Spatial Computing is a term which was already introduced in 1985 in the field of geographic information systems (GMS). In the early 1990s, it was adopted for the first time in the field of virtual reality. But it never had great relevance until June 5, 2023, when Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro which it markets as a spatial computer.
Spatial computing is often compared to Virtual (VR), Augmented (AR), Mixed (MR), and eXtended Reality (XR). But this most often does not create clarity of what spatial computing actually is. While the terms VR, AR, MR, and XR are not clear for the common public and are regularly the origin of some confusion, they are clearly defined and being used with precision in both academia and the growing XR industry.
Spatial computing on the other hand is a less clearly defined term and therefore it's harder to define its exact spectrum.
Technically speaking, the Apple Vision Pro is a VR headset with passthrough. Due to its great camera capabilities and display resolution, it is closer to AR glasses, which usually use mirroring techniques to add a digital overlay on top of the real world. This allows the Vision Pro to create MR experiences, which clearly makes the Apple Vision Pro an XR device. Obviously, this is very confusing. XR developer and blogger Antony Vitillo tried to make things clearer by visualizing the "spatial computing continuum". Or maybe he just wanted to be funny.
When Spatial Computing was introduced during the Apple Vision Pro announcement, one important aspect of it was to make clear that Apple's vision for XR technology, which was different from what Apple's competitor Meta was conveying with their Metaverse vision.
Simply speaking, the Metaverse is an alternate Reality, where people can meet to work and have fun. For this, a separation of the reality is helpful and a promoted feature, called "immersion". This premise offers huge potential, for both positive value generation and dystopian abuse. The Metaverse is therefore not a future welcomed by everyone.
The vision of Spatial Computing promoted by Apple on the other hand, does not try to cut ties with our physical world, but instead sees the value of XR technology as a better, more natural interface for humans to interact with computers. In their marketing, Apple therefore focuses on displaying virtual 2D displays which replace PCs, laptops, TVs and even your smartphone, while at the same time keeping you in the physical world with your family and loved ones. This vision is underlined by the unique feature of displaying the wearer's eyes to the outside world, making the wearer of an Apple Vision Pro appear more human compared to wearers of other VR headsets.
Spatial computing conveys a vision for the future, but it does not clearly specify a technology. It therefore is of great use for marketing and it should be considered in relation to the term Metaverse, which served a similar purpose.
VR, AR, MR, and XR on the other hand are technical terms, not intended or good for marketing. They will continue to dominate academic and technical discussions, in which the fuzziness of both Metaverse and Spatial Computing does not support detailed discussions.