'Will community watching be replaced by a roomful of zombies?': Anand Mahindra's dire prognosis of Apple Vision Pro

Apple launched Apple Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset, at the company’s annual developers’ conference (WWDC 2023) on Monday. The commercial introducing the product shows an airline passenger using the mixed reality headset to watch a film with changing backgrounds on a big screen while sitting on her seat. In another clip from the commercial, a man can be seen using the product to watch a movie from the comfort of his home on a larger-than-life screen. 

However, this innovation by Apple has raised a question among the people that is the advent of Apple Vision Pro will lead to the disappearance of the big screen televisions?  This same question popped up in billionaire Anand Mahindra’s mind as well after he watched the commercial shared by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Twitter on Tuesday.

After watching the video, the Charman of Mahindra Group questioned whether this new innovation can actually lead to the death of large screen TVs, and he also wondered how the brands like Samsung and Sony will deal with this new tech disruption caused by Apple and survive. He also questioned if this new innovation will replace community-watching of movies and sports matches with a roomful of zombies wearing headsets.

Mahindra wrote on Twitter, resharing Tim Cook’s post, “Does this signal the death of large screen TV displays? Wonder what the boardrooms at Samsung & Sony plotting in response… And what about community-watching of movies & sports matches? Will that now be replaced by a roomful of zombies wearing headsets?”

Previously speaking at WWDC 2023, Tim Cook said the Vision Pro is the kind of product that will “shift the way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives.”

“We believe Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary product with the performance, immersion and capability that only Apple can deliver,” he added. 

The Apple Vision Pro has been developing at Apple for years, and the product will mainly focus on gaming, streaming video and conferencing.