Apple
| Apple Inc. | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Cupertino, California, United States |
| Products | Apple Vision Pro, Apple Vision Pro M5, ARKit, RealityKit |
| Website | https://www.apple.com |
Apple Inc. is an American consumer electronics company based in Cupertino, California. This article covers Apple's work in virtual reality, augmented reality, and what the company calls spatial computing: the Apple Vision Pro headset and its Apple Vision Pro M5 refresh, the ARKit development framework and the AR features built into iPhone and iPad (including the LiDAR Scanner), and the string of AR and VR startups Apple has acquired since 2013. Apple stayed out of the headset market for years while rivals shipped product, then entered at the very top of it in 2024 with a device that costs as much as a decent used car.
Apple tends not to use the words "virtual reality" or "augmented reality" in its own marketing. It prefers "spatial computing," and it positions the Vision Pro as a computer you wear rather than a games console or a VR peripheral.[1]
Apple Vision Pro
Apple unveiled the Apple Vision Pro on June 5, 2023 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, and put it on sale in the United States on February 2, 2024 at a starting price of $3,499.[2] Apple marketed it as a "spatial computer" running visionOS, a new operating system controlled by eye tracking, hand gestures, and voice rather than controllers.[3]
The headset uses two Micro-OLED displays that together pack about 23 million pixels, more than a 4K television's worth in front of each eye, at refresh rates of 90Hz, 96Hz, and 100Hz.[3] Inside are two Apple-designed chips working together: the Apple M2 chip (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine) handles general computing and graphics, while a second chip called the R1 is dedicated to processing input from the cameras and sensors. Apple quotes the R1 at 12-millisecond photon-to-photon latency, the gap between something happening in front of the headset and it appearing on the displays.[3] The device ships with 16GB of unified memory and storage options of 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB, and weighs roughly 600 to 650 grams depending on the Light Seal and head band fitted.[3]
After the US launch, Apple rolled the Vision Pro out internationally through 2024: China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore on June 28; Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on July 12; and South Korea and the United Arab Emirates on November 15.[2]
For a deeper treatment of the original hardware, see the Apple Vision Pro article.
Apple Vision Pro (M5)
On October 15, 2025 Apple refreshed the headset with a faster processor, the Apple Vision Pro M5.[1] The external design is unchanged, but the M2 gives way to the M5 chip, which Apple specifies as a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The headset keeps 16GB of memory.[4][1]
Apple says the M5 renders 10 percent more pixels on the displays and lifts the maximum refresh rate to 120Hz, up from the 100Hz ceiling on the original. AI-driven features such as Persona and spatial photo processing run up to 50 percent faster, and battery life improves by about half an hour, to up to 2.5 hours of general use and up to 3 hours of video playback.[1] The refresh launched alongside a new accessory, the Dual Knit Band, a redesigned strap meant to spread the headset's weight more comfortably; it sells separately for $99.[1] The headset itself still starts at $3,499 and runs visionOS 26.[1] Pre-orders opened the day of the announcement and the unit reached stores on October 22, 2025.[1]
ARKit and AR on iPhone and iPad
Apple's augmented reality story did not begin with a headset. It began with the phone already in everyone's pocket. At WWDC on June 5, 2017, Apple introduced ARKit, a framework that lets developers build AR experiences for iPhone and iPad, and shipped it later that year with iOS 11.[5] The first version handled motion tracking, horizontal plane detection, scale, and ambient light estimation, enough to drop a virtual object onto a real table and have it stay put as you walked around.[5]
The hardware caught up to the software in 2020. On March 18, 2020 Apple added a LiDAR Scanner to the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and later that year to the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.[6] The scanner measures distance to objects up to 5 meters away, works indoors and out, and operates at the photon level at nanosecond speeds. Apple fed that depth data straight into ARKit through a new Scene Geometry API, which let apps understand the shape of a room rather than just a flat plane, and improved instant placement, motion capture, and people occlusion.[6]
AR and VR acquisitions
Apple built much of its spatial-computing expertise by buying it. The company rarely explains these deals, falling back on its standard line that it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time" and does not discuss its plans, so the rationale is usually inferred from what the targets did and where their technology later surfaced.
