In an official statement from Nothing, the company clarified that the upcoming midranger, Nothing Phone (2a), won't be coming to the US. At least not to regular consumers, similarly to the Nothing Phone (1). But at least the latter was available for purchase as part of a wider beta program.
Now, Nothing plans to release the Phone (2a) only to certain developers working on the recently announced Glyph Developer Kit. This means that you won't be able to buy it from Amazon, Best Buy, etc.
In case you are outside of the US and you are excited about the March 5 release, the tipster...
It might be a mouthful of a name but the SpeedStyle RapidGloss Finisher & High-Velocity Dryer (hereon referred to as the SpeedStyle) has been designed to dry hair with less time and effort. Coming with a selection of five attachments, you can even reduce the amount of frizz in your hair while styling, resulting in glossier looks.
Its high performance is backed by the Shark SpeedStyle’s ability to automatically adjust the heat and airflow settings when switching between attachments, recycling this feature from the Shark Style iQ. You can still manually adjust the settings to your liking though, as the hair dryer sports two convenient buttons for airflow and temperature, allowing you to gain complete control over your styling needs.
The hardware that allows these intelligent features to function, along with a 1700W motor, are packed into a stylish and compact design, though it does mean the Shark SpeedStyle tips the scales towards the heavier end when compared to some of the best hair dryers. Despite the extra weight, it’s still small enough to neatly pack away into luggage, making it a good travel companion if your flight’s weight allowance allows for it.
Adding to the weight are five attachments that come with the SpeedStyle, and each one performs a specific task when drying and styling hair. They all use a simple rotating lock mechanism to connect to the hair dryer, and are cool-touch zones that don’t retain as much heat so you can touch them safely when swapping them. However, I found that those cool-touch zones would often still retain heat and I’d need to wait a moment or blast some cool air through them before I could touch them.
Depending on your location, you can find different Shark SpeedStyle bundles at various price points. The one I tested for this review comes with all the bells and whistles and is a hefty investment, which gets a little difficult to justify when you consider that the brand has a more versatile hair styling tool in the Shark FlexStyle Air Styling & Hair Drying System for around the same price.
The Shark SpeedStyle comes with five different attachments and a carry bag in its most expensive bundle. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
List price for full bundle: $259 / £249.99 / AU$559.99
Released initially in the US back in August 2023, the Shark SpeedStyle is available in all major markets in different bundles, although these options will vary depending on where you live. You can purchase the SpeedStyle directly from its maker or through various retailers, including on Amazon in the US, UK and Australia, and other regional sellers who typically stock Shark products.
The full package with five different attachments and a handy travel pouch will set you back $259 / £249.99 / AU$559.99 at full price, and is the only available bundle in Australia at the time of publication. In the US, you can select two of your own attachments with a regular list price of $179, or buy bundles with three pre-selected attachments for various hair types, including curly and wavy hair, for $199. The UK also has the pre-selected bundles for £199.
This price isn’t as extreme as the Dyson Supersonic – the British brand’s popular hair dryer is available from $429 / £329.99 / AU$649. Though, in Australia you can find the Supersonic for AU$549 with five different attachments in an exclusive bundle, making it a slightly more affordable option than the SpeedStyle at full price.
While it might be possible to justify the SpeedStyle’s price in comparison to Dyson, I find its cost a little confusing compared to the Shark FlexStyle. Admittedly the latter is more of a styling tool, but it can still be used as a hair dryer and comes with five attachments costing $299 / £299 / AU$499. It’s a more versatile appliance as it can transform between a hair dryer and a styling wand, plus, it’s lighter too. It might be a bit more expensive in the US and UK, but in Australia especially, the FlexStyle sits at a more affordable price – so you do the math.
Four heat settings, including a cool-shot button, and three for airflow
Shark has designed a sleek and compact hair dryer, although the FlexStyle is a touch smaller when folded into its dryer mode. Compared to other brands, though, the SpeedStyle is slim. Also aiding in giving it a modern look is an unique off-white and rose-gold color scheme.
Even with its attachments, the SpeedStyle is small enough to slip into a travel bag – its most expensive bundle even comes with a neat carry case for this purpose. However, it will tip the scales in luggage as the SpeedStyle is heavier than some of its competitors, weighing in at 750g before any attachment. In comparison, the FlexStyle is only 700g, while the Dyson Supersonic and T3 AirLuxe are also both lighter at 650g and 707g respectively. On the flipside, the GHD Helios weighs 780g, so there are still heavier hair dryers than the SpeedStyle.
Its main barrel is a simple cylinder that’s uniform from end to end, Similar to what Dyson did with the Supersonic hair dryer. The Shark SpeedStyle, however, is thinner and slightly longer than its competitor, which is both a good and a bad thing.
I personally found the handle uncomfortable to grip, occasionally causing cramps if I’ve held it for too long while using it as a styler. In comparison, I found the wider handle design of the FlexStyle more comfortable when I reviewed it for sister site Tom’s Guide. That said, the slimmer design might suit smaller hands, which is complimented by a well-thought out button placement for a shot of cool air that’s easy to reach and press when needed.
There's a button for both heat and air flow settings just above the on/off switch on the handle of the Shark SpeedStyle. These buttons are low enough that they won't accidentally be bumped while styling. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
The other buttons are also well situated – the power switch is at the base of the handle but nowhere you would accidentally turn the dryer off, while the heat and airflow controls sit just above the power button and light up to indicate the setting you’re currently using. You likely won’t have to use the latter two buttons as the SpeedStyle inherits the auto-adjustments from the much older Shark Style iQ hair dryer. You can still manually make adjustments if you need to, although I found letting the SpeedStyle do its thing can save a little time.
Fitting attachments is a simple clip-in-and-lock mechanism, and these include a diffuser for drying curly hair, a Touchup brush for natural-looking blowouts, a round one for straightening, a styling concentrator that lets you focus on sections of hair, and a RapidGloss Finisher to add a glossy and smooth finish to your hairdo.
The Shark SpeedStyle's filter can be removed from the back of the hair dryer for easy cleaning with a simple twist. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
Like a lot of other hair dryers out there, the SpeedStyle boasts a removable filter, which is a major improvement over the Shark Style Qi – keeping it clean will prolong the life of the product by preventing overheating. Given that the SpeedStyle can hit temperatures of up to 100ºC, you’ll want to clean it regularly to avoid any ongoing issues, especially if you use it every day.
While I didn’t have issues with overheating during my testing of the SpeedStyle, which included everyday use over a full week, I found that its barrel and attachments retained heat for quite some time and I had to wait a few minutes before I was able to touch them to switch attachments. And this is despite the fact that Shark has included cool-touch zones on the dryer and the attachments.
• Design & features score: 4/5
Each attachment included with the Shark SpeedStyle has a specific purpose, allowing it to dry and style multiple different hair types. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
Requires a small learning curve for some attachments
Don’t be fooled by its compact size – the Shark SpeedStyle has some speedy dry times. Its 1,700W motor allows it to hit 100ºC / 212ºF, and I found I could dry my thick shoulder-length hair in three and a half minutes without any attachments at the highest settings. Brushing and styling my hair with the round brush attachment while also drying, however, took approximately 15 minutes for a simple and neat hairdo. While this is still quite fast, it doesn’t quite compete with the Dyson Supersonic or the GHD Helios – our reviewers found that the Supersonic can dry hair in a little over 2 minutes without attachments and the GHD Helios could do so in just over a minute.
What I really appreciate is that, even at its highest setting, the SpeedStyle doesn’t get very loud, hitting 85dB when on the maximum settings, but sitting comfortably between 76dB-80dB when on the lower settings, as recorded on the Decibel X app I used to measure sound for this review. Importantly, there’s no annoying high-pitched tone that I found with the Shark FlexStyle and that a colleague experienced with the Shark Cordless Detect Pro with Auto-empty System vacuum cleaner that was also reviewed on sister site Tom’s Guide.
