will be able to set up a slot machine right in your living room, but when you don’t play it takes up no space, because it’s not there.

As soon as the Apple Vision pro launches in the beginning of 2024 you will immediately be able to play casino games by using the virtual desktop at any of your favourite online casinos. It might not be 3D immersive on the day of release but there is something really cool about being able to play your favourite slot game on an alternate reality screen bigger than any screen you currently own.

With the rapid development of AI, it will also be interesting to see how that plays into the future of the Vision Pro. We are excited to see what lies ahead for Apple Vision Pro casinos. Especially since this is such an awesome new technology that is more immersive than anything we have ever experienced.