Calin Pacurariu, CEO of Spatial, a provider of immersive design software, predicts that 2025 will be a three-horse race between Apple, Meta, and Google in the spatial computing arena.
Similar to what smartphones looked like before and after the iPhone the same pattern emerged in spatial computing, he says. Apple came “late to the game” with the Apple Vision Pro with a human interface built around direct manipulation on vision OS. This was a similar approach to multi-touch on the iPhone vs prior keyboard (RIM) and stylus (Palm) approaches. Both Meta and Google dramatically changed their approaches on Meta Horizon OS and AndroidXR respectively since the launch of visionOS.
“Now we have a three-horse race with Apple, Meta, and Google in 2025 and beyond,” Pacurariu says. “All three will have various form factor from full high fidelity immersive like Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Moohan headsets to daily wearable glasses several years from now best demo’d by Meta with Orion.”
He says Apple’s strong points are the proprietary M-series chips, visionOS, OpenUSD 3D pipeline, Apple Intelligence, Apple Vision Pro, and future Apple Vision products (lower end non-pro headset and daily wearable glasses with a mainstream design).
He says that Meta’s strong points are Qualcomm chips, Meta Horizon OS, OpenUSD 3D pipeline (Meta joined AOUSD in 2024), Meta Llama, Quest, Quest Pro, and a future Orion.
He says that Google’s strong points are: Qualcomm chips, Android XR, tbd 3D pipeline, Gemini, Samsung Moohan, and other third party headsets and glasses.
What’s more, Pacurariu says the 3D chaos of proprietary standards are rapidly coalescing around OpenUSD. Apple made this bet with Pixar (the birthplace of the predecessor USD format) and NVIDIA in 2017. Meta joined in 2024 well after Adobe, Autodesk, Epic Games and others started the rapid adoption with their respective 3D pro tools.
“In 2025 native OpenUSD workflows will start coming to market changing the fundamental proprietary approaches of the past and providing a new foundation for the future,” Pacurariu says. “With Google/Qualcomm/Samsung copying Apple’s strategy in spatial computing, expect them to join OpenUSD in ’25.”
He thinks that Apple will ship a speed bump upgrade to Apple Vision Pro that enables full Apple Intelligence. Apple’s first-generation spatial computer is based on the M2 with 16GB of RAM limited functionality to its core use cases for the initial launch.
“That timing missed the M4 na expanded RAM that is required for high performance use cases for Apple Intelligence,” Pacurariu says. “Shipping in 2025, an Apple Vision Pro 2 will remedy that situation with a M4 or M5 chipset and 24-32GB of RAM. That’s a major upgrade in memory and memory bandwidth as well as the onboard Neural Engine that comes with the M4/M5 chipsets. As a bonus, lightly lighter materials will drop the headset weight.”
He adds that he expects Apple to hip their first true conversational Apple Intelligence version of Siri on a new version of the AirPods Pro with Apple Intelligence.
About the Vision Pro
Demos of the Apple Vision Pro at Apple Stores in the U.S. can be reserved on Apple.com. To reserve a free Vision Pro demo online, go here, then follow the steps to book an appointment at your local Apple Store.
Pricing for the Vision Pro starts at US$3,499 with 256GB of storage. ZEISS Optical Inserts are available: $99 for reading lens and $149 for prescription lens.
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