On 5 June 2023, at its annual developer conference, Apple announced Apple Vision Pro, a headset it described as a "spatial computer". It was priced at US$3,499 and went on sale in the United States in early 2024.
What does "spatial" mean?
Most computers show information on a flat screen. A spatial computer places apps, videos and 3D objects around you in your own room, and you control them with your eyes, hands and voice. This mixing of digital and physical is often called mixed reality.
What could it be used for?
- Training and education: exploring a 3D model of a heart, an engine or a planet from every side.
- Design and engineering: reviewing a building or a product at full scale before it exists.
- Remote collaboration: meeting as if in the same room.
Our view
Devices at this price are out of reach for nearly every Nigerian school today, and a high price does not by itself make a technology useful. But history shows that expensive early products often lead to cheaper ones, and the ideas spread first. A child who learns 3D thinking, logic and design now will be ready, whichever device wins.
The same skills that make a Scratch game also make an augmented reality experience: events, objects, movement and rules.