My hair isn’t curly, so I didn’t use the diffuser very much but, for my needs, I found the Touchup brush the most useful. It can swivel to different angles while moving around your head, and uses the second heat setting to reduce heat damage. I found both brush attachments – the Touchup and round – capable of untangling knots easily, something my hair is prone to due to previous damage from bleaching, thanks to the combination of long, short and bunched bristles on both brushes.
The RapidGloss Finisher attachment has a slight learning curve, but can be used for sleek and glossy styles with less frizz thanks to its metallic plating. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
I found that the RapidGloss Finisher – the SpeedStyle’s headline attachment – can take a bit of getting used to. It’s designed to smooth flyaways and leave a glossy finish by pulling locks of hair along a metal roller, but I couldn’t get it to work right the first few times I tried it. It took a few tries before I was able to smoothen my hair and achieve a glossier result than what my usual styling method yields. To get the best results from the RapidGloss Finisher, though, you need to use the highest heat setting along with the strongest airflow, so it can get uncomfortably hot on the scalp.
The styling concentrator also works well, but it’s a staple attachment for most hair dryers and not unique to the Shark Speedstyle.
I’m quite impressed with the cool-shot button – it kicks in real quick with an almost instantaneous temperature change even if the dryer is set at its hottest. I found that I could even use the cool-shot function to deal with the heat retention issue on the attachments, saving me a little bit of time.
• Performance score: 4/5
The Shark SpeedStyle comes with a diffuser attachment to help keep natural hairstyles while drying. (Image credit: Future / Petra Player)
Should I buy the Shark SpeedStyle RapidGloss Finisher & High-Velocity Dryer?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
If you’re not sold on the Shark SpeedStyle, here’s how it compares to three other hair dryers.
How I tested the Shark SpeedStyle RapidGloss Finisher & High-Velocity Dryer
Used all attachments for different styles
Tested on thick, shoulder-length hair
Testing was done during summer months in Sydney, Australia
To put the Shark SpeedStyle to the test, I used it every time I washed my hair over a period of eight weeks. My testing included a week when I used it every single day. To put it through its paces, I swapped between the SpeedStyle’s attachments each time, using a paddle brush and comb to achieve different styles and results.
I even went on holiday with it, leading me to the conclusion that it’s a good travel size despite being slightly weighty. I used it late at night in my hotel room and was relieved to not get any noise complaints.
Pre-orders are done and the OnePlus 12 series is now available. The flagship OnePlus 12 is available with a free storage upgrade, meaning that $800 buys you 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage. Try getting that out of Samsung or Google.
A quick overview of this Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powered phone shows a 6.82” QHD+ display, a 120Hz LTPO panel with 10-bit colors. There’s also a 50MP main, 64MP 3x tele and 48MP ultra wide cameras with Hasselblad calibration. OnePlus brought back wireless charging (50W) to complement the wired charging (80W) for the 5,400mAh battery (30 minutes to full for the wired...
Apple has spent almost a decade developing the Vision Pro, and it shows. Everything about it is spectacular, from the exquisite design to brilliant visuals that blend the real with the fantastical, to the versatility that puts other mixed-reality headsets to shame.
The fact that, even after all that work, there are still limitations is frustrating. Sure, I want a sub-1lb/500g headset that somehow integrates the battery; and, of course, I want it to cost $500. The state of the art, even Apple’s bleeding-edge form of it, isn’t there yet. None of that, however, makes me think less of the Vision Pro. It's a stunning achievement in industrial design and technology that translates the inscrutable worlds of AR, VR, and mixed reality into an experience that pretty much anyone can understand and enjoy.
Using your gaze and gestures (finger taps, long pinch, pull) to control a computer is the intuitive technology control you didn’t know you were missing – the millimeter precision is more like what you’d expect from a seasoned OS, not the brand new Vision Pro platform, visionOS, Apple introduced nine months ago. Apple got this right on the first try, and it could become as second-nature as tapping, pinching, and swiping on an iPhone or iPad is today.
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As a new computing platform, the Vision Pro is rich with features and possibilities. The fact that it does so many things so well, and that they work and make sense, is a testament to Apple’s efforts. I’ve been marveling at the attention to detail, and at how a bleeding-edge, V1 product can feel so finished and complete. Apple has created a headset that I’m itching to wear almost every day, and if I did nothing but work in it the Vision Pro would transform my life. I’ve long dreamed of having a 150-inch or larger workspace, but I couldn’t imagine how it would be practical or, more importantly, viewable. With the Vision Pro, I get an almost unlimited desktop that makes me want to never return to the confined space of my laptop.
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Encounter dinosaurs remains one of the most eye-popping Vision Pro experiences… (Image credit: Future)
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…especially when this virtual butterfly lands on your finger (Image credit: Future)
I’ve rarely tested a technology that has moved me in the way the Vision Pro does. Spatial videos are so achingly real that they instantly trigger an emotion that a flat image might not. Being up close with otherworldly or prehistoric creatures that seem to almost see me is at once jarring and thrilling. To pull this off, you need more than great apps, software, developers, and artists; you need a cohesive system that brings it all to life. The Vision Pro does it time and again, with 23 million pixels of imagery, spatial audio that travels the distance from band-bound speakers directly to your ears, and eye-tracking that knows your gaze better than you do.
There are frustrations and missteps, too.
Apple Vision Pro with the Solo Knit Band (Image credit: Future)
I struggled to find the best fit, and while I can now wear the Vision Pro for hours, my face reminds me afterwards that it’s not built for this. I've struggled on occasion to find a fit that doesn’t cause me some niggling discomfort (although the more immersed I get, the less I feel anything).
I don’t mind the external battery, but it feels not quite up to the task when you want to watch a 3D movie and power seems to drain at double speed. Thank goodness the battery can be plugged in for continued use.
You won't go anywhere without that battery pack (Image credit: Future)
While I think the outside-in pass-through technology that marries the real and computer-generated worlds is among the best I’ve seen, Apple’s attempts to keep you connected to people in front of you and through, say, FaceTime calls, need work. Personas are just this side of creepy, and EyeSight, which shows a video of your eyes to those around you on the exterior screen, looks a bit scary. Then there's the price, which is overwhelming, and will be an instant turnoff for many. I wonder, though, if they might feel differently after their first experience – I’d argue that they will decide they want a Vision Pro, and the only question will be how they can afford it.
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Apple Vision Pro: Price and availability
Expensive
Price does not include lens inserts
No yet available outside the US
Apple announced its Vision Pro headset on June 5, 2023, at WWDC 2023. It's available now in the US, and costs $3,499 for the 256GB model. Preorders opened on January 19, and the headset began shipping on February 2. Availability and pricing for other markets is yet to be confirmed, but Apple says that will follow in 2025.
Value score: 4
Apple Vision Pro: What's in the box
Here's what you'll find when you unbox your Vision Pro (Image credit: Future)
So what do you get for your $3,499 (Apple sent me the 1TB version, which starts at $3,899 – you can opt for a $3,699 512GB headset)? Essentially, in the box is everything you need to put on and start using the Vision Pro. In order of importance:
There’s the Vision Pro system
A battery with attached cable
USB-C charge cable and 30W adapter
The Solo Knit Band
A Dual Loop Band
Two Light Seals Cushions
A fabric cover
A polishing cloth
The only thing that's not included, and which you might need, as I did, are the Zeiss prescription lens inserts. These will run you $99 for reading-glass lenses, and $149 for full prescription lenses, which is what I need. The Vision Pro might be unusable for those with particular sight issues – Apple can let you know upfront if that's likely to be the case.
It all arrives in a large white box that has all the hallmarks of containing a high-end Apple product.
