The first Vision Pro reviews are out, and they all seem to tell the same story. The Apple Vision Pro is an amazing device, like nothing else on the market. But the gadget has a few serious drawbacks, as we would anticipate from any first-gen Apple gadget.
The battery — not just the battery life, but the battery itself — is one of the key Vision Pro components that Apple didn’t really detail during the launch event at WWDC last year, or at any point after that. The battery is the Vision Pro’s “ugly” design compromise, which Apple kept hiding in promo images of the Vision Pro.
But the fact is that you can’t do any spatial computing without the power the battery provides. You still need the battery, even if you want to hook up your Vision Pro directly to the wall.
Thankfully, Apple started revealing more details about the battery once Vision Pro preorders opened a few days ago. Now that the Vision Pro reviews are out, we know everything else about it.
How long does the Vision Pro battery last?
Battery life is a hugely important detail for the Vision Pro. Apple said the battery will be good for 2 hours during the WWDC event. Vision Pro preorders prompted Apple to finally publish the specs page for the spatial computer. That’s how we learned the battery life for watching video goes up to 2.5 hours.
In practice, reviewers could get up to 3 hours of use out of a single charge. Brian Tong was able to watch Avengers: Endgame on a charge. The battery lasted for 3 hours and 9 minutes — longer than the Marvel movie. He managed to use the Vision Pro for general-purpose activities for 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Can you buy additional batteries?
Apple sells Vision Pro batteries for $199 a pop. That’s something you might want to consider if you plan on using the Vision Pro untethered, or when the first battery degrades so much that you need to purchase a replacement.
Vision Pro batteries went on sale as preorders started.
Can you hot-swap batteries?
The only reason to buy more batteries right now is to swap them out when one battery dies. Reviewers discovered that the Vision Pro battery isn’t hot-swappable, which means that you can’t switch it out while in use. You can use a second battery with the headset, but you’ll have to power off the Vision Pro first. So there’s not much point to owning more than one.
The battery cable can be removed
YouTuber Marques Brownlee is one of the Vision Pro reviewers who addressed the inability to hot-swap the battery. That is, he said you can’t remove the Vision Pro battery cable. After seeing pictures of the Vision Pro battery following the WWDC 2023 launch, I thought the cable was removable. You’d need to do that if the battery were hot-swappable. But that’s not the case.
He also showed us the Vision Pro instructions in the box, including visuals that tell you how to coil the battery cable around the battery when you want to store it.
However, Ray Wong discovered that you can use the iPhone’s SIM ejection tool to remove the cable. Not only that, but the connector is a version of the Lightning port.
How heavy is the battery?
Unlike VR headsets, the Vision Pro doesn’t feature a built-in battery. The device would have been too heavy. During preorders, we learned the actual weight of the Vision Pro and its battery. You’re looking at 600-650g for the headset and 353g for the battery.
Reviews further told us that the external battery feels rather heavy despite rocking a capacity of 3,166 mAh. The iPhone 15 Pro has a 3,274 mAh battery but weighs just 187g. However, it’s unlikely the iPhone 15 Pro battery would be able to power the Vision Pro.
If you plan on moving around, you must put the battery in your pocket or get a holster from Apple.
How to charge the Vision Pro battery
The Vision Pro comes with a 30W charger in the box, similar to what you’d get with a MacBook. This is a MacBook for your face, after all. It also has a USB-C to USB-C charging cable connecting the power brick to the battery. That’s how you recharge or use the battery while tethered to a wall socket.
How fast does it charge?
Tong also revealed charging times for the Vision Pro battery. You’re looking at about 90 minutes for a full charge. If you plug it in for just 30 minutes, you’ll get to 37%, which isn’t bad. It’s not incredibly fast either, as you’re getting 30W charging at best using the default charger.
Can you extend battery life with an external battery pack?
I haven’t seen this question addressed in Vision Pro reviews, but then I didn’t watch or read all of them. However, considering all of the above, I think you can power the Vision Pro with an external battery via USB-C, just like you can use it while it’s plugged into the wall. But you’d probably need a battery that can put out at least 30W of power.
Other Vision Pro battery specs
In addition to weight and capacity, the Vision Pro battery specs are now available. It’s a 35.9 Wh battery with a max 13V 6A output.
The battery cable features a proprietary Apple connector as well. Apple doesn’t call it MagSafe, but it would qualify, as it uses magnets to stay in place.
