People Have Started Spotting Apple Vision Pro In The Wild—And It’s Scary
The Vision Pro, Apple’s new VR and mixed-reality headset, hit store shelves in the US last Friday (February 2). In the days following the product’s release, videos of people using the device have flooded the Internet, sparking conversation about the future of technology.
The wearable product, sold for $3,500, allows users to see apps, email, video games, and more get integrated with their real-world surroundings, as per NBC. People can scroll through their social media feed by flicking their wrist, and give voice-activated commands instead of typing.
- Some fear Apple's Vision Pro, released on February 2, could lead to a world akin to Black Mirror.
- YouTuber Casey Neistat called the tech device “the single greatest piece of tech I’ve ever used.”
- Concerns rise over safety and potential for theft with public use.
Casey Neistat, a YouTuber with over 12 million subscribers, shared a video testing the wearable product, which he referred to as “the “single greatest piece of tech I’ve ever used.”
Apple’s new Vision Pro headset is here, and it’s already sparking safety concerns among social media users
Image credits: apple
The device allows users to see apps, email, video games, and more get integrated with their real-world surroundings
Image credits: apple
The video shows the content creator skateboarding on the streets of New York, ordering doughnuts, and simultaneously interacting with two different screens—Apple TV and YouTube—while sitting on a bench in Times Square.
“It’s an imperfect product, but to me, at age 42, this is without a doubt the most profound piece of technology I have ever experienced, and that was not my expectation,” he said.
Another viral video showed a man crossing the street wildly swinging his head around while allegedly using apps on the device.
Watch Apple’s presentation of the revolutionary device below
Image credits: apple
People have also been using the device on public transportation, with videos emerging of Vision Pro customers wearing their pricey VR set on the subway.
“With a cost of $3,500, I’m surprised we haven’t seen videos of one of these guys getting robbed yet,” one social media user wrote.
“Would I take something [worth] $3500? No. Would I wear something worth $3500 that makes me blind to what happens around me and to a potential robber [who] could just grab [the headset] and run away with it? You know the answer,” another person said.
People have been spotted using the device while riding the subway
Image credits: Infobites19
How to watch sports on the Apple Vision Pro pic.twitter.com/dD1PBxAHiR
— Alex Finn (@AlexFinnX) February 3, 2024
Image credits: AlexFinnX
Perhaps the most controversial clip of the new tech product shows a Vision Pro user, 21-year-old Dante Lentini, wearing the headset while in a self-driving Tesla. The man can be seen tapping at the air until the clip cuts to show him parked with police lights flashing in his rear window.
The US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg re-posted the video on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing: “Reminder — all advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times.”
Even Apple cautions users against wearing the headset in the car. “Never use the device while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety,” the product’s user guide states.
Users have also been captured interacting with each other while wearing the headset
Image credits: imPatrickT
While Lentini later admitted that the viral video was a skit and that he coincidentally filmed the police on unrelated duties, people still began sounding the alarm about what a potential future with the device would look like.
Some worry that the revolutionary tech device will lead to a world similar to the one depicted in the dystopian sci-fi show Black Mirror. In the British series, technology has completely taken over people’s lives, having profound consequences on society.
A video of a man wearing the Vision Pro while in a self-driving Tesla went viral online
Think different. #applevisionpro pic.twitter.com/dEALUsntS8
— Dante (@lentinidante) February 2, 2024
Image credits: lentinidante
Esto acaba de ocurrir. pic.twitter.com/Pp6eAdURdF
— Victor Abarca (@victor_abarca) February 5, 2024
Image credits: victor_abarca
The tech device has raised safety concerns about its reckless use in public spaces
Apple Vision Pro making me feel like we’re in a black mirror episode. It’s got to be the most dystopian technology we’ve seen in years.
What we’ve witnessed over the past 4-5 years is a sinister, well orchestrated and incremental conditioning process that is programming the… https://t.co/A9OLQt5yc1 pic.twitter.com/6zsI9quFJW
— Magnus Vigsø (@MagnusVigso) February 4, 2024
Image credits: MagnusVigso
However, there are two factors that seem to question the idea of people walking around not looking at the world with their real eyes but rather having a pair of goggles showing their Instagram feed.
