Apple Vision Pro has densest display iFixit's ever seen, and almost-OK repairability

Teardown artists iFixit have pried open the Vision Pro and awarded the device a "pretty impressive" provisional repairability score given the device is Apple's first foray into such gear. After discovering earlier this week why the Vision Pro's external eye display looks so weird, the iFixiteers returned with a deeper dive …

[DS999]

Surprised the PPD is that low

Given that resolution, but it makes sense. I haven't actually seen/used one so I don't know how it looks in practice - would it seem less sharp holding an iPhone a foot from my eyes or a 4K TV at normal viewing distance? If so I wouldn't be surprised if Apple plans to actually increase that pixel density in the future, as display technology and GPU performance permits.

Perhaps might be one of the differentiators in a future cheaper "Vision" vs "Vision Pro". When they can deliver something like the current config for $1500 in 2-3 years to reach the mass market, they can have a Pro version with even higher pixel density.

[rgjnk]

Re: Surprised the PPD is that low

My headset managed 60 ppd - which is definitely high enough to not have any noticeable limitations - but required overlaying the high resolution display over a background display to get enough pixels in the middle.

I believe to get it to work at high PPD with a single display involves moving up to 7K/8K which is still a little challenging to drive especially at the right framerate.

The driving while wearing thing has been slightly funny though, as other manufacturers had it as an actual use case for their AR, for Volvo to test out interior mockups as overlays.

[Dave 126]

Re: Surprised the PPD is that low

60ppd is going some!

Varjo only claim 51 pp on their XR-4 headset, that's from two 3840 x3744 displays at 120° horizontal.

The AVR was measured by ifixit as 3660×3200 at an *estimated* 100° horizontal.

Though as Mr Guttag notes, that's an average and he suspects lens distortion increases the ppd in the centre of the AVP display.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Surprised the PPD is that low

Karl Guttag, whom ifixit consulted, says "there is the optical distortion which is HEAVY with the AVP. The nonlinearity could get them in the range of 50ppd in the very center... ...I’m working on taking pictures to make my own separate calculations."

https://kguttag.com/2024/02/05/spreadsheet-breaks-the-apple-vision-pros-avp-eye-tracking-foveation-the-first-through-the-optics-pictures/

[Annihilator]

Re: Surprised the PPD is that low

It's.... complicated. Apple's is a significant step up in terms of pixel density and PPD. For example, the Quest 2 and PSVR2 are both around 20 PPD of vision, but various things make the difference, such as gaps between pixels etc in terms of the screen door effect, how the lens distributes the pixels. I'd imagine the effective PPD in the centre of the screen is higher than the peripheral views - you tend not to look only with your eyes to the extremes of what you can actually make your eyes do.

Using a PSVR2 I was blown away at the detail I was able to see, but then I was impressed with the original PSVR too (despite knowing I was looking at a screen). I imagine that the Apple one will equally be a "wow" moment.

It's the balance between pixel density and size of the device. They could have achieved 60PPD if they'd made smaller pixels (probably not possible yet), or a bigger display (same density, more pixels) but further away from the eye, making a bigger set of ski goggles.

[IGotOut]

Anything but ...

..the metric system

So are they measuring in micrometers (sic), red blood cells, inches or bananas per Ariana Grande's?

[Dave 126]

Re: Anything but ...

ObligXKCD

We lost a Mars probe over this crap

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: Anything but ...

Pixels in olympic size swimming pools of double decker bus depths.

[tellytart]

Do El Reg not use sub-editors any more, or is that delegated to AI? Spot the glaring mistake in the sub headline:

You can fit more than 50 Virgin Bro pixels into a single iPhone one while angular resolution remains a little low

That should be Vision Pro of course! I've no idea what Virgin Bro pixels are!

[Headley_Grange]

Send Corrections

You messed up the punctuation in your post (no quotation marks for the quote) but, hey, people make mistakes - no biggy. There's a "Send Corrections" link at the top of the comments page so why not tell them?

[xanadu42]

50 Virgin Bro pixels

Could have been a deliberate typo just to see how many actually read the sub-heading...

