News · March 2024
Embracing XR and VR horizons after Apple's headset launch
VR, AR, XR: immersive, increasingly accessible, and moving fast. Apple's augmented reality headset pushed the industry into new territory, and raised a real question: could it set a new standard for VR and AR working together in DEI training?
A genuine tool for perspective-shifting
Used well, XR lets people experience life unlike their own, a genuine tool for perspective-shifting. Work built with XR in the coming months and years will influence how the technology develops.
VR is a strong medium for training scenarios in diversity, equity and inclusion, offering different perspectives compared to traditional 2D methods or in-person workshops. Apple entering the VR space puts Meta's long-held lead under real pressure.
What the launch pointed to
Apple's design philosophies and accessibility initiatives set a promising standard for future virtual reality applications.
A real step for accessibility
As Karen Haslam, editor of Macworld, wrote at the time, users would experience a three-dimensional interface they control with their eyes, hands and voice, a step for accessibility.
Built from a person's own appearance and reflecting face and hand movements in real time, the feature offered a base for open, immersive learning spaces in any environment.
As one journalist put it: "Apple seldom invents something unprecedented. Instead, it takes existing ideas and refines them in critical ways that make them more appealing to consumers" (Leswing, 2023).
Where PTR is looking next
DEI programs, especially within technology and professional industries, have faced real limitations, and not for lack of training methods. PTR is considering how advances in virtual and extended reality can support future DEI scenarios.
See how PTR approaches this convergence of VR and AR in the augmented reality overview, or read the independent research behind DEI training on the research and evidence page.
Update, August 2026
This article was first published in March 2024, shortly after Apple's headset launched. Explore current VR and AR convergence in the XR overview and mixed reality overview.
The PTR VR Library remains the practical form PTR's DEI training takes.
Want to know what a new headset generation means for your own build?
Related PTR work
Where this convergence of VR and AR lives on the current site.
Sources
Macworld and CNBC coverage of Apple Vision Pro and its approach to VR.
Apple Vision Pro: Everything you need to know
Haslam, K. (2024). A running account of Apple Vision Pro's features at launch.
Why Apple's VR headset could succeed where every similar product has failed
Leswing, K. (2023). On Apple's approach to refining existing ideas rather than inventing new ones.