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The optional case costs $199 but I thick its worth it (Image credit: Future)
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You can buy an optional carrying case for $199, and, considering that you just dropped almost $3,500, I think it’s money well spent, although some might argue that Apple should include the case with the expensive headset. Apple sent me the case; it's compact, and has storage space for everything I mentioned above, and I think the hard-shell, soft-surface body will do wonders to protect your expensive new toy.
Apple Vision Pro: Specs
The headgear is, in some ways typical goggle size: it's roughly six inches wide by almost four inches deep from the edge of the Light Seal to the front of the glass, and almost four inches tall.
Perhaps the most important spec of all, though, is the weight. Depending on which bands you use, the Vision Pro clocks in at 1.3 to 1.4lbs, or 600 to 650g. The external battery, which I kept either in my pocket, on the table, or on the couch next to me (later I got a nice $49.95 Belkin Case, so I could attach it to my belt), weighs just over three-quarters of a pound, or around 350g. Thank goodness Apple opted to not integrate the battery in its first mixed-reality headset.
Apple Vision Pro: Performance
Powerful, proven M2 chip
R1 appears to take the visual load
Never a lag
Could do with more base storage
Apple’s Vision Pro works as well as it does not only because of the design and remarkably intuitive interface. As always, it’s what’s inside that really counts.
At its heart is the M2 chip, a second-generation piece of Apple silicon, featuring an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU that powers, for instance, the most recent MacBook Air (MacBook Pros now have M3 chips). In my experience, this is a powerful chip that’s well qualified to handle the demands of virtual and augmented reality.
However, the M2 has the support of a new piece of Apple silicon, the R1 chip, which appears to be primarily in charge of managing those 4K screens, and maintaining a 12-millisecond image update so that what you see is clear and butter-smooth.
The Vision Pro’s dual 4K micro-OLED displays with 23 million pixels are also industry-leading. My experience with the headset is that I get crystal-clear imagery wherever I look, and at whatever size I make the screens.
The Vision Pro's audio comes through a pair of audio pods which are hidden under that white rubber (Image credit: Future)
Apple has placed the stereo audio pod headphones on the stiff white rubber stems that feed into the Vision Pro frame, but they provide excellent spatial audio that’s arguably as good as anything you might get with in-ear buds. If you place an app on your virtual left, the audio will come from that space. At one point, I took a screen that was playing video and slowly dragged it from one side of my space to the other, and the audio tracked perfectly from my left side to the middle and then to the right. There’s also a six-microphone array that does a good job of picking up “Siri” commands. I love summoning Siri because, in the Vision Pro, the digital assistant is embodied as a small floating glass orb.
There are numerous cameras arrayed on the outside and inside of the Vision Pro. The two on the front handle the stereoscopic imagery that you can see and capture in photos and videos that you’ll play back later, and sometimes cry over.
The Vision Pro supports Wi-Fi 6 (though oddly not Wi-Fi 7, which in a few years will be ubiquitous) and Bluetooth 5.3, the latter of which allowed me to easily connect the Vision Pro to an Xbox controller, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad.
The Vision Pro is best for a quick message or short sentences; typing anything of length on it is virtually impossible (Image credit: Future)
The Vision Pro also displays a virtual keyboard that you can poke at in space. This can be resized and positioned to your liking, but the lack of physical and tactile feedback makes it difficult, at best, to use. What’s worse is that because you may not be looking at the keyboard when you type, the gaze control system can’t really help you with accuracy. To be fair, I’m a terrible typist and do often look at the keyboard when touch-typing. Ultimately, if I want to type within visionOS while wearing the headset, I find that using the Magic Keyboard Apple sent me is best (they also sent a Magic Mouse that can work across both visionOS and my connected MacBook Pro’s virtual display).
Apple provided me with a 1TB Vision Pro test unit, which retails for $3,899. The base model, which costs $3,499, starts with just 256GB of storage. Apple pitches the Vision Pro as the first “spatial computer,” which makes me wonder why it didn’t start with at least a half-terabyte of storage as standard.
Performance score: 4.5
Apple Vision Pro: Design
Exquisite materials and build
Good looks hide impressive specs
Not that light
External battery
I know people joke about the Vision Pro looking like a pair of hyped-up snow goggles. Maybe so, but I’d argue there’s not one false note in this design. Apple, as it often does, chose the best material, with a particular focus on weight. So, it’s a mix of an aluminum body, magnesium, carbon fiber, and woven fabric. It’s virtually all curved, with a gleaming glass front that protects the screen marrying almost seamlessly with the body.
There’s a lot of technology packed into the Vision Pro, but Apple has made some effort to hide it. There are cameras behind the glass, and a set of them along the bottom edge that watch your face and hands. The AudioPod speakers that deliver near-perfect spatial audio are hidden behind stiff, white rubber.
Along one side of the top edge is a familiar piece of technology: the Digital Crown. When I first saw this, I wondered why Apple would pull an idea from Apple Watch and slap it on its newest device. But Apple considers the Vision Pro to be a wearable, so there’s some logical continuity here. Plus, the Digital Crown turns out to be one incredibly useful and important piece of Vision Pro technology.
The 'Top Button' on the top left side, which is mostly used for Spatial Photos and Video, gets far less use.
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There are some large vents on the top of the frame, and a grille on the bottom, and these seem to work together to draw air in and flow it up and away from your face. The Vision Pro does get warm, but never so much so that it’s uncomfortable.
The Vision Pro and the Light Shield both curve to meet your face, but the crucial bit that makes this design work is the foamy Light Seal cushion. This rests on and follows the contours of your face, and it’s about as comfortable as such a thing should be, though on occasion during my testing time I've wondered if it should be either thicker or denser.
Once I settled on the Dual Loop Band, I found my Vision Pro comfort zone. (Image credit: Future)
Attaching this spatial computer to your head requires a band, or a pair of bands. The default Solo Knit Band is wide, and can be adjusted via a dial to make it tighter or looser. It’s never offered enough support for me, though.
It’s worth pausing here to remind you that the Vision Pro weighs 1.3lbs. That’s not particularly heavy in itself, but a typical set of eyeglasses might weigh 0.08lbs, and now imagine attaching a pound of ground beef to your head. This experience is far more enjoyable, but it needs support. In contrast to the Solo Knit Band, the Dual Loop Band supports the headset on the back of your head and across the top of it, and I bet most people will prefer it over the more attractive Solo Knit version.
Design score 4.5
Apple Vision Pro: Setup
I would not call any part of the Vision Pro setup process complicated or off-putting. There are several steps to go through, but mostly these are to customize the experience. As for assembling it, there’s the matter of which band you choose for comfort, and fitting the right Light Seal (the thinner one is standard, the thicker one is for glasses-wearers who have those Zeiss inserts). You also need to attach the battery cable, which snaps into the right side (if the headset’s glass is facing you) and locks on with a twist – there’s no chance of it popping off. The cable is long enough for you to drop the somewhat hefty battery into your pocket.
The bands snap on and off metal lugs using small orange pull tabs; I usually put the lens cover on, so that I can tip the Vision Pro on its face while I swap bands. Aside from the colorful screen behind the glass, which is just black when the device is off, that orange is the only bit of color pop on the headset.
If you ordered Zeiss prescription lenses, as I did, you’ll have to put them in before using the headset. They, like most other pieces on the Vision Pro (for instance the Light Seal and its cushion) attach magnetically. They’re also labeled, so you won’t get confused about which lens goes on which side. The box comes with a QR code that you’ll use to register the lenses with the headset.
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There’s also a QR code moment when you want to sync your Vision Pro with your phone and iCloud account. None of this takes long, or is even remotely confusing.
The rest of the setup occurs mostly with the headset on. Apple fans will appreciate the startup, which includes a floating Apple logo and then the iconic 'Hello' spelled out in 3D scripted letters floating in your real-world space. It’s just a hint of what’s to come.
