Can a $3,500 headset replace your TV? We tried Vision Pro to find out

There’s portable potential here

One of my wife’s close friends mentioned to me about a week ago that she’d read about the Vision Pro in The Atlantic, and she couldn’t imagine what the use case would be for her. She asked me why I was interested in it because she just couldn’t see the appeal. I don’t think she’s alone.

That issue is what drives this series. These use case-focused reviews will try to uncover what Vision Pro can and can’t be used for, and in the process, we'll try to figure out exactly what “spatial computing” might mean in the coming years, provided Apple stays the course in supporting this device and its successors.

With TV and movie viewing, we’ve started with an easy win before we start getting into the gnarlier questions. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Apple’s in-store demos of Vision Pro put a lot of emphasis on watching 2D and 3D content passively because it’s the most obvious thing the Vision Pro can do better than any other portable device out there.

It doesn’t quite match my robust home theater setup with a 65-inch LG OLED, fine-tunable colored lights and lighting sensors, and an Atmos-enabled array of Sonos speakers, but that makes sense. As pricey as Vision Pro is, the totality of that home theater setup that I’ve assembled in multiple steps over a few years is still a little bit more expensive, and the home theater is also more specialized. The Vision Pro can do a lot of things my home theater can’t, too.

The Vision Pro provides a better movie-viewing experience than most people have at home—even some people who have put some thought and money into their setups. It’s miles ahead of anything I’ve found in hotel or Airbnb rooms. I haven’t used it on an airplane yet, but I’m excited to; I have no doubt it’ll be great.

Other folks’ circumstances vary, and I could see the Vision Pro being useful for more than just travel. For example, many people share a home with numerous others and rarely get access to the family TV, but they can escape to their home office or bedroom at any time. Chances are good that Vision Pro is better for viewing TV shows and movies than what they have in those rooms.

There are others who just don’t need this. Maybe they live alone and rarely travel, so it’s easy to always watch TV in their preferred environment. Or maybe they just don’t care about picture or audio quality, so that $300 42-inch 1080p backlit LCD hotel room TV is just fine.

And, of course, a great many folks who could benefit from it can’t afford it.

So, yes, the Vision Pro might be able to replace your TV, and it could be a worthwhile investment if you’re a home theater aficionado who can’t always use your preferred setup. Does that make it worth $3,500 on its own? That answer will be different for everybody, but I suspect it’s still a “no” for most. If the capabilities expand and the price comes down, though, I think there is potential here for a lot of people.

Soon, we’ll look at the Vision Pro through some additional lenses: productivity, hardware, social connection, gaming, and more. But we're off to a strong start, because this device is great for watching movies.

The good

• High-quality display rivals mid-range TVs and even some high-end ones.
• Strong app support, with only one major exception.
• Neat immersive environments to set the mood.
• Spatial audio sounds great with the latest AirPods Pro, and the built-in speakers are better than you'd expect.
• The ability to resize and reposition the display in both immersive environments and your own makes for a flexible TV experience unlike any other.
• It's comfortable enough to wear for two hours or more to get through a movie.
• Apple is providing solid first-party 3D video content at launch, with more to come.

The bad

• Reflective glow distracts in dark scenes.
• The battery can't handle long binge sessions.
• The ability to connect to external devices or physical media is limited-to-nonexistent.
• Not all features are supported on other headphones—even Apple's own.
• Apple seemingly put almost no effort into supporting 3D video content beyond its own.

The ugly

• For most of us, $3,500 and up is way too much to spend, even for a portable home theater alone. The price will have to come down, or the other use cases will have to add up to justify the price.

Listing image by Samuel Axon