Firstly, people believe the product’s clunky design will make it lose its appeal. Until it looks more compact and discreet, experts say that the Vision Pro is not likely to see significant success.
Some didn’t miss the opportunity to recreate one of the most famous memes
Image credits: r3curx
Additionally, there’s the hefty price. Not everyone can afford to pay $3,499—the optional battery pack that lets you wear it without being tethered costs an additional $199—to watch several screens showing a football game and their friend’s Instagram stories.
The Simpsons seemingly foreshadowed Apple’s latest product in an episode aired in 2016
Image credits: Disney
Image credits: Disney
Image credits: Disney
Image credits: Disney
The future of the device may remain a mystery for the moment, but surprisingly, the VR headset has taken off in an alternative universe.
People on social media were stunned to see a strikingly similar headset appear on an episode of The Simpsons, which aired in 2016 and seemingly foreshadowed Apple’s latest product.
In the episode, titled “Friends and Family,” Homer and Marge appear lying in bed while using virtual reality headsets, which soon catch on to the whole of Springfield.
“It’s been a black mirror episode [for] a while now,” a person wrote on social media
Ok. I’m old. I’ve somehow jumped directly to senior citizen status reading this article. Get off my lawn.
Same here. Thought I was turning 25 soon, but no - apparently I'm turning 80...
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I actually like that they're so big and obvious. Gives the rest of us the chance to avoid interaction with them because quite frankly, I don't want to have anything to do with the Ex Machina crowd.
I have a feeling these are going to disappear pretty quickly. Just like Google Glass did.
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Lets wait a few years and see how far it goes. I thought about Wall-E when the first images dropped.
So many things these days make me think about Wall-E
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What is that sound? Oh nothing, it's just Darwin spinning in his grave like a squirrel in a washing machine.
Actually, Chuck was a very broad thinker. I'd guess he's more like "Oh, this is going to be interesting!"
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Even Apple fanboys will not spend this amount of money for their overpriced c**p. Compared to the competetors it's same specs but 2-3 times as expensive, that's just robbery.
Reality enhancement has been a focus of science fiction since like 1946. Dozens of stories - by the thinkers responsible for 100% of space achievements. Nobody ever came up with a scenario where it was broadly useful or valuable. Some ran to "wowee entertainment" - and most wound up with the technologies being ranked legally with the very worst kinds of d**g addiction: proscribed, seriously. Is there potential for abuse? Huge. Think of video gaming- and all the potentially productive hours just flushed down the toilet. Yeah, we need more of that!
To those mentioning 'black mirror', I saw an interview with Charlie Brooker (the writer of black mirror) not too long ago. He thought it was no longer funny as far too close to reality to amuse anyone. I haven't watched much myself, I found it uncomfortable viewing, but a lot of his other stuff is definitely worth looking for.
No. Thank. You. If I want to escape reality that badly, I'll just go to sleep.
Tesla & Apple together is like a Prick badge. Everybody I know who have one, the other or both just don't shut up about them. It's become there personality. Like Evangelists of the new tech wave talking about the saviour. I'm a big tech fan, I love the idea of electric cars, but the ones that are going to save the planet are not 3000kg 1000km range but small 300km range that don’t have ludicrous mode or Elon's ejaculation all over them. As for Apple, just another very overpriced consolator for small egos.
Back when the Prius was new - dark ages, right? - there was a joke current in California; where pollution reduction is serious- that as the Prius became more abundant in San Francisco, drivers were having trouble driving through their smug....
Load More Replies...
Turning? Black Mirror seems to be more realistic than life. Musk is trying to turn us into cyborgs, we have an obssession with (un)reality TV, AI and non-news sites are warping our already 'fragile' minds, we don't listen to experts any more but to infleuncers, and if do, those experts tend not to be ones we should be listening to (non-factually based and money promoted) and now this. Humanity is screwed.