One of the keys to the Vision Pro’s technical excellence is its ability to track your gaze (along with the dual 4K micro-OLED screens inside the headset are cameras pointed directly at your eyes). So, the setup begins with pressing the crown to get the pupillary distance – that is, the distance between your pupils – right. The screens mechanically shift position to match your pupils.
Looking at and selecting these dots is an important step in the setup process (Image credit: Future)
Next, to ensure that the Vision Pro fully understands where you’re looking, you go through a series of vision calibration tests, during which a circle of dots appears and you look at each one, and pinch your index finger and thumb together. You do this three times in three different environmental light settings. I’d already tried this five times over the last seven months of demos, so I'd gotten quite good at it.
The system also needs to calibrate for your hands. This process consists of holding them up in front of the Vision Pro. You’ll see a faint glow around the outside edges of your digits, and then you flip your hands over and do it again.
While the system may occasionally ask you to reset the pupillary distance by holding down the Digital Crown, you won’t have to perform any other part of the setup again. For Guest Mode, if you want to let someone else to try the headset, they’ll go through the vision and hand calibration, but the results will not be used by the Vision Pro when their session ends.
As I've said, I found this setup simple, and quite effective in that from that point on the system has seemed to know me every time I've donned the Vision Pro, and it worked as well as the time before. The only step I need to follow now to get started is logging in with a PIN. You can also log on with an iris scan (OpticID) but, while I successfully registered my iris, I could never unlock the Vision Pro with my eyes. I've asked Apple about this issue and will update this review with its reply.
Apple Vision Pro: Software and Interface
Excellent intuitive OS
A true 'think-do' interface
Spatial computing turns the world into an unlimited digital space
You start on the home screen, or Home View, which can be summoned with one press of the Digital Crown. This screen will look somewhat familiar to most Apple fans: there's a grid of preinstalled app icons, many of which match what you’ll find on your iPad or iPhone (Notes, Safari, Photos, Podcasts, Calendar, Mail, Files, etc), horizontally arrayed and floating in your real-world environment. You can use the pinch-and-wave gesture to move through multiple screens of apps. This is where the apps you install will live – you can download many more from the App Store, which now has more than 600 visionOS apps. There’s also access to 'Compatible Apps' folder, which collected all the iOS and iPadOS apps I installed on Vision Pro. Apple claims that roughly a million iOS and iPadOS apps already work with Vision Pro, even if they were not designed for visionOS and the Vision Pro. It's not hard, though, to find ones, like most Google apps, that don't.
Compatibility is a mixed bag. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times less so. NBA2K got stuck on setup screens and wouldn’t let me access the game. In the case of Paramount Plus, which is not officially designed to work on the headset, it played, but I couldn't expand the live video to a full window. Apps that have not been custom-built for visionOS were the ones most likely to crash.
The Vision Pro defaults to a full pass-through mode, although that’s a misnomer; you’re never looking directly at your surroundings. Instead, the cameras on the front deliver a clear video feed of your surroundings to your eyes. It’s the best way to marry virtual information with reality, and it's very effective.
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The Home View (Image credit: Future)
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Environments (Image credit: Future)
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Home View on 50 percent immersed envrionment (Image credit: Future)
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App Store (Image credit: Future)
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Arcade (Image credit: Future)
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Immersion and audio controls. both accessed by spinning the Digital Crown. (Image credit: Future)
The Vision Pro is constantly keeping track of your gaze, and your hands and fingers, so as long as your hands are in view of the cameras you can control anything you see simply by looking and pinching. The headset will not register gestures made behind your head, or if you drop your hands down to your side; I usually have my hands in my lap, or raise them in front of my chest to pinch, drag, and zoom. To telegraph my intentions, I simply look at something and then pinch to, for instance, open an app.
Once an app is open, you can move it about the room by grabbing a thin white bar at the bottom of the app’s screen. This isn’t hard to do; you just look at it, pinch to grab, and move it. You can also use this gesture to pull the app window closer or move it further away. On the bottom right corner is a curved bar that you can use to resize from, say, a big-screen TV size to a wall-size app. Inside an app you can look at, for instance, a photo in the Photo app, and use both hands with a pinch gesture to zoom in and out.
My work, entertainment, information, and creativity space is all around me (Image credit: Future)
While working and playing in apps, you can have them superimposed onto your real world, or select one of Apple’s Environments to change your surroundings. There’s Yosemite, Mount Hood, Joshua Tree, Haleakalā, Hawaii, and even the Moon, and each one is a 360-degree, 'live,' immersive experience, complete with spatial sounds. Once you've chosen an Environment, you can twist the Digital Crown to turn the immersion up or down (this is also how you raise and lower the volume – you just look at the Volume icon instead of the Environments one). Up means the real world increasingly fades, and you’re surrounded 360 degrees by, for instance, the dusty surface of the Moon. Your hands don’t disappear, but they’re not resting on your knees, and instead appear to be floating above the moon’s surface.
You can see my EyeSight here. That's not a pass-through; you're looking at screens displaying a video feed of my eyes from inside the headset (Image credit: Future)
While the Vision Pro can drop you into virtual reality, it’s smart enough to keep you connected to the outside world. When my wife started to speak to me during one immersive session, I could see her gradually appearing in front of me as we talked. On her side, she sees a video feed of my eyes on the front of the headset. Apple called this EyeSight, and it’s a hit-or-miss affair.
EyeSight shows a video recreation of your eyes based on what the camera sees inside the headset. The color is blue and purplish, and it can look, well, weird. My wife never liked it, but I noticed that she got used to talking to me while I was wearing the headset.
Software and interface score: 5
Apple Vision Pro: The Experience
There's nothing quite like using a Vision Pro
It can be hard to convey the experience to people on the outside
Your work life will change, too
If you can get your fit right (this can take some trial and error) there's nothing quite like the experience of using the Vision Pro. Even when I wasn’t wearing the headset, I found myself thinking about wearing and using it.
It's an able virtual-reality and mixed-reality machine, and I have much more to share there, but its ability to integrate my real-world work environment has been transformative for me.
I’ve spent many hours now working in the Vision Pro. To do so, you use the Control Center, which you access by glancing up until you see a green arrow and pinching to open, to launch the Mac Virtual display. In my case this showed me my MacBook Pro as an option, so I selected this and my desktop appeared before me as a huge 55-inch display. I could expand that to, say, 150 inches (or more), and then pull it close to me – this is the endless desktop I’ve always dreamed of, and none of this would work if every window, app, and bit of text weren’t crystal clear.
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That little arrow at the top is to access the Control Center (Image credit: Future)
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The Control Center has many of the typical Apple controls you'd expect (Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, etc). It also adds Mac Virtual Display and Screen Mirroring. (Image credit: Future)
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Choose your system (Image credit: Future)
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One click and the big screen will appear (Image credit: Future)
Just because I had my work desktop in front of me didn’t mean I lost out on the rest of the Vision Pro experience. On my right, I had Messages open (when a new message arrives, a green message icon floats in front of my face), and, on my left, I had my Photos. Sometimes, I would AirDrop an image (often a Vision Pro screen-grab that I'd captured by saying “Siri, grab a screenshot”) from the Vision Pro to my desktop, and then edit it in Photoshop on my giant virtual display.
You can place apps anywhere you want around you, and not just in one space. Vision Pro understands your space, even different rooms in your home.
One day I wanted to try JigSpace, an app that lets you manipulate and pull apart giant 3D objects like a race car. I wanted ample space to work, so I walked over to my den. The Vision Pro’s pass-through capabilities are good enough that I was never worried about navigating around my home, though I did need to sometimes look down to see what was near my feet. I would not recommend wearing your Vision Pro while walking in the street, where you need to pay attention to curbs and other obstacles.
