Non-Pro Apple Vision likely to have half the resolution

Display samples requested by Apple suggest that a future non-Pro Apple Vision headset is likely to have around half the resolution of the existing model.

Apple has reportedly requested samples of potential displays from both JDI and Samsung, with the Japanese company said to have recently provided this …

Why Vision Pro displays are so expensive

The twin displays in the Vision Pro are one of the main reasons for the extremely high cost of the device. They are very sophisticated ultra hi-res units made by Sony, each one having a resolution of 3660 x 3200. This is slightly lower than 4K in the horizontal axis, but significantly higher in the vertical one.

To put that resolution into perspective, you can fit 50 Vision Pro pixels in the same space as a single iPhone pixel. The display tech is also key to the very low latency of the displays.

Non-Pro Apple Vision

Apple was originally aiming to reduce the cost of the Pro model, but reportedly abandoned these efforts back in June to focus on a lower-spec version. It’s widely thought that Apple will have to hit a $1500-ish price point to turn it into less of a niche product.

One possible route is to reduce the processor power, and instead have it tethered to an iPhone or Mac. But the key is likely to be reducing the cost of the displays.

TheElec reports that Apple has asked both Japan’s JDI and Korea’s Samsung to provide samples of suitable displays for the headset, and that JDI has already done so.

The report says the samples are in the 1500 to 1700ppi range – around half that of Vision Pro.

Apple has recently received a glass board-based OLED panel from Japan’s JDI aimed for mixed reality devices like its Vision Pro, TheElec has learned. The panel has a resolution of approximately 1,500 pixels per inch (ppi), sources said, so it is likely aimed at a budget model MR device […]

JDI’s sample likely has a lower resolution as it uses glass instead of silicon for the board.

Apple had also sent a request for information to Samsung Display earlier this year to request the development of an OLEDoS with 1,700ppi resolution.

• Immersed Visor aims to be a Vision Pro Lite for $1,050
• Vision Pro will live or die on Apple’s own words: ‘spatial computer’
• Meta just canceled its Vision Pro competitor, reportedly it was too pricey to ‘sell well’
• Three reasons a tethered Apple Vision headset would be an acceptable compromise for me

Photo by Bram Van Oost on Unsplash