The pitch from both Apple and Meta goes something like this: instead of being chained to physical monitors, you’ll work in a spatial environment where virtual screens surround you, documents float at arm’s length, and colleagues appear as lifelike avatars in shared virtual spaces. It sounds compelling. The reality is more complicated.

What’s Available Today

Both major spatial computing platforms now offer genuine productivity features, though they approach the problem differently.

Apple Vision Pro positions itself as a premium productivity device. Its Mac Virtual Display feature lets you project your Mac screen into your physical space at any size. The resolution is sharp enough for extended reading, and eye-and-hand tracking means you navigate without a controller. Several Australian remote workers who travel frequently report that the Vision Pro has replaced their portable monitors entirely.

Meta Quest 3 and Quest Pro offer a different take through Meta Horizon Workrooms and third-party apps like Immersed and Virtual Desktop. The resolution is lower, but the hardware is dramatically cheaper ($749 AUD versus $5,400+ AUD imported). Workrooms allows up to 16 people around a virtual conference table with spatial audio. It works better than you’d expect, though the cartoon-like avatars undermine the sense of presence.

The Virtual Monitor Question

The most immediately practical application of spatial computing in an office context is virtual monitors. Instead of buying three 27-inch displays, you put on a headset and have as many screens as you want. For Australian office workers in cities where desk space is premium, this is appealing. In practice, several issues remain:

Text clarity. Even the Vision Pro doesn’t quite match the sharpness of a good 4K monitor at reading distance. For developers or analysts in spreadsheets for hours, this matters.

Comfort over time. No current headset is comfortable enough for a full eight-hour workday. Most users report fatigue after one to two hours.

Eye strain. The vergence-accommodation conflict — where your eyes focus at a fixed distance regardless of where virtual content appears — causes fatigue with text-heavy work and won’t be fully solved until variable-focus displays arrive.

Collaboration in Mixed Reality

Remote collaboration is where spatial computing’s long-term potential is most significant, even if the current reality is underwhelming.

The promise is that distributed teams could work together in shared virtual spaces — reviewing 3D models, brainstorming on virtual whiteboards, or having meetings with spatial audio and body language.

Microsoft Mesh, which integrates with Teams, allows avatar-based meetings in shared virtual environments. Several Australian enterprises have run pilots with mixed results. The feedback: the technology works, but the value over a standard video call isn’t compelling enough to justify the setup overhead.

For AI-driven businesses building distributed teams, the question of how spatial computing fits into their collaboration stack is becoming increasingly relevant. The tools are improving fast, and the companies that experiment now will be better positioned when the technology matures.

Where collaboration in spatial computing genuinely shines is in 3D contexts. Architects reviewing a building model, engineers inspecting a mechanical assembly, or surgeons planning a procedure — these are situations where being able to walk around, point at, and manipulate a shared 3D object is fundamentally better than looking at it on a flat screen.

What’s Blocking Enterprise Adoption

Australian enterprises face specific challenges in adopting spatial computing for workplace use:

IT management. Deploying and managing a fleet of headsets across an organisation is significantly more complex than deploying laptops. MDM (Mobile Device Management) support for headsets is improving but still immature compared to traditional device management.

Security and privacy. Headsets with outward-facing cameras in an office environment raise privacy concerns. Recording capabilities, even if disabled by policy, create discomfort among employees.

Bandwidth requirements. High-quality spatial collaboration requires substantial bandwidth, particularly for remote participants sharing 3D content. Many Australian office networks are adequate but not generous.

Cultural resistance. Asking an office full of people to wear headsets is a significant cultural shift. The broader workforce tends to be sceptical until benefits are demonstrated clearly.

Cost at scale. Even at Quest 3 pricing, equipping a 200-person office with headsets and software licensing represents a six-figure investment that needs clear ROI justification.

A Realistic Timeline

Based on current technology trajectories and the pace of Australian enterprise adoption, here’s a practical outlook:

Now to end of 2025: A tool for individual power users and specific 3D collaborative use cases. It supplements rather than replaces traditional setups.

2026-2027: Second-generation devices will likely address weight and comfort. This is when broader enterprise pilots become practical.

2028 and beyond: If lightweight, all-day AR glasses arrive, the transition from monitors to spatial computing could accelerate rapidly.

The Honest Take

Spatial computing will change how we work. The technology is too capable and the investment from Apple, Meta, and Microsoft too substantial for it to remain niche indefinitely.

But the honest assessment for Australian businesses today is that it’s early. The hardware needs to get lighter, cheaper, and more comfortable. The software needs to mature beyond impressive demos into reliable daily tools.

Invest in small experiments if you have the budget and curiosity. But don’t redesign your office around spatial computing just yet.