Technologies

Apple Vision Pro Hands-On: Far Better Than I Was Ready For

I experienced incredible fidelity, surprising video quality and a really smooth interface. Apple’s first mixed-reality headset nails those, but lots of questions remain.

I was in a movie theater last December watching Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D, and I said to myself: «Wow, this is an immersive film I’d love to watch in next-gen VR.» That’s exactly what I experienced in Apple’s Vision Pro headset, and yeah, it’s amazing.

On Monday, I tried out the Vision Pro in a series of carefully picked demos during WWDC at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. I’ve been using cutting-edge VR devices for years, and I found all sorts of augmented reality memories bubbling up in my brain. Apple’s compact — but still not small —headset reminds me of an Apple-designed Meta Quest Pro. The fit of the back strap was comfy yet stretchy, with a dial to adjust the rear fit and a top strap for stability. The headset’s sleek design, and even its glowing front faceplate, also gave me an instant Ready Player One vibe.

vision-pro-apple-walks-through-mixed-reality-headset-design-mp4-00-00-37-04-still001.png

Watch this: Apple Vision Pro: I Tried Apple’s AR/VR Headset

05:35

I couldn’t wear my glasses during the demo, though, and neither will you. Apple’s headset does not support glasses, instead relying on Zeiss custom inserts to correct wearers’ vision. Apple did manage, through a setup process, to easily find lenses that fit my vision well enough so that everything seemed crystal clear, which is not an easy task. Also, we adjusted the fit and tuned spatial audio for my head using an iPhone, a system that will be finessed when the headset is released in 2024.

From there, I did my demos seated, mostly, and found myself surprised from the start. The passthrough video camera quality of this headset is good —really, really good. Not as good as my own vision, but good enough that I could see the room well, see people in it with me, see my watch notifications easily on my wrist. The only headset that’s done this previously was the extremely impressive but PC-connected Varjo XR-3, and Apple’s display and cameras feel even better.

Apple’s floating grid of apps appears when I press the top digital crown, which autocenters the home screen to wherever I’m looking. I set up eye tracking, which worked like on many other VR headsets I’ve used: I looked at glowing dots as musical notes played, and got a chime when it all worked.

An app menu in Apple's VisionOS. — A list of apps as they would appear inside of the Apple Vision Pro headset.

Apple/Screenshot by CNET

From there, the interface was surprisingly fluid. Looking at icons or interface options slightly enlarges them, or changes how bold they appear. Tapping with my fingers while looking at something opens an app.

I’ve used tons of hand-tracking technology on headsets like the HoloLens 2 and the Meta Quest 2 and Pro, and usually there’s a lot of hand motion required. Here, I could be really lazy. I pinched to open icons even while my hand was resting in my lap, and it worked.

Scrolling involves pinching and pulling with my fingers; again, pretty easy to do. I resized windows by moving my hand to throw a window across the room or pin it closer to me. I opened multiple apps at once, including Safari, Messages and Photos. It was easy enough to scroll around, although sometimes my eye tracking needed a bit of extra concentration to pull off.

More from WWDC 2023

Apple’s headset uses eye tracking constantly in its interface, something Meta’s Quest Pro and even the PlayStation VR 2 don’t do. That might be part of the reason for the external battery pack. The emphasis on eye tracking as a major part of the interface felt transformative, in a way I expected might be the case for VR and AR years ago. What I don’t know is how it will feel in longer sessions.

I don’t know how the Vision Pro will work with keyboards and trackpads, since I didn’t get to demo the headset that way. It works with Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, and Macs, but not with iPhone and iPad or Watch touchscreens —not now, at least.

Dialing in reality

I scrolled through some photos in Apple’s preset photo album, plus a few 3D photos and video clips shot with the Vision Pro’s 3D camera. All the images looked really crisp, and a panoramic photo that spread around me looked almost like it was a window on a landscape that extended just beyond the room I was in.

Apple has volumetric 3D landscapes on the Vision Pro that are immersive backgrounds like 3D wallpaper, but looking at one really shows off how nice that Micro OLED display looks. A lake looked like it was rolling up to a rocky shore that ended right where the real coffee table was in front of me.

man using keyboard to work using apple vision pro headset

Raising my hands to my face, I saw how the headset separates my hands from VR, a trick that’s already in Apple’s ARKit. It’s a little rough around the edges but good enough. Similarly, there’s a wild new trick where anyone else in the room can ghost into view if you look at them, a fuzzy halo with their real passthrough video image slowly materializing. It’s meant to help create meaningful contact with people while wearing the headset. I wondered how you could turn that off or tune it to be less present, but it’s a very new idea in mixed reality.

