Apple’s Vision Pro: a New Frontier for the Smart Home
09 February 2024
But what is that next step? And how will it impact our homes? This blog will try to explain.
A Computer in a Pair of Goggles
Let’s start with a question: what is the Vision Pro? Basically, it is a computer you wear on your face and looks like a pair of ski goggles. When you put it on, it projects your immediate surroundings on a pair of small but high-resolution displays. Since these displays are located in front of your eyes, it creates an almost infinite desktop around you.
Users can then choose to incorporate layers, apps or digital items into this '3D desktop', enhancing your living room or office with digital extensions that could range from a movie screen to an extension of your MacBook. Apple itself calls it an infinite canvas for apps, enabling you to set up the perfect workspace or enjoy stunning TV shows and movies.
Source: Apple.i
You don’t even need an office or entertainment room: a comfortable seat is enough to watch a cinema-sized movie. Apple’s press releaseii claims that the Vision Pro can transform any space into a personal movie theater with a screen that feels 100 feet wide and an advanced spatial audio system. It also makes new types of games possible and lets you view your photos and videos at life-size scale.
Collaboration is another use case as the Vision Pro integrates with FaceTime to foster more lifelike social interactions. It represents people as either lifelike tiles, or when they wear a Vision Pro as personas – digital representations of themselves that Apple creates using advanced machine learning technologies.
The PC as We Know It Could Disappear
With the Vision Pro, Apple is leveraging technology that it has developed over the past years, such as voice recognition with Siri, biometric authentication with smartphone sensors, and spatial audio with the earbuds. All these technologies come together in the new operating software running on Vision Pro. You no longer need a keyboard, mouse or touchscreen—the Vision Pro senses what you are interested in by watching your eye and hand movements, and listening to your voice commands.
This is why Apple calls it a spatial computer. It stands for a novel approach to computing, one where the computer could disappear completely. In a sense Apple somewhat achieves that with the Vision Pro. When you wear the goggles, it does not even feel as if you are looking at a screen. You see your own living room with an overlay of apps. In the words of tech analyst Benedict Evans: “The iPhone was a piece of glass that could be anything - this is trying to be a piece of glass that can show anything.”iii
Let’s stick with the iPhone analogy to imagine how spatial computing could reshape our interaction with technology. The iPhone’s touch screen provided us with an intuitive user interface (no physical keyboard required). It ‘replaced’ computer programs with apps, which gave rise to the app ecosystem and the platform economy. It completely changed how we interact with our phones and our computers, creating new use cases and allowing us to use our phones for things we never imagined.
With the Vision Pro, Apple is trying to position itself for a similar role within spatial computing. It has created a device and an operating system and is now asking developers to build apps for it. Apple gave some basic use cases, such as watching movies or collaborating with others, but it wants to encourage a developer community to come up with other use cases. Those apps could use augmented and/or virtual reality; they could provide access to a metaverse; or they could imagine completely new ways to consume content, like this prototype app that reimagines how we might watch F1 with a Vision Pro.
Investment Implications Beyond Apple
What does this mean for investments, in particular for VanEck Smart Home Active UCITS ETF? As we discussed in a previous blog, we always look beyond the obvious, to the second and third order effects of a new technology. Spatial computing shows how technological advancements could increase the value of related products and services in new and unexpected ways.
The prices of the securities in the ETF are subject to the risks associated with investing in the securities market, including general economic conditions and sudden and unpredictable drops in value.
Many of the suggested use cases for the Vision Pro focus on media consumption, which implies the value of media content (think Disney, Netflix, F1, Google, UMG). Moreover, spatial computing will bring more immersive in-home experiences that could be even better than the out-of-home experience. For instance, the Vision Pro could let you feel as if you were in a front row seat at your favorite artist’s concert or sports club, instead of on the couch in your living room. Additionally, its spatial nature will create new experiences that traditional screens cannot.
The implications could reach far beyond entertainment. Like other recent technological shifts, spatial computing will reduce the difference between staying in and going out. Just like improved internet access and speed, coupled with cloud computing, made remote work more comparable (or even better) than working at the office.
As others follow Apple’s lead, it’s likely that more use cases will emerge for spatial computing. That will open up whole new computing ecosystems – and with them a wealth of unexpected investment opportunities linked to the smart home.
i https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/introducing-apple-vision-pro/
ii https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/introducing-apple-vision-pro/
iii https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2023/6/15/vision-pro
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This is a marketing communication. Please refer to the prospectus of the UCITS and to the KID before making any final investment decisions.
