Apple is quietly polishing the Vision Pro with the new iPhone 15 Pro and AirPods Pro 2
The Apple Vision Pro may not have been present at the recent iPhone 15 launch event at Apple Park, but it did get a lot of attention and some upgrades that you may have missed.
Unfortunately, these improvements don’t come directly to the headset, but are improvements exclusive to people who own multiple premium Apple products – specifically the new iPhone 15 Pro (or the iPhone 15 Pro Max) and the updated AirPods Pro 2 with USB -C port.
Starting with the iPhone 15, the Pro model cameras now have the ability to record spatial video. This immersive format lets you use the Vision Pro to relive 3D recreations of memories you film, and was first shown in the Vision Pro reveal trailer at WWDC 2023.
While pretty cool – it feels like a step towards sci-fi hologram recording – the feature also felt rather dystopian when it was unveiled on the Vision Pro. To be more specific, to actually record spatial video of a special moment on the Vision Pro, you have to detach from it; you covered your eyes with the VR headset to power up the camera and start recording. It also won’t let you relive memories that happened while you didn’t have the $3,499 (about £2,800 / AU$5,300) headset on hand to record – and given the price of the Vision Pro, it doesn’t seem like it to us something you want to carry with you everywhere.
The iPhone 15 Pro solves both problems. While recording spatial video on your iPhone, you can still be present in the moment and experience it in real life as it happens – not just through a recording – and almost always have your phone with you to capture memories as they happen. take place .
The feature won’t be live when the new iPhones launch, but Apple noted that Spatial Video recording would come in the near future (we expect this before or just as the Vision Pro comes out).
More than just USB-C charging changes
Another announcement during the iPhone 15 event is that Apple is launching an updated AirPods Pro 2 with a USB-C charging case – to match the USB-C charging port now used by the iPhone 15 models. Interestingly enough, this change in charging isn’t the only upgrade coming in Apple’s noise-canceling earbuds refresh.
For starters, the updated earbuds have a new IP54 dust and water resistant label (the previous version only had an IPX4 rating, suggesting dust resistance had not been tested). More importantly, especially for Vision Pro users, these earbuds support a “breakthrough wireless audio protocol” that unlocks 20-bit, 48 kHz Lossless Audio for the Apple headset. This means you can privately enjoy your Apple Vision Pro experiences with high-quality audio (higher quality than you can get with your AirPods Pro connected to even the latest iPhones) by popping in a pair of USB-C AirPods Pro 2 .
Strangely enough, this upgrade appears to be exclusive to the new AirPods. Older AirPods Pro 2, charged via a Lightning cable, don’t seem to offer this premium audio quality with the Vision Pro. So if you only recently bought a pair of AirPods Pro 2, you might want to return them and pick up the USB-C model instead when the new model releases on September 22, if the Vision Pro is something you’re even remotely interested in are.