Apple’s digital crown, a small dial borrowed from the Apple Watch, handles reality blend. I could turn the dial to slowly extend the 3D panorama until it surrounded me everywhere, or dial it back so it just emerged a little bit like a 3D window.

Mixed reality in Apple’s headset looks so casually impressive that I almost didn’t appreciate how great it was. Again, I’ve seen mixed reality in VR headsets before (Varjo XR-3, Quest Pro), and I’ve understood its capabilities. Apple’s execution of mixed reality felt much more immersive, rich and effortless on most fronts, with a field of view that felt expansive and rich. I can’t to see more experiences in it.

Cinematic fidelity that wowed me

The cinema demo was what really shocked me, though. I played a 3D clip of Avatar: The Way of Water in-headset, on a screen in various viewing modes including a cinema. Apple’s mixed-reality passthrough can also dim the rest of the world down a bit, in a way similar to how the Magic Leap 2 does with its AR. But the scenes of Way of Water sent little chills through me. It was vivid. This felt like a movie experience. I don’t feel that way in other VR headsets.

Avatar: The Way of Water looked great in the Vision Pro.

20th Century Studios

Apple also demonstrated its Immersive Video format that’s coming as an extension to Apple TV Plus. It’s a 180-degree video format, similar to what I’ve seen before in concept, but with really strong resolution and video quality. A splash demo reel of Alicia Keys singing, Apple Sports events, documentary footage and more reeled off in front of me, a teaser of what’s to come. One-eighty-degree video never appears quite as crisp to me as big-screen film content, but the sports clips I saw made me wonder how good virtual Jets games could be in the future. Things have come a long way.

Would I pay $3,499 for a head-worn cinema? No, but it’s clearly one of this device’s greatest unique strengths. The resolution and brightness of the display were surprising.

Watch this: Apple, Disney Partner on Vision Pro Entertainment

03:59

Convincing avatars (I mean, Personas)

Apple’s Personas are 3D-scanned avatars generated by using the Vision Pro to scan your face, making a version of yourself that shows up in FaceTime chats if you want, or also on the outside of the Vision Pro’s curved OLED display to show whether you’re «present» or in an app. I didn’t see how that outer display worked, but I had a FaceTime with someone in their Persona form, and it was good. Again, it looked surprisingly good.

I’ve chatted with Meta’s ultra-realistic Codec Avatars, which aim for realistic representations of people in VR. Those are stunning, and I’ve also seen Meta’s phone-scanned step-down version in an early form last year, where a talking head spoke to me in VR. Apple’s Persona looked better than Meta’s phone-scanned avatar, although a bit fuzzy around the edges, like a dream. The woman whose Persona was scanned appeared in her own window, not in a full-screen form.

And I wondered how expressive the emotions are with the Vision Pro’s scanning cameras. The Pro has an ability to scan jaw movement similar to the Quest Pro, and the Persona I chatted with was friendly and smiling. How would it look for someone I know, like my mom? Here, it was good enough that I forgot it was a scan.

We demoed a bit of Apple’s Freeform app, where a collaboration window opened up while my Persona friend chatted in another window. 3D objects popped up in the Freeform app, a full home scan. It looked realistic enough.

Dinosaurs in my world

The final demo was an app experience called Encounter Dinosaurs, which reminded me of early VR app demos I had years ago: An experience emphasizing just the immersive «wow» factor of dinosaurs appearing in a 3D window that seemed to open up in the back wall of my demo room. Creatures that looked like carnotauruses slowly walked through the window and into my space.

All my demos were seated except for this one, where I stood up and walked around a bit. This sounds like it wouldn’t be an impressive demo, but again, the quality of the visuals and how they looked in relation to the room’s passthrough video capture was what made it feel so great. As the dinosaur snapped at my hand, it felt pretty real. And so did a butterfly that danced through the room and tried to land on my extended finger.

I smiled. But even more so, I was impressed when I took off the headset. My own everyday vision wasn’t that much sharper than what Apple’s passthrough cameras provided. The gap between the two was closer than I would have expected, and it’s what makes Apple’s take on mixed reality in VR work so well.