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JigSpace let me put a jet engine in my den… (Image credit: Future)
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…and take it apart by looking and parts and grabbing them with my hands (Image credit: Future)
Once in the den, I opened JigSpace and started pulling apart a jet engine – whatever part I looked at, I could grab and drop somewhere around the room. Then I went back to work.
Hours later I was writing about JigSpace, but wanted to double-check something in the interface. I couldn’t find the app, so on a hunch, I got up and walked back into the den – and there was the app, where I’d left it hours before. What we have here with spatial computing and the Vision Pro is, maybe for the first time, the concept of space-aware computing. I could, perhaps, leave apps all over my house and the Vision Pro would remember where they were. To bring all open apps back into my local view, I just needed to hold down on the Digital Crown.
Experience score: 5
Spatial Computing is the only computing where if you forgot where you put an app, it might be in another room. #VisionPro pic.twitter.com/yzG84JRWmfFebruary 1, 2024
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Apple Vision Pro: Entertainment
An immersive entertainment experience
Spatial audio support is strong with or without AirPod Pros
Games designed for Vision Pro are often inspired
Compatible games don't always work as expected
I've tried watching movies on other virtual reality headsets, and it just never clicked. The Meta Quest Pro is an excellent device, but I still find it too uncomfortable to wear for more than 20 minutes at a time. There is, however, something special about watching a movie in the Apple Vision Pro, especially if you add in the AirPods Pro 2 (which include support for spatial audio and, thanks to their new H2 chip – also inside the Vision Pro – add support for lossless audio with ultra-low latency).
What makes it work so well isn’t only the near-perfect 3D fidelity (Disney Plus has a particularly excellent library of 3D films, including the trippy Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), but also the way in which you can immerse yourself in the theater experience with various Environments. The Disney Plus app provides some of my favorites: there’s an Avengers space, a Monsters Inc. Factory, and the Disney Theater, which is probably my top pick overall.
Inside the virtual Disney Theater (Image credit: Future)
When the lights come down, and you’re staring at a giant 70mm or even IMAX-class virtual screen inside a darkened theater, you can almost smell the popcorn. There’s virtually no light leakage to break the illusion, and I had no trouble losing myself in the experience of watching a two-hour movie. One thing I did notice, though, is that 3D movies can chew through battery life. If you plan on watching, say, the three-hour and 26-minute Killers of the Flower Moon (an Apple production, by the way) you’ll want to plug in the battery using the included cable and charge adapter. They’ll provide all the pass-through power you need.
Marketing for the Vision Pro often shows people sitting down while using it, but, while I've spent most of my time seated, I have played games while standing. Synthriders is a Vision Pro-ready game that has elements of Beat Saber in it; your hands are orbs, and there are music-beat-based orbs flying at you that you must bounce back or ride the waves of with your hands. I played this while standing, and between waving my arms and ducking glass trapezoids flying at my head, it was quite a workout.
Apple Vision Pro playing Synthrider (Image credit: Future)
Entertainment score: 4.5
Apple Vision Pro: Spatial Photography
(Image credit: Future)
Vision Pro is a strong spatial photography machine
An excellent spatial imagery partner for your iPhone 15 Pro
The spatial photography and videography playback effect is often moving
I love how Apple always manages to cook up new terms for existing technology that somehow manage to capture the imagination of regular people.
Stereophotography is well over a century old, and many boomers and GenXers first experienced it in the 1970s with View-Master toys. The effect was okay, though not remotely immersive. With the Vision Pro, Apple has introduced the concept of spatial photography, a 21st-century upgrade of 3D photography and videography that puts 3D image capture in the hands of, or rather on the head of, everyone. It even extended the concept by building spatial video capture into the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
In some of my earlier Vision Pro demos, I played back spatial video that I'd captured on my iPhone 15 Pro Max on the Vision Pro. This was no View-Master experience: I could view the videos in a floating window, which put them at a certain remove, or use a pinch-and-expand gesture with both my hands to almost enter the video. The edges fade away, so the spatial video looks like it’s floating in a cloud.
The Vision Pro can capture both still and video spatial imagery. To capture, you use the dedicated button on the top-left side of the visor. A single press brings up the option to shoot photos or videos, and after you select one you press the button again to capture a single photo or start recording spatial video (you press it again to end the video capture). I did this with photos of my hand, and then a photoshoot with my son. Every time I view spatial imagery I have an immediate and automatic emotional reaction; when I replayed the spatial content it was like my son was standing before me, complete with his pained expression.
I must hand it to Apple, it doesn’t just invent new terms, it reinvents the experience.
Spatial photography score: 5
Apple Vision Pro: Communication and Personas
Personas can look strange, but they're more useful than you think
Communicating through iMessage and FaceTime is trouble-free
During setup, the Vision Pro will guide you to create a Persona, a 3D rendering of your head that you can use in FaceTime and other video calls. To build mine, I followed the instructions, removed the headset, and then pointed the display at my face. It captured me looking up, down, left, and right, as well as making a few facial expressions. All of this information enabled the spatial cameras to create a 3D map of my face.
(Image credit: Future)
When I put the Vision Pro back on, I could see my new Persona, which automatically started mimicking my facial expressions (the cameras inside and the ones pointed down at my face and hands capture my live expression). I added semi-translucent glasses to my Persona, and I was done and ready for a FaceTime call with my wife. She hated it. Even though I think my Persona is one of the better ones out there, I can’t deny the uncanny valley look of it.
Chatting with my colleague Ray Wong's Persona via FaceTime (Image credit: Future)
Later, I conducted a call with a colleague who was also testing the Vision Pro. We both remarked on the limitations of our Personas, but throughout our 20-minute conversation those concerns faded away, and I forgot that we weren’t looking at either our real faces or our real hands. I’m still convinced that Apple can do better here, but then that’s why Personas are still in beta. By the time you finally decide to buy a Vision Pro (or some version of it), I expect Personas to be much more realistic and palatable.
Communication and Personas score: 4
Apple Vision Pro: Final thoughts
The Apple Vision Pro is expensive, but I’m not sure I can argue that it’s too expensive for what it does. Someone asked me if I would buy it. I now know that if I could afford it, the answer would be an enthusiastic yes.
There has never been a wearable quite like the Vision Pro, let alone a mixed-reality headset like it. It’s a true 'think-do' platform. It’s powerful, but also inviting. It’s fun to use, but also completely ready for work. It might make you look like a bug, but there’s also beauty in its design.
I know, it's looks weird on the outside, but it's incredible on the inside (Image credit: Future)
I wish it were lighter, but still, I can forget I’m wearing it and give myself over to the experience of work, play, or entertainment in a dark, virtual theater.
I love working in the Vision Pro, but I'm aware that if you spend hours working in it, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to keep the headset on at the end of the day. Over time, Vision Pro enthusiasts will likely achieve a balance between work and play, though I’m convinced that the tug of this one-of-a-kind technology will remain strong.
The Apple Vision Pro instantly goes to the top of our list of the best virtual reality headsets. It may not be a best-seller yet, but those who have one will talk about it endlessly, and they may even let you try it. I suggest you take that opportunity if offered, or at least get yourself to an Apple Store for a demo.
There has never been anything quite like the Vision Pro. It's my favorite mixed-reality headset ever, and I’m certain that it has reinvigorated the AR/VR market while also creating something completely new. Spatial computing is a thing. Better get used to it.
Apple Vision Pro (Image credit: Future)
Should you buy the Apple Vision Pro?
Buy it if...
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
How we test
For my Apple Vision Pro review, I spent almost a week, and as many hours each day as I could, wearing and using the mixed-reality headset.
I watched movies, played games, communicated with friends and co-workers, streamed live TV, moved apps around my home, and did a lot of work on my giant MacBook Pro virtual display.
