Apple Vision Pro firmware hints at three distinct battery models

"Apple said at WWDC that the battery is not casually removable from the headset. There is a USB-C port on the battery for charging and directly powering the Apple Vision Pro."

mayfly said:

"Apple said at WWDC that the battery is not casually removable from the headset. There is a USB-C port on the battery for charging and directly powering the Apple Vision Pro."

Just my uninformed opinion, but I think Apple missed an opportunity by attaching the battery this way. Better to put two USB-C ports on the headset, so users could just swap battery packs without it powering down. Weight gain would be marginal, and it would be easy to add a latch to prevent accidental detachment. Unless it's possible to attach a backup battery to the USB port on the battery. At this time, there's been no mention of that from Apple.

USB power delivery is extremely janky. It isn’t suitable for anything without a built-in battery. Devices can abruptly lose their internal state for any number of reasons. The only possible safe response to this failure is to drop to the lowest supported voltage and current, which definitely isn’t enough to keep the Vision Pro running. It also flatly does not support seamless handoff between two power sources.

They could have done it with a sizable internal battery and USB power delivery, but then all this upcoming legislation mandating easily replaceable batteries would bite them. They would probably also need to change away from glass for the outer face to hit their target weight. Apple uses plastics for AirPods, the Magic Mouse, and all of their keycaps, but they haven’t done plastic in front of a display in a long time.

zimmie said:

mayfly said:

"Apple said at WWDC that the battery is not casually removable from the headset. There is a USB-C port on the battery for charging and directly powering the Apple Vision Pro."

Just my uninformed opinion, but I think Apple missed an opportunity by attaching the battery this way. Better to put two USB-C ports on the headset, so users could just swap battery packs without it powering down. Weight gain would be marginal, and it would be easy to add a latch to prevent accidental detachment. Unless it's possible to attach a backup battery to the USB port on the battery. At this time, there's been no mention of that from Apple.

USB power delivery is extremely janky. It isn’t suitable for anything without a built-in battery. Devices can abruptly lose their internal state for any number of reasons. The only possible safe response to this failure is to drop to the lowest supported voltage and current, which definitely isn’t enough to keep the Vision Pro running. It also flatly does not support seamless handoff between two power sources.

They could have done it with a sizable internal battery and USB power delivery, but then all this upcoming legislation mandating easily replaceable batteries would bite them. They would probably also need to change away from glass for the outer face to hit their target weight. Apple uses plastics for AirPods, the Magic Mouse, and all of their keycaps, but they haven’t done plastic in front of a display in a long time.

I have two Leviton USB-C outlets with power delivery in my house. There is none of this "jank" of which you speak, and they charge every USB-C device we own (2 iPads, an M1 MacBook Air, and an M2 MacBook Pro), and fast. Yes, there is a port on the VP battery, and I mentioned it may be possible to attach a second battery or charger to it, but that would violate every page of the Apple Design Book. I'd guess the real reason there's no USB port on the VP is that Apple doesn't want anyone attaching any third party hardware to it. And there's plenty of historical precedent to back that up!

We probably shouldn't assume the external battery is like an external USBC battery. It has a USBC port to charge it, but the connection from the battery to the headset may not be USBC. Moreover, there could be chips and DC/DC converters in the battery puck that aren't in USBC batteries.

Nobody has seen what this connecter to the headset looks like. I wouldn't be surprised if it is just 3 to 5 pins or contacts,

mayfly said:

"Apple said at WWDC that the battery is not casually removable from the headset. There is a USB-C port on the battery for charging and directly powering the Apple Vision Pro."

Just my uninformed opinion, but I think Apple missed an opportunity by attaching the battery this way. Better to put two USB-C ports on the headset, so users could just swap battery packs without it powering down. Weight gain would be marginal, and it would be easy to add a latch to prevent accidental detachment. Unless it's possible to attach a backup battery to the USB port on the battery. At this time, there's been no mention of that from Apple.

https://www.youtube.com/live/GYkq9Rgoj8E?feature=share Go to 1:47:20 The battery sure looks like it simply disconnects by twist and pull from the headset as it appears to merely apply and twist to attach. I don’t know how that isn’t “casually detachable”. I think they mean it won’t fall off if gently pulled randomly. MagSafe it isn’t. Probably should be.