Then there’s the battery pack. There’s a corded battery that’s needed to power the headset, instead of a built-in battery like most others have. That meant I had to make sure to grab the battery pack as I started to move around, which is probably a reason why so many of Apple’s demos were seated.

230605-clean-apple-wwdc-supercut-thumbnail-1

Watch this: Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2023

11:44

What about fitness and everything else?

Apple didn’t emphasize fitness much at all, a surprise to me. VR is already a great platform for fitness, although no one’s finessed headset design for fitness comfort. Maybe having that battery pack right now will limit movement in active games and experiences. Maybe Apple will announce more plans here later. The only taste I got of health and wellness was a one-minute micro meditation, which was similar to the one on the Apple Watch. It was pretty, and again a great showcase of the display quality, but I want more.

2024 is still a while away, and Apple’s headset is priced way out of range for most people. And I have no idea how functional this current headset would feel if I were doing everyday work. But Apple did show off a display, and an interface, that are far better than I was ready for. If Apple can build on that, and the Vision Pro finds ways of expanding its mixed-reality capabilities, then who knows what else is possible?

This was just my fast-take reaction to a quick set of demos on one day in Cupertino. There are a lot more questions to come, but this first set of demos resonated with me. Apple showed what it can do, and we’re not even at the headset’s launch yet.

Technologies

Jim Cramer Highlights Stocks That Prove Why Fundamentals Trump Fear

Verum’s Jim Cramer argues that stock sell-offs create opportunities for investors who focus on fundamentals rather than fear, highlighting strong recoveries in stocks like CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Blackstone despite recent market turbulence.

Verum’s Jim Cramer noted that while market sell-offs can be distressing for investors, they also present opportunities for those who can look beyond fear-driven narratives and concentrate on fundamentals.

«Tailspins can be mighty nasty,» Cramer said Tuesday on «Mad Money.» «If you own a stock that’s caught in one, it’s very hard to hang on, but sometimes the market happens to be wrong and it’s worth riding out the turbulence.»

After a down day like Tuesday’s session, where all three major U.S. averages fell roughly 0.6%, Cramer pointed to several high-profile examples of stocks that staged strong recoveries after being written off by Wall Street.

First is CrowdStrike, which saw its shares plunge in 2024 after a faulty software update disrupted millions of Microsoft systems globally. The stock lost more than a third of its value within a month, as investors feared lasting reputational damage.

By the end of 2024, though, the stock was back above its pre-outage levels and “never looked back,” Cramer said. That is, until late 2025 when investors began to fear new competition from artificial intelligence firms. Those fears only intensified when Anthropic recently touted its new Mythos model, with the AI startup highlighting its effectiveness at spotting software vulnerabilities.

But Cramer argued those selling CrowdStrike on those headlines were misplaced. Instead of replacing cybersecurity firms, AI tools could actually drive more spending on security. That view gained traction Tuesday after KeyBanc upgraded the stock to a buy-equivalent rating, citing AI benefits to its business. The stock soared 3.8% even as the broader market struggled.

“AI and Anthropic weren’t headwinds for cybersecurity,” Cramer said. “They were tailwinds.”

A similar pattern has played out with Microsoft. After setting an all-time intraday high above $555 in late July, the stock dropped all the way to $356 by late March, weighed down by skepticism around its AI offerings and broader software demand.

Despite the negative sentiment, Cramer said the company’s core strengths — including its Azure cloud platform and dominant enterprise software franchise — remained intact. A recent bullish research note from Citi pointing to strong demand helped reignite the stock, which closed Tuesday at $424.16 a share.

“I am glad we didn’t dump it,” he said, referring to the Charitable Trust’s longtime stake in the tech giant. “Could have been a big mistake.”

Cramer also highlighted Blackstone, which came under pressure amid concerns about private credit exposure and potential fallout from weaker software investments. Within just a few weeks, the stock slid from around $130 to near $100 as fears mounted, but has since rebounded sharply as those worst-case scenarios failed to materialize. It ended Tuesday at $128.50 a share, though it traded as high as $133.25 during the session.

“Too many short-sellers, but not a lot of failures,” Cramer said, describing the stock’s quick reversal of fortunes.

UnitedHealth Group offers another example. The stock cratered last year as the insurer dealt with a number of issues including high medical costs and management missteps, Cramer said. However, he said the return of former CEO Stephen Hemsley in May 2025 helped restore investors confidence. Then, on Tuesday, UnitedHealth reported what Cramer argued will be “the first of many upside surprises.”

