Don't feel like braving the lines at Apple Stores to try out the latest iPhone on release day? One day, you might be able to get a taste without even leaving your home, if a patent discovered by Patently Apple is validated.
The patent, titled “Method for Customizing and Demonstrating Products in a Virtual Environment,” imagines a world where customers could skip the crowd and experience Apple products from the comfort of their own living room, via a mixed reality headset – presumably the Apple Vision Pro.
In the most innovative version of this concept, the product demonstration takes the form of an “interactive demonstration in a simulated virtual environment.” As the images below show, you could “test drive” a new iPhone's camera in a virtual park, to see how effective the telephoto lens is at capturing distant objects.
It could also be used to show products in your own living room, via augmented reality. Handy for getting an idea of the size of non-portable products like the HomePod, Apple TV and iMacs.
Speaking of Macs, one of the most interesting concepts in the virtual demo is the ability to see the real-world impact of upgrades on devices.
In another image, Apple imagines that a user could configure a desktop Mac with different components and see how performance changes via virtual benchmarks and on-screen performance. In other words, you might see the value in paying more for more RAM and a faster processor.
Will this ever happen?
Of course, the patent has some important caveats.
First of all, there are some things you can only experience in person. Being able to “hold” a virtual iPhone is obviously not the same as picking up a real, heavy iPhone and feeling its edges press against your hand.
More importantly, this patent requires a virtual reality headset, and while the document doesn't mention the Vision Pro by name, it's hard to imagine Apple going beyond its own hardware family. Not only are there not many Vision Pro owners in the world, but those who bought a $3,500 headset are arguably more likely to have the purchasing power to make big tech purchases on a whim, without needing to be convinced by a virtual demo.
So it seems likely that this patent will either never be released or will be left in storage until Apple has sold enough Vision Pro headsets to make it worthwhile. Of course, that may never happen, but the company is reportedly eyeing a cheaper version that could arrive as early as next year.
Still, we wouldn't bet you'd buy an iPhone 17 over Vision Pro next year, much less an iPhone 16 next month.