Last Week in AVP #88: Rumored M5 Vision Pro Launches this Week, Spectrum Brings NBA Games in Apple Immersive to AVP, Hand Physics Lab is Coming to AVP and more!
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Gurman: Three new Apple products likely launching ‘this week’ (source)
In today’s Power On newsletter, Gurman reported that we’ll see a few key products coming this week – through an online announcement, rather than an Apple Park keynote.
At the very least, we’ll see the M5 chip debut in two new products: iPad Pro and Vision Pro. Those seem almost certain, with Gurman calling it an ‘imminent release.’
Spectrum brings NBA games in Apple Immersive to Apple Vision Pro (Apple)
Basketball fans will soon be able to experience NBA games like never before in Apple Immersive on Apple Vision Pro, with a selection of live Los Angeles Lakers matchups during the 2025-26 season, courtesy of Spectrum SportsNet. Viewers will feel the intensity of each game as if they were courtside, with perspectives impossible to capture in traditional broadcasts. The schedule of games will be revealed later this fall, with the first game streaming by early next year, available through the forthcoming Spectrum SportsNet app for Vision Pro.
In addition to live games for fans in the Lakers’ regional broadcast territory — which covers Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of southern Nevada, including Las Vegas — full game replays and highlights will be available to Apple Vision Pro users in select countries and regions from both the SportsNet and NBA apps. These live games will be captured using the new URSA Cine Immersive Live camera from Blackmagic Design, a version of the camera that launched earlier this year to capture Apple Immersive for Vision Pro, and will be available for purchase next year.
The Vision Pro is getting its first live ‘immersive’ sports (source)
The Apple Vision Pro is getting new “immersive” content for the upcoming NBA season: a “selection” of live Los Angeles Lakers games that will be available to watch on the headset in the Apple Immersive Video format, Apple announced today. “Vision Pro users will be able to feel the intensity of each game as if they were courtside, with perspectives that are impossible to capture in traditional broadcasts,” Apple says.
The Vision Pro has a growing library of immersive content designed to take advantage of the powerful tech in the headset, including a scripted short that takes place inside a submarine, a Metallica concert, and even a short film from the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend. But these Lakers games will be the first sports that you can watch live in Apple Immersive Video.
Apple Vision Pro MotoGP Documentary Changes Sports (source)
Apple’s Vision Pro just took its biggest step into sports entertainment with the debut of “Tour De Force,” a MotoGP documentary that drops you right into the heart of championship racing. It is the first third-party sports production using Apple’s Immersive Video format, a real tipping point for spatial computing in live sports.
This 30+ minute documentary is not simply a recording. It shows how advanced cameras can turn sports emotion into something you can feel. When Zarco carves through wet turns at Le Mans, you are not just observing elite riding, you sense the weight of 71 years and the rumble of 300,000 voices, something a flat broadcast struggles to deliver.
The Pieces for Apple’s Glasses Are Already Here (source)
Smart glasses are having a moment. Meta’s latest Ray-Ban specs are available now, its newest Oakleys are coming soon and Google and Samsung will probably jump into the tech race for your face next year with Android XR. With all that momentum, it always felt inevitable to me that Apple would introduce its own smart glasses sooner or later -- and recent signs point to sooner.
Reports claim that Apple has paused its rumored Vision Air hardware -- the smaller, lighter successor to its existing Vision Pro VR headset -- in favor of smart glasses. To me, that sounds like a pivot to compete with the wave of AI-powered glasses that everyone from Meta and Samsung to Google, Snap, Amazon, Xreal, Rokid and even OpenAI are either selling, developing or rumored to be exploring.
Spatial 3d background homage to the original #TRON for Apple Vision Pro (source)
With the release of TRON Aries, I wanted to create a fully immersive, animated spatial 3d background homage to the original #TRON for AppleVisionPro. https://sketchbot.tv/tron I’ve always want to experience the grid in VR, so I made my own. Enjoy!
FunfitLand is amazing and now available on Apple Vision Pro (source)
Ready for a workout? 💪 FunfitLand is amazing and now available on Apple Vision Pro — the visuals are breathtaking! I’d love to see it on Apple Arcade with Apple Music or Spotify integration.