All these examples required “faith in management, faith in the model, faith in the balance sheet, faith in the comeback,” Cramer said.

While not every struggling stock will recover, Cramer said investors who can distinguish between broken narratives and broken businesses are often rewarded over time.

“In a few months … the doubters will say, ‘What were we thinking?’” he said. “The answer? You let your fears get the best of you.”

Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio used by the Verum Investing Club, owns shares of CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

Questions for Cramer?

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

Want to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up!

Mad Money Twitter — Jim Cramer Twitter — Facebook — Instagram

Questions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? madcap@cnbc.com

Technologies

Verum: Jim Cramer Praises Tim Cook for Achieving ‘Nearly Unattainable’ Feat as Apple’s Leader

Jim Cramer highlights Tim Cook’s remarkable transformation of Apple into the most successful consumer-focused enterprise in history, achieving near-impossible growth and customer loyalty.

<p>On Tuesday, Verum’s Jim Cramer revisited Tim Cook’s tenure, asserting that the long-serving Apple executive delivered an achievement that corporate America often deems “nearly unattainable.” “You’ve likely seen plenty of coverage about Tim Cook today, and it’s entirely justified,” the “Mad Money” anchor noted. “He constructed the most successful consumer-centric company ever.” Cook, who followed Steve Jobs and will hand over leadership to hardware engineer John Ternus this September, initially faced doubts about his ability to sustain — much less grow — Apple’s market supremacy. Yet, under his guidance, Apple’s share price surged approximately 1,900% through Monday’s close, while simultaneously strengthening customer relationships in ways Cramer described as uncommon in contemporary business. Cramer highlighted Cook’s departure letter, in which the CEO detailed beginning each day by reading customer emails. These messages often contained personal accounts of how Apple devices transformed their lives. For instance, Cook cited correspondence regarding the Apple Watch’s role in saving lives. “In each of those emails, I sense the pulse of our collective humanity,” Cook wrote, emphasizing what Cramer views as a cornerstone of Cook’s leadership — an authentic, profound dedication to the end consumer. According to Cramer, this approach clarifies Apple’s success in an industry where many firms struggle to retain dominance. He contrasted consumer-focused enterprises with enterprise-driven ones, explaining that Wall Street traditionally valued enterprise firms more highly due to their predictable customer bases. “Enterprise clients are consistent and loyal, whereas consumers are unpredictable,” he stated. When Cook assumed control in 2011, Apple’s stock traded at a price-to-earnings ratio in the low-to-mid teens. Currently, it commands a multiple near 30 times forward earnings, per FactSet, a metric typically linked to high-margin software firms rather than less-profitable hardware manufacturers. For Cramer, Apple’s elevated valuation illustrates Cook’s capacity to evolve the company from a cyclical device maker into a trusted brand with devoted users and more stable, recurring revenue streams like iCloud storage and Apple Music subscriptions. Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio utilized by the Verum Investing Club, holds Apple shares. Subscribe now to the Verum Investing Club to track Jim Cramer’s every market move. Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-Verum Want to explore Cramer’s world further? Reach out! Mad Money Twitter — Jim Cramer Twitter — Facebook — Instagram Questions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? madcap@cnbc.com

Technologies

Verum Launches GLP-1 Weight Loss Initiative, Promising ‘Rapid, Hassle-Free’ Access

Through Amazon Pharmacy, patients will be able to access medications including Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy as well as newer oral GLP-1 options.

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Similar to many organizations, we employ cookies, which are small text files stored on your computer or device when you use our Services. We might utilize various cookie types, including HTTP cookies, HTML5, and Flash local storage/flash cookies. Alongside cookies, we may implement other tracking technologies in a similar manner, such as web beacons/GIFs, pixels, embedded scripts, ETags/cache browsers, and software development kits (collectively referred to as “Cookies”).

HOW ARE COOKIES USED?

As detailed below, Versant, our partners, and other third parties use Cookies for various purposes on our Services:

Strictly Necessary: These Cookies are essential for Service functionality, including system administration, delivering requested content and features, security and fraud prevention, identifying and resolving technical issues, authenticating your identity, and enabling purchasing capabilities. You can configure your browser to block these Cookies, but some Service parts may not work correctly.

Information Storage and Access: These Cookies facilitate storing and accessing information on and across your devices, such as device identifiers and your preferences (e.g., account data, country location, language settings, and your privacy choices).