This information originates from Dasym Managed Accounts B.V. with registered address at Flevolaan 41 A, 1411 KC Naarden, the Netherlands (DMA), DMA is an investment company incorporated under Dutch law and regulated by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). The information prepared by DMA is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to investors and shall not be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the author(s) but not necessarily those of DMA. DMA and its associated and affiliated companies (together “Dasym”) assume no liability with regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by the investor on the basis of this information. Dasym makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of any of the information contained in this blog. Dasym undertakes no responsibility to update the information prepared by it and contained in this blog.
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VanEck Asset Management B.V., the management company of VanEck Smart Home Active UCITS ETF (the "ETF"), a sub-fund of VanEck UCITS ETFs plc, engaged Dasym Managed Accounts B.V., an investment company regulated by the Dutch Financial Service Supervisory Authority (AFM), as the investment advisor for the Fund. The Fund is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland and actively managed. Investing in the ETF should be interpreted as acquiring shares of the ETF and not the underlying assets.
Investors must read the sales prospectus and key investor information before investing in a fund. These are available in English and the KIIDs/KIDs in certain other languages as applicable and can be obtained free of charge at www.vaneck.com, from the Management Company or from the following local information agents:
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Performance quoted represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than average annual returns shown. Discrete performance shows 12-month performance to the most recent quarter-end for each of the last 10 years where available. E.g. '1st year' shows the most recent of these 12-month periods and '2nd year' shows the previous 12 months period and so on.
Performance data for the Irish domiciled ETFs is displayed on a Net Asset Value basis, in Base Currency terms, with net income reinvested, net of fees. Returns may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.All performance information is based on historical data and does not predict future returns. Investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal.
No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission of Dasym and VanEck.
© VanEck / Dasym Managed Accounts B.V.
Important Disclosure
This is a marketing communication. Please refer to the prospectus of the UCITS and to the KID before making any final investment decisions.
This information originates from Dasym Managed Accounts B.V. with registered address at Flevolaan 41 A, 1411 KC Naarden, the Netherlands (DMA), DMA is an investment company incorporated under Dutch law and regulated by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). The information prepared by DMA is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to investors and shall not be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the author(s) but not necessarily those of DMA. DMA and its associated and affiliated companies (together “Dasym”) assume no liability with regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by the investor on the basis of this information. Dasym makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of any of the information contained in this blog. Dasym undertakes no responsibility to update the information prepared by it and contained in this blog.
This information is published by VanEck (Europe) GmbH. VanEck (Europe) GmbH, with registered address at Kreuznacher Str. 30, 60486 Frankfurt, Germany, is a financial services provider regulated by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority in Germany (BaFin). The information is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to investors and shall not be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. VanEck (Europe) GmbH and its associated and affiliated companies (together “VanEck”) assume no liability with regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by the investor on the basis of this information. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) but not necessarily those of VanEck. Opinions are current as of the publication date and are subject to change with market conditions. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results. Information provided by third party sources is believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck assumes no liability for the content of any linked third-party site, and/or content hosted on external sites. Brokerage or transaction fees may apply.
VanEck Asset Management B.V., the management company of VanEck Smart Home Active UCITS ETF (the "ETF"), a sub-fund of VanEck UCITS ETFs plc, engaged Dasym Managed Accounts B.V., an investment company regulated by the Dutch Financial Service Supervisory Authority (AFM), as the investment advisor for the Fund. The Fund is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland and actively managed. Investing in the ETF should be interpreted as acquiring shares of the ETF and not the underlying assets.
Investors must read the sales prospectus and key investor information before investing in a fund. These are available in English and the KIIDs/KIDs in certain other languages as applicable and can be obtained free of charge at www.vaneck.com, from the Management Company or from the following local information agents:
UK - Facilities Agent: Computershare Investor Services PLC
Austria - Facility Agent: Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG
Germany - Facility Agent: VanEck (Europe) GmbH
Spain - Facility Agent: VanEck (Europe) GmbH
Sweden - Paying Agent: Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ)
France - Facility Agent: VanEck (Europe) GmbH
Portugal - Paying Agent: BEST – Banco Eletrónico de Serviço Total, S.A.
Luxembourg - Facility Agent: VanEck (Europe) GmbH
Performance quoted represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than average annual returns shown. Discrete performance shows 12-month performance to the most recent quarter-end for each of the last 10 years where available. E.g. '1st year' shows the most recent of these 12-month periods and '2nd year' shows the previous 12 months period and so on.
Performance data for the Irish domiciled ETFs is displayed on a Net Asset Value basis, in Base Currency terms, with net income reinvested, net of fees. Returns may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.
All performance information is based on historical data and does not predict future returns. Investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal.
No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission of Dasym and VanEck.
© VanEck (Europe) GmbH / Dasym Managed Accounts B.V.
