Featured Image Credit: Apple. Netflix.
Topics: Technology, Apple, Netflix, Black Mirror
Rachel Lang
Apple has finally released their augmented reality headset and people are shook.
But their mouths aren't just agape not at the impressive technology, or the staggering price point (USD$3,499, or AUD$5,288/£2,813).
People are starting to panic that our real, everyday life is flying a little too close to the sun that is Netflix's Black Mirror.
The tech giant brought back the famous 'one more thing' segment at today's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 (5 June) event to unveil the 'Apple Vision Pro'.
And, despite looking like a pair of ski goggles, the high-tech device has a full 3D interface and can be controlled with your hands, eyes and voice.
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You'll be fully immersed in whatever app or movie you're in at the time.
"It’s the first Apple product you look through, and not at," CEO Tim Cook said of the device.
Sounds neat, right?
Well according to some on social media, wrong.
One Twitter user said: "We [are] one step closer to that one Black Mirror episode."
A second agreed: "Anyone else getting Black Mirror vibes right now with the Apple VR headset presentation?"
A third chipped in with: "Apple VR/AR looks good with all the innovation and no controllers. I was expecting USD$5,000 (AUD$7,556, £4,021) to be honest ... Black Mirror [is] about to become a reality now."
The episode in question follows a character called Cooper, played by Wyatt Russell, who is an American tourist who play-tests an upcoming augmented reality game in London.
It is a horror game which accesses his brain and targets his fears.
The episode itself is a work of psychological horror, with Collider describing it as 'genuinely terrifying'.
Entertainment Weekly reviewed the episode as containing 'one of the show's most viscerally disturbing scenes'.
The technology used in the episode that induces a virtual reality in Cooper's mind was compared to the existing technologies such as the Oculus Rift.
Or perhaps even Apple's next AR venture. There's some food for thought.
There's also another episode, titled 'The Entire History of You', which shows a device that is implanted into a person's eye and captures everything you see. Doesn't sound too far from reality.
As for Apple's device, it switches between augmented and full virtual reality by using a dial.
The device basically uses passthrough video that lets you see the real world in full, while also having the ability to project 3D objects into real space.
Renowned tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) explained: "They extend and transform your space. Captured fully volumetrically."
It's almost like having a floating iPad/MacBook interface where you can switch between apps and tabs, play music and watch films.
Sounds nifty.
The Apple Vision Pro will not be available until next year, and will start at USD$3,499 (AUD$5,288, £2,813).