Apple Vision Pro shows users the real world four times faster than its rivals

An iOS stop watch superimposed onto an Apple Vision Pro

Meta Quest 3's Mark Zuckerberg didn't mention this point when he reviewed the Apple Vision Pro. Both his headset and Apple's are mixed reality (MR) ones, which means they both show the wearer a view of their surroundings, overlaid with digital content.

The process involves having cameras on the headset relay what they are seeing, to the screens in front of the wearer's eyes. It's called the see-through, and Apple has claimed that Apple Vision Pro does this with groundbreaking speed.

According to new benchmark results, it does. OptoFidelity, which makes testing equipment, investigated the see-through capabilities of four major MR headsets and measured what's called the photon-to-photon latency.

Photon-to-Photon latency measures the time it takes for an image of the outside world to be transferred through the headset and to the user. Using its OptoFidelity Buddy Test System, the company measured the photon-to-photon latency of:

• Apple Vision Pro
• HTC VIVE XR Elite
• Meta Quest 3
• Meta Quest Pro

The three non-Apple ones came in at around 40 milliseconds. Previous tests with them reportedly saw results ranging from around 35 milliseconds to 40 milliseconds. The testers say this figure used to considered a good standard.

Apple Vision Pro's see-through is 11 milliseconds.

That makes it almost four times faster at relaying the real world to the headset's wearer. Its closest rival was the Quest Pro, which came out at just under 40 milliseconds.

This does all mean that Apple is correct in saying it has groundbreaking technology in the Apple Vision Pro, at least in terms of its record-breaking latency issue. But even with by far the best latency of the major headsets, Apple Vision Pro does have a question mark over its intended audience.