Are We Living in a ‘Black Mirror’ Episode? The Apple Vision Pro Suggests So

Yesterday Apple unveiled the Apple Vision Pro, an AR headset that's looking like a quantum leap in VR/AR tech. The device seems like an attempt to make VR truly consumer-friendly, focusing on enhancing the world around you rather than simply blocking out the real world.

The trailer showcased chatting with your friends with an AR pop-up screen, playing soccer with your kids, watching a movie on a plane in a virtual theater, and working on 3D projects suspended in front of you. It all looks very cool, though the eyewatering $3499 price tag will mean it's only available to customers with a lot of disposable income.

But, perhaps inevitably, this new AR frontier has many comparing it to Black Mirror:

i think it's funny that they cast a guy for this commercial who sort of looks like the guy who gets so scared that he dies in the augmented reality episode of black mirror https://t.co/lJjTu1p7l6 pic.twitter.com/3TnVq9N9jo

We can see some truly scary potential in this CGI facetime replica tech:

LMFAOOOOO it deepfakes you for FaceTimes??? No this is literally black mirror im out of here pic.twitter.com/PHUfkV5RWy

And, of course, some suspect this will immediately be used for… other stuff:

N O P E I’ve seen black mirror and what you sick ones are liking to do on there https://t.co/Bcy0ToZ7xj

The ski-mask look doesn't exactly bode well either:

Feels like im watching a black mirror ep istg this shit's terrifying pic.twitter.com/6Wi662p4cr

And don't forget some bonus Ready Player One comparisons:

When you realise ‘Black mirror’ and "ready player One" become so close in just one event. #visionpro pic.twitter.com/LMe24ijV1k

It's worth mentioning that none of this AR stuff is groundbreaking technology, though Apple seems to have refined and improved it in many key areas. The colossal price tag means it’ll be a while before people wearing this in public becomes a common sight, though it's also likely we’ll get a non-Pro version of the hardware in late 2024 or early 2025.

There have been many attempts to bring VR/AR tech to the mainstream, though Sony's PSVR and Meta's Quest headsets have mainly catered towards gamers rather than casual users. Apple has a long history of making tech slick and user-friendly, so perhaps this is what's going to open up a bright new future of editing boring old reality into something more interesting.

The Apple Pro Vision will be available domestically in early 2024 with other countries getting it later in the year. Black Mirror will return to Netflix on June 15.

London-based writer about everything and anything. Willing to crawl over rusty nails to write about Metal Gear Solid or Resident Evil.