THE SHIFT
MATT BOLTON is hoping for a look both ways kind of year, where Apple steps into the future, and revives the past…
AS WE MOVE into 2024, I’ve been thinking about the future. Obviously, I thought about the past and present first, but those ghosts have left, and now I face a mysterious cloaked figure. He’d perhaps be chilling and scary if he weren’t asking me whether I think now’s a good time to buy AirPods Max or whether he should wait. Along those lines, here’s what I’m hoping to see from Apple in 2024.
First is a development of the vision for Apple’s Vision line. This initial Vision Pro hardware is certainly one possible future of computing, but not a mainstream one at $3,500. It will be fascinating to see which parts Apple believes it can cut back on to create a more affordable non–pro Vision product. Probably not the sensors or cameras, unless Apple plans to change the functionality drastically for a non–Pro version. Perhaps the resolutions of the screens inside, which are truly cutting–edge. Almost certainly the EyeSight screen on the outside, since a whole flexible OLED screen isn’t cheap. The materials, the audio tech… but can this add up to enough of a difference? The Meta Quest 3 is under $500 —it’s hard to see how Apple can compete with this…