M5 Apple Vision Pro Unboxing, Comparison & Is It The Future?

The new M5 Apple Vision Pro offers significant performance and comfort improvements over its predecessor, making the user experience smoother and more responsive, though its large form factor may not represent the ultimate future of AR/VR technology.

• M5 Vision Pro offers significant performance and comfort upgrades.

• The new counterweighted band and M5 chip enhance user experience with smoother visuals and improved comfort.

• The current Vision Pro form factor is not considered the future of AR/VR, with a shift towards more compact glasses anticipated.

The latest Apple Vision Pro, featuring an M5 chip, introduces enhanced performance with a smoother interface, crisper text, and a higher refresh rate, alongside a new counterweighted band for improved comfort. While the core design remains similar to the previous generation, the internal upgrades and ergonomic improvements elevate the user experience significantly. This iteration addresses some of the prior model's minor durational and performance limitations, presenting a more refined product for daily use.

M5 Vision Pro Unboxing

• 00:00:00 The M5 Vision Pro, starting at $3,499 with storage options up to 1 terabyte, includes a new counterweighted strap and standard accessories. The unboxing reveals a polishing cloth, an additional cushion, a power bank with an extended 2.5-hour battery life, and a new 40-60 watt USB-C braided cable charger. The overall package is designed to enhance comfort and usability from the outset.

Performance & Comfort Upgrades

• 00:05:49 The M5 Vision Pro boasts an M5 chipset, a significant upgrade from the M2, featuring a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, neural accelerators, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It renders 10% more pixels on the micro OLED displays for sharper images and crisper text, with a refresh rate up to 120Hz for reduced motion blur. The new band incorporates tungsten counterweights, making the device feel more balanced and comfortable for extended periods by redistributing weight off the face.

Improved User Experience

• 00:08:52 After several hours of use, the M5 Vision Pro's performance is noticeably smoother, with applications launching and navigating seamlessly, and scrolling through content is fluid. The extended battery life and updated display technology contribute to a more immersive and less laggy experience compared to the first generation. Connecting to a Mac provides an ultra-widescreen experience, enhancing productivity, while the updated persona feature, though improved, still lacks realism in facial expressions.

Developer Strap & Future

• 00:14:34 The first-generation developer strap, which connects to the Vision Pro for communication and resets, is slower at 480 megabits per second compared to the new 20 gigabits per second version. While the older strap works, its functionality may be limited for certain tasks like system updates or backups. The Vision Pro, in its current form factor, is unlikely to be the long-term future of AR/VR, with smaller, glasses-like devices being the anticipated next step, despite the current hardware challenges.