The streaming platform Disney+ will begin restricting users from password sharing. According to an email obtained by The Verge, subscribers in the United States have been introduced to new Terms of Service, making it harder for people to access the service using log-in credentials that aren't theirs.
Here's how the Service Agreement explains what a household is: The collection of devices associated with the subscriber's primary personal residence used by the individuals who reside therein.
Source: Disney
Users learned that Disney will add limitations on sharing the account outside...
The streaming platform Disney+ will begin restricting users from password sharing. According to an email obtained by The Verge, subscribers in the United States have been introduced to new Terms of Service, making it harder for people to access the service using log-in credentials that aren't theirs.
Here's how the Service Agreement explains what a household is: The collection of devices associated with the subscriber's primary personal residence used by the individuals who reside therein.
Source: Disney
Users learned that Disney will add limitations on sharing the account outside...
The Tribit StormBox Flow is a neat portable Bluetooth speaker that packs more of a punch than you’d expect. It’s certainly not stylish but if you look past that and appreciate how simple it is to use, it’s pretty good value for money.
The Tribit StormBox Flow sounds far better than you’d expect. At high volumes it struggles for clarity, but at more comfortable levels for your ears, it sounds crisp with some strong bass booming through.
That’s further helped by the companion app where you can adjust the EQ to your desired needs or you can just pick out a preset option with some reasonable choices available. It’s all simply laid out even if the app also lacks the wow factor.
Other useful features include being able to charge your phone via the Tribit StormBox Flow if you’re stuck for power. Also, you can pair it with another Tribit StormBox Flow for stereo sound which works well.
Priced at $79.99 in the US and £79.99 in the UK, it’s a little cheaper than other rivals among the best Bluetooth speakers in this price range, but there are some design differences in comparison to these.
There’s IP67 waterproofing to help it rival the best waterproof speakers and a robust build with tactile buttons for easy tapping. A strap on one end means you can grab it easily too, although it is a little weightier than some of the competition.
That’s the thing about the Tribit StormBox Flow. It ticks all the right boxes but it won’t stir up excitement. Not everything needs to be exciting and the Tribit StormBox Flow is certainly dependable. If that’s what you need, you won’t be disappointed.
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Price and release date
There are plenty of physical controls on the speaker itself for power, volume and more. (Image credit: Future)
Released in August 2023
Costs $79.99 / £79.99
Available in the US and UK
The Tribit StormBox Flow was launched in August 2023 and is available to buy across the US and the UK. It's priced at $79.99 and £79.99 respectively, but the speaker is already discounted at third-party retailers like Amazon.
Like much of Tribit’s range, the Tribit StormBox Flow is well-priced, costing a little more than budget offerings such as the Tribit Stormbox Micro 2, while being cheaper than mid-range options from JBL like the JBL Flip 6.
It’s heftier than some of the most portable Bluetooth speakers like the Stormbox Micro 2, but it’s still fairly easy to grab and take places with you.
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Specs
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Features
The Tribit control app lets you switch sound modes and customize EQ settings. (Image credit: Future)
IP67 waterproofing
Companion app and EQ button
Can pair with other Tribit Stormbox Flow speakers
The Tribit StormBox Flow is designed to be taken around with you easily. It has a loose handle on one side so you can easily grab it. It could also be hooked on certain things including a tree. Because yes, the Tribit StormBox Flow is designed for the outdoors. While it doesn’t look massively robust, it offers IP67 waterproofing.
It’s reasonably lightweight too although not quite ‘I didn’t realise it was in this bag’ level of light, such as the Nokia Portable Wireless Speaker 2. Battery life wise, it’s incredible. It has a massive 30 hours of playtime, which probably makes up for a tiny bit of extra bulk.
Bluetooth 5.3 helps here and also means drop-outs simply don’t happen. The speaker supports the AAC and SBC codes, although not AptX, but this isn’t really the kind of speaker you’re buying for exceptionally crisp sound (although, as we’ll see shortly, it’s still pretty good).
The Tribit StormBox Flow also pairs up with another speaker so you can enjoy stereo sound. It’s simple to set up via a couple of buttons. There’s an EQ button so you can rotate through an XBass and audiobook mode. More functionality comes from the Tribit app which allows you to create your own EQ settings as well as use one of six presets. It’s also possible to check battery life via the app with the time dipping a little if you enable XBass. It only drops to around 20-24 hours though, which is still more than good enough for most situations.
Finally, you can use the USB-C port to charge up your phone which is useful when you’re in a jam.
Features score: 4 / 5
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Sound quality
The Stormbox Flow is built to withstand being dunked under water for a small amount of time and is completely dust tight. (Image credit: Future)
25W drivers
Volumes goes high
Muddy audio after a certain point
The Tribit StormBox Flow manages to go surprisingly high when you crank up the volume. For a little speaker, it’s going to boom out amongst the pool party you’re having or if you’re simply relaxing at home. The bass is the most impressive part although it does turn into a bit of a mess if you crank things up too high.
Still, the Tribit StormBox Flow is packing a punch here. Pair up two speakers like I did and it’s surprisingly compelling with a wide soundstage. I enjoyed hearing Queen’s Under Pressure all around me. Listening to Taylor Swift’s 1989 album was also suitably vibrant, offering some smooth mids.
It’s an enjoyable listen all around. Just don’t be surprised if you lower the volume a little more than usual. Also, stick with the XBass sound mode where possible for the punchiest sound.
Sound quality score: 4 / 5
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Design
It's simple design, means the Stormbox Flow isn't the most of exciting of speakers. (Image credit: Future)
Tactile buttons
EQ buttons
Simple design
I’m not a huge fan of how the Tribit StormBox Flow looks because it’s so simple and straightforward – it somehow manages to look less exciting than even the Bose SoundLink Flex, which costs $70 / £70 more than the Stormbox Flow. However, while far from a designing dream, it does all work suitably well.
On the top are all the buttons – power, Bluetooth, volume, EQ and a button for pairing up with another speaker. Each is raised ever so slightly so you can identify which is which without looking. Having a way to adjust the EQ without the app is useful even if it’s restricted to only a couple of predefined options.
The power button is a little finicky about how long you need (or don’t need) to hold it down but I have a sneaky feeling that’s more my fault than anything. On the side is the USB-C port, which isn’t obscured by a flap or similar to ensure waterproofing. It’s still fine though and doesn’t cause any issues.
Design score: 3 / 5
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Value
It's reasonable price tag means you can quite easily consider buying two to unlock the multipoint pairing feature. (Image credit: Future)
A little cheaper than some of the competition
Robust design
Unassuming
The Tribit StormBox Flow is that device that will surprise you. It looks very unassuming and not exactly as stylish as something like the JBL Flip or Bose SoundLink Flex range but it works well.
Also cheaper than the JBL Flip 6, the Tribit StormBox Flow makes up for its lack of looks by making it more affordable for you to buy two, while also still being pretty loud. You just might not be showing it off to all and sundry.
Should you buy the Tribit StormBox Flow?
Buy it if...
Don’t buy it if...
Tribit StormBox Flow review: Also consider
How I tested the Tribit StormBox Flow
(Image credit: Future)
Tested over 10 days
Used the speaker individually and paired with another
10 years of audio equipment reviewing experience
The Tribit StormBox Flow was my trusty companion throughout the last 10 days. It was by my side while I worked in my home office and thanks to its portable nature, I took it with me when I headed to the living room and kitchen for extended periods of time.
Different locations meant I could compare the Tribit StormBox Flow against the noise of my dehumidifier, the neighbours’ never-ending construction work, and more regular noises like the air fryer ticking away in the kitchen.
The Tribit StormBox Flow’s music choice was powered by my iPhone 14 Pro. I used a mixture of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube to listen to. Mostly, I listened to various genres of music including pop, rock, jazz, classical, and a few other random choices.