If not deliberate then have to wonder how "Vision" became "Virgin" and "Pro" became "Bro" using a conventional QWERTY keyboard... (AI ?)

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Re: 50 Virgin Bro pixels

I suspect it's a slur on the sexual desirability of a person wearing the Apple goggles...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 50 Virgin Bro pixels

Potayto, Potahto, slur, accurate assessment

[heyrick]

Re: 50 Virgin Bro pixels

"just to see how many actually read the sub-heading..."

Doesn't everybody? Sometimes that's the best part...

[Evil Auditor]

Re: 50 Virgin Bro pixels

...how "Vision" became "Virgin" and "Pro" became "Bro"...

And I thought the typos were V and B instead of v and b, and singular bro instead of plural.

[katrinab]

Or is the "Virgin Bro" a bit like the fondleslab or Jesus Phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, no error.

Only virgin Apple Bros will be seen wearing the thing.

[anonymous boring coward]

I assumed it was intentional. Liked it.

Like angels dancing on a pinhead.

[CowHorseFrog]

Why would anyone want one ?

Might as well stay home and use a real computer.

[James 51]

Tesla have already issued a warning for people to not wear them when driving their cars. Wonder if this is premptive or not.

[MiguelC]

There where videos of glassholes (for the lack of an Apple Vision Pro themed moniker) *not* driving (i.e., using FSD) their Teslas while wearing those goggles

[Evil Auditor]

Are they still glassholes or rather virgin bros?

[Plest]

Check out YouTube, plenty of videos of people already driving while wearing them, yet another job for the boys in blue, pulling over morons wearing their 1980s designed techie ski-goggles.

[Evil Auditor]

...another job for the boys in blue...

Don't you have some faith in Darwin?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cue Shitler announcing Tesla AR goggles, the only certified Tesla compatible AR product.

[Lurko]

"Tesla have already issued a warning for people to not wear them when driving their cars. Wonder if this is premptive or not."

I think it just shows that Tesla know their market. There is already a video online showing some lardy plonker driving with Apple Goggles on. Without watching the video you already know know what make of car he's (not) driving.

[anonymous boring coward]

Videoing and posting the evidence. Clever chaps.

[M.V. Lipvig]

The only possible reason I'd buy one is if it was an augmented reality, not cameras showing the world, and only if it could read my head position and where I was looking in order to display IR camera readouts while driving. I would want it to be able to tell when I was looking in the rear view, and display what I would see in the reat view if my eyes could see IR. if I looked left or right, I would want the glasses to switch cameras seamlessly so that again I would see what I was looking at if I could see IR. Others may feel differently, but that is the only possible use I would have. I doubt they could make that happen before I either pass on or get too old to drive though.

[anthonyhegedus]

"If face goggles really are the future of computing..."

No, they're not.

Seriously, they have a place, but they're not "the future of computing". I can see a use for glasses with an overlayed display telling you useful stuff like "turn left" or "message from your cat". But to have your entire vision taken over so that you can do things that you could do by just looking at something instead doesn't make too much sense except for some niche applications like medical, or gaming of course.

[Evil Auditor]

Re: "If face goggles really are the future of computing..."

Years ago in a TED(x?) talk, a guy presented augmented reality without silly goggles but a projector which augmented surfaces with information. While this certainly wasn't ready for market it did seem, at least to me, as a much more useful and natural way than a bulky, self-important, don't-you-fucking-talk-to-me facial tool.

[Dave 126]

Re: "If face goggles really are the future of computing..."

> , self-important, don't-you-fucking-talk-to-me facial tool

A lot of men used to use a broadsheet newspaper (and optionally, Radio 4) for the same purpose of isolating themselves from others.

But for sure, I'll have to check out that Ted Talk... It reminds me of the folk who got the MS Kinect working with a PC with two days of it's release. We've seen similar with smart whiteboards.

I just don't see being sat (or even being stood) at a desk as being that last word in human / machine interfacing, especially if the computer in question is being used to assist tasks in the physical world.

Interesting stuff, I await to see what 3td party developers do.

