Some features that didn’t make the cut for the first Vision Pro headset are reportedly still planned for the next iteration of Apple’s spatial computer.
With the Vision Pro officially announced, Â there’s still work to do regarding finishing up visionOS, expanding testing and finalizing the rollout strategy.
At the same time, Apple is developing Vision Pro successors with some of the features that didn’t make the cut for the inaugural device for whatever reasons.
Apple could bring missing features to the next Vision Pro
Make Gurman outlined them in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, saying features like multiple Mac virtual displays and group FaceTime with multiple Personas are coming to the second-generation headset.
Multiple Mac Virtual Displays
visionOS lets you use the Vision Pro as a virtual monitor for your Mac. You just look at your Mac to bring its display into your world, placing it anywhere you want.
This uses Wi-Fi to mirror the Mac display on the Vision Pro, giving you a virtual 4K monitor. However, multiple Mac virtual displays in a mixed-reality workspace will require a future Vision Pro with increased wireless bandwidth.
Group FaceTime with multiple Personas
Apple originally wanted to make you feel like you’re interacting with other people in the same virtual meeting room when using FaceTime.
Realistic, full-body avatars are critical to that. Avatars on the Vision Pro, called Personas, are 3D models constructed when the user scans their face using the device’s TrueDepth camera as part of the setup process.
While these things resemble the user’s appearances, they look no better than in-game characters in today’s console games. Even though the Vision Pro can do group FaceTime, it’s only possible with a single Persona on the call.
The next Vision Pro, however, will have the ability for “multiple Vision Pro users in a several-person FaceTime conference to use Personas.”
Fitness+ and workout mode
Apple didn’t bring its Fitness+ service to augmented reality. Reviewers have noted that the Vision Pro probably doesn’t support Fitness+ because of potential hazards in working out with a bulky helmet on your face.
However, Mark says that Fitness+ and the ability to work out while wearing the headset with virtual fitness content is coming to the Vision Pro’s successor.
Will these features also come to the first Vision Pro?
For those wondering, Mark said nothing about the missing features coming to the first Vision Pro through a future visionOS update. On top of that, his earlier reporting implied Apple canceled some of the hardware features that were too expensive to implement as it didn’t want to delay the announcement any longer.
For example, months before the headset was unveiled, Gurman wrote that Apple initially wanted to build a device that would “display virtual-reality content in video-realistic form.” That required a separate base station to provide the kind of power those features needed and beam “the most powerful graphics” to the headset, “enabling top-flight video games and hyperrealistic content.”
As Apple wanted to build a self-contained device, its engineers had to give up on advanced videoconferencing and realistic avatars.
Second-generation Vision Pro arriving in 2025
But according to the reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Cupertino tech giant is already working on two second-generation headsets. One would be a more affordable model using slower chips and lower-resolution displays, and the other is said to be a high-end model with even beefier hardware than the first Vision Pro.
If Gurman is correct, the missing features will likely require the high-end version of the second-generation Vision Pro, which is expected to drop around 2025.