I also checked out how well the Tribit StormBox Flow sounded when listening to podcasts and other more talk-focused content like Twitch and YouTube videos on my phone.
OnePlus launched the 12 and 12R for the international market this week (they were already available in China). This includes the US, where the market isn’t as competitive as Europe and Asia and is dominated by Apple and Samsung.
But check this out – $800 buys you a proper flagship with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, plenty of memory (16/512GB thanks to a free upgrade) and a 6.82” QHD+ LTPO display. The cameras are quite good (50MP main, 64MP 3x tele and 48MP ultra wide, plus a lovely 32MP selfie camera), though daytime video recording could have been better. Our only other complaint is that the phone...
The Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C is the Swedish manufacturer's latest mirrorless medium-format camera, offering an ultra-high-resolution sensor and phase detection autofocus (PDAF) in a surprisingly lightweight design. It's got to be one of the best professional cameras for landscape and portrait photographers who work slowly and deliberately, and it harks back to a more 'traditional' approach.
Joining Hasselblad's modular system lineup, the camera is comprised of two halves: the super-thin 907X camera body and the CFV 100C digital back. It's an upgrade on the 907X 50C which launched back in 2020, and as the name suggests, it brings double the megapixel count with a huge 100MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor.
The 907X CFV 100C shares the same sensor, 16-bit color depth, PDAF, and XCD lenses as the Hasselblad X2D 100C, but it enjoys a completely different design that allows photographers to use the CFV 100C digital back – the bit that handles the image capture – in three ways.
If you're lucky enough to own an old Hasselblad V-system film camera, this can replace the film back and allow you to recreate the look and feel of analog lenses with digital files. It can also be mounted onto technical cameras from the likes of Alpha and Arca Swiss, opening up possibilities for architectural tilt and shift applications.
The camera combo itself is portable, although XCD lenses add significant weight (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
For sheer resolution, the CFV 907X 100C competes with the 102MP Fujifilm GFX100 II, but unlike that medium-format rival it doesn't offer any video capture at all. There's also no built-in image stabilization (IBIS), making a sturdy tripod essential for any low-light work.
If you want a viewfinder, that's sold separately, although the new hot shoe adapter adds third-party flash triggering. There's also a huge 1TB internal SSD for storing images, as well as a CFexpress card slot for fast read and write speeds.
With a plodding continuous burst rate of 3.3fps and relatively slow autofocus, the 907X CFV 100C isn't a camera for action, sports, or on-the-go shooting. But the sheer clarity from the sensor, the tonal range from 15 stops of dynamic range, and the lifelike colors from Hasselblad's Natural Colour Solution (HNCS) more than make up for those minor limitations.
The modern camera arms race often sees faster marketed as better, and it takes a very special camera to say "Slow down, be deliberate with your approach." But the Hasselblad CFV 907X 100C is special, and the most enjoyable camera I've shot with for a very long time. Make no mistake, the CFV 907X 100C is premium in price and build, and at times slow to use; but I loved that approach, and I think many photography purists will too.
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: price and availability
Costs $8,199 / ££6,729 – Australia pricing TBC
Available now across Europe and in the US
The Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C is available to buy now for $8,199 / £6,729 – we'll add pricing for Australia when that's confirmed. That price is almost 30% more than the Hasselblad 907X 50C. However, it’s still competitive for a professional camera when you consider that the Sony A1 is around $6,500 / £6,499 / AU$10,499 (body-only), and the 102MP Fujifilm GFX100 II is about $7,499 / £6,999 / AU$12,599.
By regular mirrorless camera standards, the 907X CFV 100C is expensive. But this premium tag is typical of modular systems like the Phase One XF; and to my mind, if you're a commercial photographer who's prepared to invest in the very best tools, it's to be expected.
If you want the 907X Optical Viewfinder (OVF) or 907X Control Grip they're both sold separately. If you're going to be handholding the camera frequently, I'd say the grip is almost essential, especially with longer, heavier lenses – I came to rely on it during testing. If you'll be investing in new lenses too, another point to consider is that Hasselblad's (stunning) XCD lens lineup cost around double the Fujifilm GFX equivalent.
Price score: 4/5
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: Specs
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: design
Modular design of camera body and digital back
Bright and responsive 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen
Viewfinder isn't built in but sold separately
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The CFV100C digital back (left) and the 907C camera body combine as a modular system (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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The 907X CFV 100C can be charged and tethered via USB-C (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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On the right, a sturdy door slides open to reveal the battery and CFexpress card slot (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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Unboxing the Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C is a premium experience (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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The stylish and thoughtful design extends to the packaging of the 907X CFV 100C (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
Hasselblad is known for its beautifully crafted cameras, and the 907X CFV 100C's machine-milled aluminum exterior oozes quality – even unboxing the camera felt like a premium experience. Although it hasn't been given an official weatherproof rating, the camera is operable in temperatures of 14-113F / -10-45C, and up to 85% humidity.
Accessories inside the box include the Li-on rechargeable battery, hot shoe adapter for flashguns, focusing screen mask, 30W USB-C charger, USB-C to USB-C cable (supports charging and tethering), a shoulder strap, and a flash sync input cable.
As you'd expect, the digital back and camera body are packed separately, and the back has a plastic clip-on cover to protect it during storage. Once removed, the 907X mounts securely and snugly via two metal pins at the top, and I had no worries about the two coming apart.
There's a hidden USB-C input on the left side of the CFV 100C digital back, which is covered by a flap when not in use. On the back's right side, sliding back a reassuringly solid door reveals the flush battery and CFexpress card slot. The mount for the new hot shoe adapter is unsurprisingly found on the top of the camera.
The 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen can be hard to view in bright overhead light (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
The 907X CFV 100CV has an iconic look, although you don't get a waist-level viewfinder unless you buy one separately. I prefer using Live View over an EVF with my usual workhorse camera, and I came to rely on the CFV 100CV's gorgeous 3.2-inch tilted rear screen, which pulls out and up to either a 40-degree or 90-degree angle.
Coming from a vari-angle touchscreen, I thought I'd find the tilting mechanism limiting. However, 90 degrees is the perfect angle to look down on for low-level landscape compositions, and I can't imagine a scenario where you'd want the screen to face you. The only complaint I have is that at times I found the screen difficult to see from above in bright light.
Thanks to its 2.36 million-dot resolution, the display itself is crisp and colorful, and the touchscreen is very responsive to your input. This is a good thing, as the camera menus are designed to be navigated purely by touch, tap, and pinch gestures; there are no joysticks or control wheels here. The weather was very cold for a large part of my testing period, but I was still able to change settings easily on the touchscreen with thick gloves on – something that will please many landscape photographers.
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The camera's touchscreen is one of the slickest and simplest I've seen (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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Face-detection can be set to auto, manual or off completely (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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White balance can be set manually, automatically or from presets (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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There are three metering methods to choose between (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
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The drive modes include exposure and focus bracketing (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
I adore the simplicity of Hasselblad's menu systems, and the CFV 100CV is no exception. In the main menu you get every setting in one view, so there's no toggling between tabs or delving into submenus to find the setting you need to change.
Physical buttons on the camera itself are minimal unless you buy the control grip, which adds four customizable buttons. There are five small buttons under the screen, dedicated to the menu, delete, display toggle, playback, and power. These are slightly less easy to operate with gloves on, as they're almost flush with the body.
The shutter button is on the front-right of the camera, which seems odd at first until you realize it's where your fingers naturally sit when you cradle the camera. Pressing the shutter button down lightly will set the autofocus, while a full press fires the shutter.
The camera is so solidly built that firing the shutter doesn't cause any detectable shake or wobble. The shutter button is surrounded by a tactile rotating control wheel, which can be set to change the aperture or shutter speed as you prefer. There are only two other buttons: one on the top of the camera to release the back, and one on the front to release the lens.