[Evil Auditor]

Re: "If face goggles really are the future of computing..."

It's been a while since, and it took me a while to retrieve, but I believe this is the one I was referring to:

Pranav Mistry

[Pete 2]

spots before the eyes

> you can fit ~54 Vision Pro pixels into a single iPhone pixel

Hopefully running at much lower brightness levels. So users aren't left with an Apple logo seared onto their retinas

[A. Coatsworth]

Re: spots before the eyes

Don't give them ideas. I am sure many morons valued customers would pay out of their noses for the privilege of having Apple-shaped pupils

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: spots before the eyes

"I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young!"

Mummy was right, staring at the screen all day will give you square eyes.

[Plest]

BTL

Apple, take your enslavement devices and piss off!

Whenever I see VR goggles all I can think of is "Red Dwarf : Better Than Life", junkies locked into a fantasy game world , never able to leave unless they want to ( they never do ) and tryign to forcibly eject them by ripping off the system, is instant death.

Keep your brainwashing devices the hell away from me thanks, not in the least bit interested!

[heyrick]

Re: BTL

I didn't downvote, but J-Fing-Christ, have you seen the price? They won't enslave much of the population if it's necessary to sell granny and the cat and remortgage in order to buy one...

[Lurko]

Re: BTL

They won't enslave much of the population if it's necessary to sell granny and the cat and remortgage in order to buy one...

Easily resolved, by Apple sorting out an iDebt offer. The only way Apple sell their high end phones is on credit, and that seems to have worked judging by the prevalence of the latest and largest iPhones amongst the less well off. It follows that iGoggles need to be sold as part of a mobile or content package.

One thing puzzles me, and that's why anyone is worried about repairability. These are hulking great things that need a cord (judging by Apple's promo video), so as tech improves these ones will be come quite laughable in less time than the warranty lasts. But will the product concept last even that long? I'm struggling even from the promo video to see iGoggles usefully do, other than make you look like you're being subject to some involuntary advanced psychiatric treatment at a rather unethical medical establishment.

At least Google Glass only made you look a bit of a knob.

[Dave 126]

Re: BTL

>Apple, take your enslavement devices and piss off! Whenever I see VR goggles all I can think of is "Red Dwarf : Better Than Life

To be fair to Apple, they've never really pushed gaming as a primary use for any of their platforms... though of course a good many iPhones (and the iPod Touch - a cheaper non-phone iPhone for teenagers) have been used for casual gaming, to Apple's App Store profit.

Whilst we can only speculate as to their reasons, it seems likely that a, they haven't wanted the stigma of being associated with gamers (buy your lil Johnny a Mac, it's educational!), and b, gaming hardware becomes a commodity, judged only by its performance.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: BTL

Really? I see Ming the Merciless's minions.

https://www.katekligman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/flash_google_wires-300x199.png

No, wait, I mean this one.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ea/d9/64/ead964d225df244923564668852fab24.jpg

[Porco Rosso]

F-35 Jet Fighter Helmet

Apple Vision Pro $3499 + AirPods Max $549 and you come close to a civil version of the $400k F-35 Jet Fighter Helmet

[Pete 2]

> F-35 Jet Fighter Helmet

The difference is that an F35 is sold as having a service life until 2070 while if this is a typical Apple product, it will be pulled before 2030.

Though I expect the last 40 years of the F35 will be as target practice for the next generation of pilotless, stealth, hyper-agile fighters.

[Anonymous Coward]

You really think each individual fighter helmet is lasting 50 years though?.. It'll be *available* for 50 years.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Repairability Score - They'll Soon Fix That

"pretty impressive" provisional repairability score given the device is Apple's first foray into such gear."

[anonymous boring coward]

"which turned out to be just 7.5 micrometers across – about the same size as a human red blood cell"

That's a very useful reference.

[anonymous boring coward]

""The Vision Pro may have an ultra-high resolution (PPI) display, but because it's so close to the eye, it has low angular resolution,""

That's a bit incorrect. It's because it covers so much or your field of view. (Optics comes into it.)