Apple just announced its first major product since 2014: The Vision Pro

An apple announced its mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, on Monday during its developer conference. The headphones are the first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2014.

Vision Pro will allow users to see applications in a new way in the spaces around them. Users can use their eyes and hands to navigate apps and search with their voice. The headset can be used to watch movies, including 3-D, with surround sound, view your own photos or videos, and play video games.

With a feature called EyeSight, the headset can become transparent or opaque to signal to those around the headset wearer if they are immersed in an experience or ready to interact.

Here are some images from Apple’s presentation showing how it works:

This is what the headset looks like when the user is available to interact with others in the room.

Applications appear in front of the user, who can look around and gesture to navigate.

Here’s what panorama viewing looks like with the headset.

Apple has been working on headset hardware and software since at least 2016 in a division called the Technology Development Group. Monday’s launch is the culmination of years of development — some in secret and some as a public foundation previously released for the iPhone, such as depth cameras and software.

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at length about the potential of augmented reality, which overlays computer graphics on the real world, saying the technology could eventually be an everyday device for most people and that its impact could be similar to the invention of the internet.

The debut of Apple’s VR headset comes at a time when the wider virtual reality industry is struggling to meet high expectations for the technology. For now, it’s considered “mixed reality,” or virtual reality that accesses the outside world through cameras mounted on the headset.

Monday’s launch also ushers in a new era of open competition between Apple and Meta, which is developing its own virtual reality headset. Meta said last week that its latest headphone model, the Quest 3, would be released later this year.

This story is evolving. Check back for updates.

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