The Simpsons aren't predicting the future now, lazy 'inventors' and product developers are purposefully watching episodes for the 'next big thing'.
I'm just waiting for the inevitable wave of pedestrians wearing these being mowed down by drivers. Then the blame will all be on the drivers not the idiots wearing goggles (just like the phone zombies have already sparked).
Eerily reminiscent of the amazing work of Simon Stålenhag (one of his paintings from his book The Electric State here). His book Tales from the Loop inspired the series. See more at www.simonstalenhag.se. Highly recommended. IMG_0757-6...a-jpeg.jpg 
Ok. I’m old. I’ve somehow jumped directly to senior citizen status reading this article. Get off my lawn.
Same here. Thought I was turning 25 soon, but no - apparently I'm turning 80...
Load More Replies... I actually like that they're so big and obvious. Gives the rest of us the chance to avoid interaction with them because quite frankly, I don't want to have anything to do with the Ex Machina crowd.
I have a feeling these are going to disappear pretty quickly. Just like Google Glass did.
Load More Replies... Lets wait a few years and see how far it goes. I thought about Wall-E when the first images dropped.
So many things these days make me think about Wall-E
Load More Replies... What is that sound? Oh nothing, it's just Darwin spinning in his grave like a squirrel in a washing machine.
Actually, Chuck was a very broad thinker. I'd guess he's more like "Oh, this is going to be interesting!"
Load More Replies... Even Apple fanboys will not spend this amount of money for their overpriced c**p. Compared to the competetors it's same specs but 2-3 times as expensive, that's just robbery.
Reality enhancement has been a focus of science fiction since like 1946. Dozens of stories - by the thinkers responsible for 100% of space achievements. Nobody ever came up with a scenario where it was broadly useful or valuable. Some ran to "wowee entertainment" - and most wound up with the technologies being ranked legally with the very worst kinds of d**g addiction: proscribed, seriously. Is there potential for abuse? Huge. Think of video gaming- and all the potentially productive hours just flushed down the toilet. Yeah, we need more of that!
To those mentioning 'black mirror', I saw an interview with Charlie Brooker (the writer of black mirror) not too long ago. He thought it was no longer funny as far too close to reality to amuse anyone. I haven't watched much myself, I found it uncomfortable viewing, but a lot of his other stuff is definitely worth looking for.
No. Thank. You. If I want to escape reality that badly, I'll just go to sleep.
Tesla & Apple together is like a Prick badge. Everybody I know who have one, the other or both just don't shut up about them. It's become there personality. Like Evangelists of the new tech wave talking about the saviour. I'm a big tech fan, I love the idea of electric cars, but the ones that are going to save the planet are not 3000kg 1000km range but small 300km range that don’t have ludicrous mode or Elon's ejaculation all over them. As for Apple, just another very overpriced consolator for small egos.
Back when the Prius was new - dark ages, right? - there was a joke current in California; where pollution reduction is serious- that as the Prius became more abundant in San Francisco, drivers were having trouble driving through their smug....
Load More Replies... Turning? Black Mirror seems to be more realistic than life. Musk is trying to turn us into cyborgs, we have an obssession with (un)reality TV, AI and non-news sites are warping our already 'fragile' minds, we don't listen to experts any more but to infleuncers, and if do, those experts tend not to be ones we should be listening to (non-factually based and money promoted) and now this. Humanity is screwed.
The Simpsons aren't predicting the future now, lazy 'inventors' and product developers are purposefully watching episodes for the 'next big thing'.
I'm just waiting for the inevitable wave of pedestrians wearing these being mowed down by drivers. Then the blame will all be on the drivers not the idiots wearing goggles (just like the phone zombies have already sparked).
Eerily reminiscent of the amazing work of Simon Stålenhag (one of his paintings from his book The Electric State here). His book Tales from the Loop inspired the series. See more at www.simonstalenhag.se. Highly recommended. IMG_0757-6...a-jpeg.jpg
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