Apple amends Vision Pro AirPlay specs — Screen mirroring now only supported in 720p

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Your Apple Vision Pro might not look as impressive to your friends.

Apple Vision Pro
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple quietly changed the Vision Pro spec sheet just hours after the mixed reality headset preorders went live on January 19, and you may be disappointed if you plan on using AirPlay with the headset. 

As originally spotted by M1Astra on X, the original Apple Vision Pro specs used to claim it had up to 1080p AirPlay video mirroring, it now only claims 720p. We have verified this ourselves by going onto an Internet Archive version of the page and can confirm the change was made at some point around Midnight GMT / 4 PM PT on Friday, January 19. 

This is the only thing that was changed on the page, and it essentially means that, if you want to show off your Apple Vision Pro’s screen to your friends, they can only see it in 720p. Given the headset itself is capable of displaying 8K video, this is a significant downgrade for an onlooker or potential buyer.

You can ‘cast’ the Apple Vision Pro display to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or AirPlay-enabled smart TV from launch so you may not notice it as much on smaller devices. As confirmed in the Apple Vision Pro preorder FAQ page, you can share the headset with a friend — and as long as they don’t need prescription inserts they may be better off just trying it out for themselves. 

A minor change — iMore’s take

This is a small enough change that it could have been an effect of later testing giving different figures or just a mistake on Apple’s behalf. If you were lucky enough to get a preorder for the big day and this downgrade puts you off the headset entirely — you could, of course, choose to cancel your Apple Vision Pro order, but it seems relatively minor to me.

We don't yet understand why this last-minute change was made, but under the original X post, @bilawalsidhu speculates that this could be related to performance issues when casting the screen. Alternatively, tweaks could've been made when testing the device internally and this spec was missed when compiling the final spec sheet.

iMore has reached out to Apple for comment for clarification.

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James Bentley
James Bentley

James is a staff writer and general Jack of all trades at iMore. With news, features, reviews, and guides under his belt, he has always liked Apple for its unique branding and distinctive style. Originally buying a Macbook for music and video production, he has since gone on to join the Apple ecosystem with as many devices as he can fit on his person. 

With a degree in Law and Media and being a little too young to move onto the next step of his law career, James started writing from his bedroom about games, movies, tech, and anything else he could think of. Within months, this turned into a fully-fledged career as a freelance journalist. Before joining iMore, he was a staff writer at Gfinity and saw himself published at sites like TechRadar, NME, and Eurogamer. 

As his extensive portfolio implies, James was predominantly a games journalist before joining iMore and brings with him a unique perspective on Apple itself. When not working, he is trying to catch up with the movies and albums of the year, as well as finally finishing the Yakuza series. If you like Midwest emo music or pretentious indie games that will make you cry, he’ll talk your ear off.