New Apple Vision Pro arrives with M5 chip, better battery life and a design tweak for good measure

Apple has finally announced a long-rumoured new version of its augmented reality headset. However, it's not the Vision Pro Air or a full-fledged Vision Pro 2.

You do get a whole lot more power though, as the new Apple Vision Pro model runs on the all-new M5 chip. This also means it has longer battery life and operates much more quickly. There's a tweaked design too, in the form of a new Dual Knit Band for a more comfortable experience.

The biggest of those changes is undoubtedly the inclusion of M5 silicon. This is made up of a 10-core CPU for higher multithreaded performance, while a 10-core GPU adds support for the likes of ray tracing and mesh shading.

This will give developers a wider scope when creating experiences for the Vision Pro, especially when it comes to games and virtual worlds. Realistic lighting and shadow effects are now more possible.

In addition, the M5 hardware enables the headset to render 10% more pixels on its OLED displays, which should make images even sharper.

I've used the first Vision Pro and sharpness was already superb in comparison with many VR and XR rivals, so am keen to see just how much more clarity is possible.

The refresh rate for visuals has also been bumped up to 120Hz, making for a much smoother experiences. Plus, with the faster processing, passthrough images of the outside world can be delivered more quickly into the headset – within 12 milliseconds, in fact. That ensures there's lag is almost imperceptible.

In terms of battery life, you now get up to two-and-a-half hours of general use, with up to three hours of video playback.

The new Dual Knit Band headstrap

Along with the internal differences, the headband has been altered for a more comfortable fit over long periods.

The Dual Knit Band features 3D knitted upper and lower straps with more cushioning than before. A dual-function Fit Dial also makes sure you can fine tune the band's placement on your head.

The new band comes in small, medium and large sizes, so it's worth double checking which is best for you, and is also compatible with the original Vision Pro, so can be purchased separately.

As for the new Apple Vision Pro, it's available to pre-order now in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and the UAE. It will also be available to order from this Friday, 17 October, in China.

Apple Stores will have the new headset in stock from Wednesday, 22 October.

It's priced from $3,499 / £3,199 / €3,699 / AU$S5,999 and comes in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage sizes.