Apple Vision Pro poised for huge gaming upgrade according to patent

Apple may be working to give Vision Pro a huge gaming upgrade through physical controllers, according to a recent patent.

Apple’s first VR headset, the Vision Pro, is one of the most interesting pieces of tech we’ve seen lately. It beats most VR headsets out there in terms of features and price. Vision Pro tracks your hand movements to let you perform different actions, unlike other VR headsets that use a handheld controller.

However, that might change in the future as Apple is reportedly considering a physical controller for the VR headset. This could give Vision Pro a huge gaming upgrade. The Cupertino company also seems to testing charging docs for other peripherals.

Apple Vision Pro may get handheld controllers

A US patent filing by Apple, uncovered by The Mac Observer on February 29th, describes “Handheld Controllers with Charging and Storage Systems.” The patent details potential power sources for a handheld controller designed for electronic devices, with a focus on magnetic attachment for charging.

The description of this patent reads:

“A system may include an electronic device such as a head-mounted device and a handheld controller for controlling the electronic device. The handheld controller may have power-receiving circuitry configured to receive power from a power source.”

From what we can understand, Apple might be developing a physical controller that connects to the Vision Pro magnetically for charging. A schematic image of the patent shows the controller with an Apple Pencil-like design.

USPTO

It’s important to note that this is just a patent. While Apple might be exploring this idea, a physical controller for Vision Pro is unlikely to launch soon. It’s more probable that Apple is developing this for future iterations of the Vision Pro headset.

A physical controller could make Apple’s $3,499 VR headset a lot better for gaming. The hand-tracking on Vision Pro is decent right now but it’s not suitable for gaming. By comparison, Meta Quest 3 with physical controllers offers a much higher tracking speed, more precision, and minimal latency.