The 907X CFV 100C's shutter is at the front under the lens (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
Design score: 4.5/5
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: features and performance
1TB built-in SSD storage
No in-body image stabilization
294-point phase-detection autofocus
Hasselblad's modular cameras aren't built for speed, but rather to facilitate a methodical and planned approach to image-making. Even so, the 907X CFV 100C moves on from the 907X 50C in several ways.
It takes around four seconds to power up and down, which is about twice as fast as the previous generation – although there aren't definite specs to confirm this. With less lag, you're less likely to miss a golden moment, but there's still a small wait before you can start shooting, and I was more likely to leave the camera on in between frames because of this.
The camera's improved 100MP sensor is paired with 294 phase-detect focusing points covering 97% of the frame. The addition of phase-detect autofocus is undoubtedly an improvement over the slower contrast-detection system, but you still won't find this camera responsive enough to capture fast movement.
On paper, the focus speed should be the same as the Hasselblad X2D 100C, which in our review we noted was a dramatic upturn for Hasselblad, although it still lags behind what an old DSLR (I compared it to the Nikon D800) is capable of.
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The first thing I did was test the camera's new face-detection autofocus mode – available with a firmware update – to see how it compared to my Canon EOS R6. With a static subject, a large box appeared around the face within a few seconds; but as she or I moved around, the tracking was slower to follow, compared to my Canon, or to the best autofocus systems generally.
The CFV 100C isn't advanced enough to offer eye detection, and isn't bolstered by the same autofocus algorithms you see in flagships like the Sony A1. Yet I'd say that 90% of my static portraits in even light were sharp in just the right places. When backlighting my subject in high-contrast winter light, the autofocus system hunted, and struggled to lock onto her face at all, but using touch gestures to select the AF point on the screen sped things up. As for exposure, spot metering was better than center-weighted in this situation.
I use my dog as a test subject for every camera that comes into my hand. She's convenient, but also fast-moving, and so a good test of an autofocus system. Although I found it helpful to be able to move the AF point around, it's too big to focus precisely at shallow apertures; at f/2.5 on the XCD 2,5/90V lens, my sliver of focus was often misplaced.
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Of course, magnifying the on-screen focus helps with this; it just takes some practice. Manual focusing using the XCD lenses became incredibly intuitive in situations where the focus was critical, but I found it best reserved for landscape work on a tripod.
Hasselblad quotes the battery endurance at 420 images, and I'd estimate that I got around three hours or 350 images of solid shooting from one charge – and that was in very cold conditions. While many pros will use the camera in a tethered workflow, making the duration less important, landscape professionals heading out for a dawn-to-dusk day of shooting would be wise to take a couple of spare batteries with them.
Without any image stabilization at all, you need to be mindful of your shutter speed and tripod usage to avoid camera shake. I can usually push my Canon EOS R6 and RF 24-70MM F2.8L IS USM lens to around 1/30 sec handheld, but I was hesitant to dip below 1/125 sec handheld with the 907X CFV 100C, especially with a longer lens. I definitely noticed camera shake under 1/60 sec.
It's baffling that more camera manufacturers don't offer built-in storage. The 907X CFV 100C's 1TB internal drive is a real plus, although it's bound to fill up quickly with 100MP 3FR raw files which average 200MB in size. With write speeds up to 2370MB/s and read speeds up to 2850MB/s, I never found it lagging when processing images, and exporting images to Hasselblad's Phocus desktop app via USB-C was also painless.
Overall, the 907X CFV 100C's performance is slow and measured, and it forces you to think about what you're doing, and what settings you're using – and if anything, I think this improved my images. Rather than sticking everything on auto and rattling through a burst of frames, I set up my images, interacted with my subjects in a meaningful way, and got only a few frames that I was happy with – which is exactly how the camera is designed to be used.
Features and performance score: 4/5
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: image quality
16-bit color depth in 3FR raw format
Film-like image quality with natural tones
15 stops of dynamic range
If my analysis of the 907X CFV 100C's features sounded lackluster, then let me go overboard with admiration for its image quality. Put simply, I was blown away by the level of detail you get from the camera's raw files. The 100MP sensor offers double the resolution of the 50C, enabling you to crop in much more closely to images.
The CMOS sensor is also now back-illuminated, which improves low-light imaging and readout speeds. The lowest ISO setting is 64 and it maxes out at 25,600, and I didn't start to notice noise in the shadows of my images until I reached at least 3,200. Beyond resolution, with another stop of dynamic range (for 15 stops in total) you can recover plenty of detail from the highlights and shadows of images, something I found particularly impressive when photographing a bright sky at sunrise.
Are the images better than those from my full-frame Canon EOS R6 or Canon EOS R5? Absolutely, and even to the untrained eye, with the hallmark clarity you only get from medium-format sensors, even if that clarity is hard to define.
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There's less to cover in this section than with a hybrid camera, as the CFV 100C doesn't shoot video, nor does it offer any filters or film simulations to change your images in-camera. The only real ability to change the look of photos comes from the white balance setting and standard presets like cloudy, shade, and tungsten, among others.
I relied on the camera's automatic white balance – the usual approach for me, as I like to change color temperature at the editing stage. Most of all, I noticed how naturally and accurately the 907X CFV 100C renders skin tones. Whether in warm daylight or during an incredibly cold sunrise, the colors had just the right levels of saturation, blush, and tone.
All of the sample images below are unedited, save for me converting them from the 3FR raw format to JPEG to add them to this review; although I should note that when I did start editing some of my test shots I hardly needed to do anything to them. The 907X CFV 100C has a 16-bit color depth for 3FR raw files, which is around 281 trillion colors, and close to what the human eye can record. For HEIF, a much smaller file format, the bit depth drops to 10.
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Every camera brand talks about its unique color profiles, but I think Hasselblad has cracked the science more than any other. It's Natural Colour Solution is an involved and highly technical process, built from a look-up table (LUT), Hasselblad Film Curve, and pixel processing that adapts to different lighting conditions.
As Hasselblad explains it, the captured color data gets transformed and remapped to give rich saturation and contrast, even for skin tones. I've never experienced such true-to-life results as I have with the 907X CFV 100C. Portraits in particular pop off the screen, and can be enhanced further with Hasselblad's Phocus software, which is sympathetic to the file type.
Having tested the 907X CFV 100C with Hasselblad's latest XCD 2,5/90V and XCD 4/28P lenses, I detected negligible levels of fringing, distortion and vignetting. As I've mentioned elsewhere in this review, Hasselblad’s XCD lenses are expensive in regular camera terms, and more expensive than Fujifilm's GFX lineup. But they're first-rate, both optically and in the way that they're constructed.
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Image quality score: 5/5
Should you buy the Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C?
The 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen can be tilted at 40 or 90 degrees (Image credit: Lauren Scott)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C Scorecard
Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C: Also consider
If you're not sure that the Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C is for you, here are two similar alternatives.
(Image credit: Lauren Scott)
How I tested the Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C
I had the Hasselblad 907X CFV 100C for just under two weeks, and I tested it with the recent XCD 2,5/90V and XCD 4/28P lenses, plus the Hasselblad 907X handle control grip, which adds extra controls and makes handheld shooting more comfortable. The camera isn't really designed to be a carry-anywhere affair (although it is very portable), and I used it for planned portrait sessions in the city, landscape shoots for frosty sunrises, and out in the woods for low-light work. I mounted the 907X CFV 100C on a sturdy Manfrotto tripod for around half of the images I took.
I shot in raw format. Then, as part of the testing process, I used Hasselblad's free Phocus software to import my sample images before exporting them as smaller JPEG files. I tethered the 907X CFV 100C to my iMac and used Phocus software to control the camera. Finally, I connected the camera to my iPhone 15 via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and used the Phocus Mobile 2 app to import images directly across for sharing.
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