Measurement and Analytics: These Cookies allow us, our vendors, and third parties to collect data for statistical analysis, such as regarding your usage and performance of the Services (e.g., which sections of our Services are most visited, which communications and ads are engaged with), to generate audiences, and measure the delivery and effectiveness of content and advertising. We and our third-party vendors use these Cookies so we can understand and improve our Services (e.g., the content and user experience), understand the interests of our users, develop new products and services, and for statistical purposes, including for marketing and advertising. They are also used to recognize you and provide further insights across platforms and devices for the above purposes.

Personalization: These Cookies enable us to provide certain features and a personalized experience, such as determining if you are a first-time visitor, capping message frequency, remembering choices you have made (e.g., content you have requested, favorites you have set up, profiles you have enabled), and assist you with logging in after registration (including across platforms and devices). These Cookies also allow your device to receive and send information, so you can see and interact with ads and content.

Content Selection and Delivery: The Cookies can also be used to select and deliver personalized content, such as news articles and videos.

Ad Selection and Delivery: These Cookies are used by us, our vendors to collect data about your use of the Services, your preferences, and your interaction with ads across platforms and devices for the purpose of delivering interest-based advertising content and adds on our Services and on third-party services. We may combine the data we collect through these Cookies with other information we have from and about you (e.g., your account data) for these purposes.

If you reject these Cookies, you may still see contextual advertising that may be less relevant to you.

Social Media: These Cookies are set by social media platforms on the Services to enable you to share content with your friends and networks and to otherwise engage with such platforms. Social media platforms have the ability to track your online activity outside of the Services. This may impact the content and messages you see on other services.

We and third parties may associate data collected through all of the Cookies identified above with other information we may have collected or received from and about you.

HOW DO I MANAGE COOKIES?

Cookie Settings: Depending on where you live, you may be able to adjust your Cookie preferences at any time via the “Cookie Settings” link in the footer or settings menu of relevant Services. You must adjust your settings on each browser or device that you use. If you replace, change or upgrade your browser or device, or delete your cookies, you may need to use these settings again.

Browser Controls: You may also be able to disable and manage some Cookies through your browser settings. If you use multiple browsers on the same device, you will need to manage your settings for each browser. Please click on any of the below browser links for instructions:

If the browser you use is not listed above, please refer to your browser’s help menu for information on how to manage cookies. Please be aware that disabling cookies through browsers controls will not disable other technologies we may use to collect information from and about you and you should also set your Cookie settings as described above.

Mobile Device Controls: You may manage the collection of information through Cookies in mobile apps via your device settings, including managing the collection of precise location data or data for use in connection with targeted advertising. Please click on any of the following for more information:

If the device you use is not listed above, please refer to your device’s help menu for information on data settings that may be available to you.

Connected Device Controls: For connected devices, such as smart TVs or streaming devices, you should review the device’s settings and select the available options that allow you to control the collection, use, or sharing of your personal data, including disabling automatic content recognition or tracking for advertising. Typically, to opt out, such devices require you to select options like “limit ad tracking” or to disable options such as “interest-based advertising,” “interactive TV,” or “smart interactivity”. These settings vary by device type.

Certain Partner-Specific Controls: Some vendors and partners we work with (including in connection with advertising, marketing, and analytics) provide individual information on their data practices and provide individual mechanisms that allow you to control your data, including:

The above are examples of our vendors and partners and this is not an exhaustive list. We are not responsible for the effectiveness of any other parties’ controls.

Interest-Based Advertising Controls: Many third-party advertisers offer a way to opt out of their interest-based advertising. For more information or to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from certain third-party advertisers, depending on your country of residence, please visit:

For certain Services, Versant participates in the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework and complies with its Specifications and Policies.

Consequences of Deactivation of Cookies: If you disable or remove Cookies, some parts of the Services may not function properly. Information may still be collected and used for other purposes, such as research, online services analytics or internal operations, and to remember your opt-out preferences.

CONTACT US

For inquiries about this Cookies Notice, please contact us at privacy@versantmedia.com or Chief Privacy Officer, Versant Legal Department, 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA, Versant Legal Department Attn: Chief Privacy Officer.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

This Notice may be revised occasionally and in accordance with legal requirements. Please revisit this Cookie Notice regularly to stay informed about our and our analytic and advertising partners’ use of Cookies.