![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/258038_M5_Vision_Pro_AKrales_0409.jpg\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n$3499<\/p>\n
The GoodIt feels better balanced on your headWatching movies, working, and viewing immersive photos is funBattery life is slightly improvedThe BadVery expensiveStill lonely insidePassthrough can still be blurry<\/p>\n
Perhaps the single most noticeable upgrade to the Vision Pro this year is the addition of the new Dual Knit Band. The new strap, which also works with the original, is a big deal. It adds a band across the top of your head and embeds weights into the strap behind it. This helps to balance the headset so it doesn\u2019t feel as front-heavy, a complaint many had with the first version and its single-band strap. The whole setup is a hair heavier, but the better balance on my head is easily worth the tradeoff. The strap can be tightened in two places \u2014 on the top of your head and on the back \u2014 using a single knob on the righthand side. Twist to tighten one strap, and then pull out that knob and twist to tighten the other. It\u2019s a clever design.<\/p>\n
My colleague Jake Kastrenakes checking out the Vision Pro. Note the new headstrap.<\/p>\n As for the actual hardware, not much has changed: it\u2019s the Vision Pro with an M5 processor inside. What does that mean in practice? Turns out the M5 enables some quality-of-life upgrades. Apple now allows the micro-OLED displays inside to refresh even faster, at 120hz compared to the max of 100hz in the first edition. I don\u2019t remember feeling like the screens in the M2 version were blurry when I scrolled through websites or photos or moved my head quickly across a Mac display in the headset, but this should make that experience even smoother if it bothered you.<\/p>\n Battery life is a hair better thanks to the M5, too. I streamed three episodes of Severance in a row before I hit a 10 percent warning, right in the range of Apple\u2019s promise of three hours of video playback. That drops to two-and-a-half hours of \u201cregular use,\u201d which means just browsing the web, playing around in apps, and checking out some movies.<\/p>\n Widgets are new since I last used the Vision Pro in 2024, though not limited to the M5, and I like that I can pin them to specific spots around my house and leave them there. So, I have a couple of photos and a playlist sort of \u201changing\u201d on the wall in my living room, and they\u2019re always there when I put the headset back on.<\/p>\n Looking at photos remains one of my favorite uses for the Vision Pro. The M5 uses artificial intelligence to turn regular photos into immersive pictures in just a few seconds \u2014 a bit faster than the M2, I\u2019m told (I don\u2019t have the original anymore to compare). These immersive photos and videos, which you can also record with the headset or a modern iPhone, feel close to being back in the moment, bringing people and scenes to life in 3D with a sort of colorful blur around them. Right now, it\u2019s as close as I can get to loved ones who\u2019ve since died. And I love seeing my daughter\u2019s baby toes from a year ago in 3D.<\/p>\n You can see your phone, but passthrough is still blurry.<\/p>\n Model Jake Kastranakes testing the Vision Pro.<\/p>\n There are lots of these \u201cyou have to see it to believe it\u201d moments. It\u2019s wild watching Apple\u2019s immersive videos of animals in the wild or helicopters soaring over mountain tops. I\u2019m bummed the library is still small and the videos are all relatively short. Apple continues to add more clips and \u201cshows\u201d that are sort of mini-documentaries, demonstrating how the headset can make you feel transported to another world. But I\u2019d love a larger library of longer feature-length films. Most of what\u2019s there feels a bit like demo content, generally lasting anywhere from a few minutes to 30 minutes. It\u2019s relaxing to sit inside a huge movie theater and watch these on a massive display that looks crisp and real with high-quality spatial audio pumping into my ears. It\u2019s just a bit sad there\u2019s nobody to share it with (unless you\u2019re a household with enough dough for several of these!)<\/p>\n The new chip also renders 10 percent more viewable pixels. This doesn\u2019t mean there are more pixels on the displays \u2014 those are the same \u2014 it\u2019s that the chip can show more of them to your eyes at once. This is part of the foveated rendering used by headsets like the Vision Pro. The pixels that your eyes are focused on are sharp, while the system seamlessly reduces the quality in your periphery. Text on sites and in apps is sharper as a result, but it wasn\u2019t such a dramatic change that I could pick it out.<\/p>\n Some of the widgets on my walls. They\u2019re much clearer inside the headset.<\/p>\n Personas \u2014 the 3D versions of people that launched on the first version \u2014 look much more detailed and lifelike than ever. That makes the solitary feeling a bit better! But the only people I could chat with were Apple employees in a briefing. My friends don\u2019t own Vision Pros. And they probably won\u2019t until they cost a lot less.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the big promise of the Vision Pro: that this is a new, serious, and productive way of working for professionals. You really can get work done using it. Most of the apps I needed were available in the App Store or worked fine enough in the browser. I was able to see all of my open apps very clearly, edit the text of reviews in Google Docs, Slack with colleagues, and more. And I did it for several hours without eye strain. To the extent that Apple wanted to build a computer for your face, it\u2019s done that.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty fun working on a massive ultrawide monitor connected to your Mac.<\/p>\n But I also don\u2019t really like using it for long periods. It starts to feel a little claustrophobic having something so significant on my face after a few hours. I also just prefer to be able to do regular human motions, like rub my nose bridge when I\u2019m frustrated, cover my eyes and ruffle my hair when I make a mistake, or pace around the room without something on my head.<\/p>\n I much prefer sitting here on my couch with my dog snuggled next to me, typing this review and seeing the real world without a headset on my face. The Vision Pro passthrough may be clear enough for many things \u2014 and slightly sharper thanks to M5 \u2014 but I will always lift it to speak with someone face-to-face, answer the phone, pet my dog, or walk around. To do anything, really.<\/p>\n Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales \/ The Verge<\/p>\n The new Vision Pro is fun and sometimes magical, just like the first one was. But as Nilay Patel and I said in our first reviews back then, it\u2019s lonely in there. I want to share the experience and feel less like I\u2019m in another world and more like I\u2019m in this one.<\/p>\n Apple needs to give me a reason to keep coming back. Maybe the company\u2019s push into live sports is one way to help with that. It\u2019ll offer NBA games in 2026 that will make you feel like you\u2019re sitting courtside. But Apple needs a much smaller and lighter product if it truly wants to remove the friction between \u201cI\u2019ll watch this movie in the Vision Pro\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll just use my Mac.\u201d Hopefully I\u2019ll look less dumb in it, too.<\/p>\n Photos by Amelia Holowaty Krales \/ The Verge<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Todd HaseltonClose Deputy Editor, Reviews and Commerce<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Todd Haselton<\/a><\/p>\n AppleCloseApple<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Apple<\/a><\/p>\n ReviewsCloseReviews<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Reviews<\/a><\/p>\n TechCloseTech<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Tech<\/a><\/p>\n Virtual RealityCloseVirtual Reality<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"My](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/258038_M5_Vision_Pro_AKrales_0319.jpg\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Todd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot_2025-01-02_at_10.20.28_AM.0.png\"\/)
Todd Haselton<\/p>\n