| Year | Company | Field | Reported price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | PrimeSense | 3D depth sensing | ~$360 million | Israeli firm behind the depth sensor in the original Microsoft Kinect; its technology is widely linked to Apple's later Face ID.[7] |
| 2015 | Metaio | AR software | Undisclosed | German augmented reality company, founded in 2003 as a Volkswagen spin-off, that made the Metaio Creator AR authoring tool.[8] |
| 2017 | SensoMotoric Instruments | Eye tracking | Undisclosed | German eye-tracking firm founded in 1991; eye tracking underpins foveated rendering and the gaze-based input later used in Vision Pro.[9] |
| 2017 | Vrvana | Mixed reality headsets | ~$30 million | Montreal startup whose unreleased Totem headset blended AR and VR using forward-facing pass-through cameras feeding OLED displays, the same camera passthrough approach the Vision Pro later used.[10] |
| 2020 | NextVR | VR broadcasting | ~$100 million | California company that streamed live sports and concerts in virtual reality, including NBA games, WWE, and Wimbledon.[11] |
PrimeSense and Vrvana were both confirmed by Apple, while the others were reported by reputable outlets and, in Apple's usual fashion, neither confirmed nor denied.[7][10] The prices listed for PrimeSense, Vrvana, and NextVR are figures reported by sources, not numbers Apple has published.[7][10][11]
Product timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| November 2013 | Apple confirms the acquisition of 3D-sensing firm PrimeSense.[7] |
| May 2015 | Apple acquires AR software company Metaio.[8] |
| June 2017 | ARKit introduced at WWDC; ships later in the year with iOS 11.[5] |
| June 2017 | Apple acquires eye-tracking firm SensoMotoric Instruments.[9] |
| November 2017 | Apple acquires mixed reality headset startup Vrvana.[10] |
| May 2020 | Apple acquires VR broadcaster NextVR.[11] |
| March 2020 | LiDAR Scanner added to the iPad Pro, integrated with ARKit.[6] |
| June 2023 | Apple Vision Pro unveiled at WWDC.[2] |
| February 2024 | Apple Vision Pro goes on sale in the United States at $3,499.[2] |
| October 2025 | Apple Vision Pro refreshed with the M5 chip and Dual Knit Band.[1] |
Reported future directions
The figures below come from press reporting, not from Apple, and nothing here has been confirmed by the company.
As of mid-2026, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple has shifted its near-term focus from headsets to lightweight smart glasses. Gurman wrote on May 31, 2026 that Apple's first smart glasses, which would carry cameras and Apple Intelligence in a conventional eyeglass frame, have slipped to a launch around the end of 2027.[12] According to the same reporting, a cheaper and lighter headset known internally as Vision Air is not expected before late 2028 or 2029, leaving the current Vision Pro line without a major successor in the meantime.[12] Treat all of this as unconfirmed reporting that has shifted before and may shift again.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Apple Vision Pro upgraded with the M5 chip and Dual Knit Band". 2025-10-15. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-vision-pro-upgraded-with-the-m5-chip-and-dual-knit-band/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Apple Vision Pro". 2026-06-01. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Vision_Pro.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Apple Vision Pro - Tech Specs". 2024-01-19. https://support.apple.com/en-us/117810.
- ↑ "Apple unleashes M5, the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon". 2025-10-15. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/10/apple-unleashes-m5-the-next-big-leap-in-ai-performance-for-apple-silicon/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Create Augmented Reality Experiences with ARKit". 2017-06-05. https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=06052017b.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Apple unveils new iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support in iPadOS". 2020-03-18. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/03/apple-unveils-new-ipad-pro-with-lidar-scanner-and-trackpad-support-in-ipados/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "Apple confirms PrimeSense acquisition, deal rumored to be worth $360M". 2013-11-25. https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/25/apple-confirms-primesense-acquisition-in-rumored-360m-deal.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Metaio". 2026-05-01. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Report: Apple Acquires VR & AR Eye-tracking Company SMI". 2017-06-26. https://www.roadtovr.com/report-apple-acquires-vr-ar-eye-tracking-company-smi/.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Apple acquired augmented reality headset startup Vrvana for $30M". 2017-11-21. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/21/apple-acquires-mixed-reality-headset-startup-vrvana-for-30m/.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "NextVR is latest VR related company to be bought by Apple". 2020-05-14. https://www.macworld.com/article/674165/nextvr-is-latest-vr-related-company-to-be-bought-by-apple.html.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Apple AI glasses launch pushed back to late 2027, Vision Air to arrive by 2029: report". 2026-05-31. https://9to5mac.com/2026/05/31/apple-glasses-launching-late-2027-with-vision-air-to-follow-by-2029/.