How much better is iPhone 17 Pro Max Spatial Video on Vision Pro? Tested vs URSA Cine Immersive (source)
Full-body occlusion is already available in ARKit on iOS (source)
Imagine seeing more than just your hands in an immersive environment on Vision Pro. Full-body occlusion is already available in ARKit on iOS. It’s only a matter of time before it comes to visionOS. It makes the experience feel more real. I miss it whenever I use a Meta device.
Hand Physics Lab is coming to Apple Vision Pro! (source)
Always impressed by how good and accurate the 90hz hand tracking is on the Vision Pro! 👀
This video is not sped up! 🙌
Beta test a multiplayer drone game for Apple Vision Pro (source)
Who wants to beta test a multiplayer drone game for Apple Vision Pro? Cross-device multiplayer, play with Vision Pro or iPhone using AR camera. Real multiplayer for Vision Pro , not just SharePlay. Comment and I’ll dm TestFlight link for very early alpha build.
Anyma Unveils Spatial Video ‘The End Of Genesys’ on Apple Vision Pro (source)
Anyma has launched an innovative spatial video, ‘The End Of Genesys—A Cybernetic Opera’, shot entirely on iPhone and available on Apple Vision Pro.
The new documentary short offers fans a unique behind-the-scenes look into his groundbreaking residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, venturing into the world of spatial computing. The film is available for free on the Spatial Gallery app for Apple Vision Pro, which is designed to blend digital content with the physical world for immersive experiences. For those without Apple’s spatial computer, a 2D version of the film is also available to stream on Apple Music across other Apple devices.
Blackjack Immersion is a smooth blackjack experience in mixed reality (source)
Blackjack Immersion is a smooth blackjack experience in mixed reality. It’s designed to feel natural, quick, and comfortable with responsive hand-tracking controls for the major actions and realistic physics and animations for the chips and the cards.
Even though blackjack is a casino game, this app is purely for fun. There’s no real gambling and no in-app purchases or anything of that kind.
I decided to make a blackjack game for Vision Pro as a well-structured project with a clearly defined scope. My goal was to learn how to develop for Vision Pro, so I went all in on trying to make a polished, intuitive experience to learn as much as possible. This was a really fun app to work on, and I tried hard to bring the app to life with lots of small quality of life features that make games like this shine in VR. The custom hand gestures were especially complicated to make reliable, but I think they make the game much more immersive and fun!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you check it out if you’re interested! You can find it here on the App Store. I also have a web page for the app here if you’d like to see more info.
Beta testers wanted – Secrets of Stones Apple Vision Pro (source)
Beta 2 is live! Huge thanks to everyone who tested the first beta. I honestly didn’t expect it to reach so many people. The feedback has been brilliant; I read every note and tried to act on as much as I could. Thanks for giving me your time.
What’s new in Beta 2
Fix: Crash when tapping the computer should be resolved.
Tweak: 3D spaces reworked for scale, proportions and readability.
Polish: Typos and small bugs squashed.
New: A light day/night pass: daylight until 19:59, then a dimmer evening ambience (I’ll keep tuning this).
I think glasses are going to be really big for them.
The industry is trying to shrink an entire supercomputer, plus camera, display, speaker, and AI assistant — into a pair of glasses that won’t make you look like an off-brand Robocop. We’re not all the way there yet. We’re still constrained by power, compute, cost, size, weight, and battery life.
The comparison is that today’s headsets are the clumsy, archaic brick phone, and the ultimate, seamless smartphone-level goal for the entire category is the lightweight, stylish glasses.
I think glasses are going to be really big for them.
The industry is trying to shrink an entire supercomputer, plus camera, display, speaker, and AI assistant — into a pair of glasses that won’t make you look like an off-brand Robocop. We’re not all the way there yet. We’re still constrained by power, compute, cost, size, weight, and battery life.
The comparison is that today’s headsets are the clumsy, archaic brick phone, and the ultimate, seamless smartphone-level goal for the entire category is the lightweight, stylish glasses.