Apple Vision Pro: reviews, UK release date and price

Almost a year since it was announced, and five months after its US debut, the Apple Vision Pro is finally coming to the UK.

The headset, which resembles a pair of ski goggles, mixes the virtual and physical worlds seamlessly. It can transport you to a 100-foot cinema screen under the stars, put you face to face with CGI dinosaurs and supplant your work monitors with floating apps.

Apple describes it as a “spatial computer”, and it could wind up replacing the Mac and maybe even the iPhone. Here’s what you need to know about the device ahead of its imminent release date.

What is the Apple Vision Pro?

The Apple Vision Pro is a headset that unites virtual reality, where you are whisked away to a simulated 3D world, with augmented reality, which shows you virtual objects in the real world.

To make these visuals come to life, Apple has crammed multiple space and depth-sensing sensors and cameras into the device. Not only do these capture and beam back your surroundings, but they also let you control the headset with your hands and eyes. And, when it’s time to play traditional games, you can switch to an Xbox or PS5 controller.

When you don the Vision Pro, what you’re looking at are two 4K displays that contain 23 million pixels. Meanwhile, a pair of powerful processors are doing the computing gruntwork, including one borrowed from the latest MacBooks.

Lookswise, the headset stays true to Apple’s stylebook: like the iPhone 15, it’s made of aluminium and glass and it features a crown like the Apple Watch – only here it controls your level of immersion. Although it’s not hooked up to a computer, this isn’t a completely wireless headset like the Meta Quest 3. Here, the battery is attached by a cable rather than being crammed into the device.

Apple says the Vision Pro will feature dedicated apps built for its VisionOS operating system, along with thousands of regular iPad apps.

Apple Vision Pro UK release date

So, when can you get your hands on it? The Vision Pro is out on July 12 in the UK exclusively through Apple, with pre-orders open since late June.

If you want to try the pricey kit before you buy, you can demo the headset at an Apple Store by booking an appointment online. Currently, the soonest available slot in London is on July 12 in White City.

Apple Vision Pro UK price

The Apple Vision Pro starts from £3,499 with 256GB of storage, which is double the amount you get on the standard iPhone 15.

For those who require more space, there’s a 512GB model that costs £3,699 and a 1TB version that costs £3,899. That’s almost as much as a top-of-the-range MacBook Pro.

If you wear glasses, you’ll need to fork out an extra £99 for “optical inserts” as the headset doesn’t have room for specs.

Apple Vision Pro reviews

If that price didn’t put you off, you may be wondering whether the Vision Pro is any good.

Well, a slew of tech journalists have already tried it out, including the Standard’s very own David Phelan.

Most of these have been controlled demos overseen by Apple instead of full-blown reviews. Nevertheless, we’re starting to get an early picture of the headset’s pros and cons.

Most testers agree that it is the best headset they’ve tried, which is high praise considering VR has been around for years.

In our hands-on, we lauded its design, intuitive controls and the fluid way it switches between immersive apps and the real world. Ultimately, we concluded that it was the first headset we’ve tried that has been “utterly effective and continuously appealing”.

Although we said it was comfortable during our experience, others have found that the headset can start to feel heavy after just half an hour of use.

“I’d been furrowing my brow, concentrating so hard, I felt the beginnings of a mild headache,” wrote Victoria Song in The Verge.

“Is Vision Pro heavy? Yes, absolutely. It feels heavy in your hands when you pick it up, and it feels heavy when it’s attached to your face, at least at first,” noted 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller.

To be clear, Apple does recommend performing a face scan to determine the right light seal and strap size for the headset. Together, these are designed to give you a more precise and snug fit.